Non-Pool Industry Sponsors?????

[Tom In Cincy]

There are a few more tricks room owners could also use that I have told to many room owners. It is this simple. START WITH GETTING SPONSORSHIP MONEY/PRODUCTS from the vendors you currently work with and buy from in your business. Most of the time they are very willing to throw something into the pot.

Bingo Geno..

This little partnership has provided specials in food, drink and alcohol. Printed fliers and event banners. All at no cost. Just great deals from food and beverage vendors the owner deals with daily and weekly.

 

[Tom In Cincy]

From what I hear about this little association, it is targeted at the exisiting pool world. Nothing to do with the younger players (below drinking age).

It is more of a ad campain for CocaCola and to work with Professional Pool players like Janette Lee. Not all that bad for the industry, but nothing new. Only status quo for the pool world. Sponsor jumps in, spends some money and then jumps out.. (maybe this will change, it would be great if CocaCola would lead the way)

And, if it does do anything, it won't happen for a couple of years. These are notes fromt the recent BCA trade show in Vegas from the CocaCola meeting with all of 9 attendees.

You should probably read the details of the deal a bit more closely. It isn't a sponsorship, it's a group buying deal. And it wasn't Coca Cola signing on with the BCA, it was the BCA creating a new marketing entity called Bankshot Entertainment.

Not that anyone will listen though. Everyone just hears what they want to hear, which is why this guy thinks that Coca Cola is now a sponsor of the BCA. Oh wait, now I'm beginning to remember why I rarely chime in here anymore. Whatev.

 

[lodini]

No one will ever get a company to spend money without an actual product... and pool has no product. Yet. I know some people working very hard on that.

By "product" I don't mean pool players... the product in football, for example, is the NFL, the teams, the players, the 16 regular season games, the playoffs, the Super Bowl, what happens on the field.

The fans are the reason that companies sponsor sports, not the players. When you have fans, you have created a loyalty to your brand... therefore a sponsor comes on board for the purpose of connecting to that fan loyalty.

When there is a professional pool circuit alive and prospering, and fans come and watch in person and on TV... when they care enough to read articles in the Sports Section and need highlights on ESPN... that's when the sponsors will come.

 

[chris_williams]

I posted something on this yesterday in another topic, not sure where (OMG I must be getting old) but to me it would seem some basics we are dealing with here.

Too many asscoiations all vying for the same business none seems to be winning the race to be the top or only dog, do they even want to be? Imagine if every Conference in the NFL for instance were run by different associations it would never work, would it?

There is very little TV coverage of even major Pool events, TV coverage = sponsorship. Again what would the NFL, NBA or MLB be like with no TV coverage. There is even less coverage by the media in general. If we could get local or regional Media coverage of events it would be a stepping stone in the right direction. Promoters get with your local and regional media folks for your tournaments, get with them when local people are playing in major tournaments. Local TV in our area is lapping up stories of local people with good stories to tell. I am in a dialogue with them now about the Mosconi Cup in London, telling them that a local, Johnny Archer, will almost certainly be in the team. If I have to call them myself from London every night with results I will, if they would just show them. When you see some of the lame sports stuff on TV, like a camel race from the Australian Outback or some horse race from Mongolia surely we can beat them to TV airtime?

Corporate America likes to see it's $$ spent where they reach mass markets. Where their money reaches the most people for least the amount of money per person. Pool does have a good market, numbers wise, but no vehicle to get it there, until that happens it will remain where it is IMHO.

Every conference in college football gets sponsors and has no problem doing so

 

[lodini]

Every conference in college football gets sponsors and has no problem doing so

Yes - and they have millions of fans too.

 

[justnum]

Some sport leagues claim they bring people together. Other people express the view that a sport promotes other aspects of human behavior.

I believe pool brings people together and it does not discriminate based on physical ability or gender. However what happens when such a diverse group is together is another issue.

I notice that individuals gets sponsored because they know someone with the means and money. Do event organizers have a way to collaborate with people outside the pool industry?

Specific to the pool industry is people don't need to be led around like children. This pool community knows where and when events take place. How to make those events better is a more interesting question than how to get more money for those events?

Take a lesson from the guys in the Middle East they got rid of the dictatorship but their plans of what would happen afterwards were a little too progressive.

 

[samurai]

As always Tom, you bring up valid points. I'm not sure the people that sell advertising in those magazines spend much time talking to the outside sponsors but it would be worth a shot.

The VA state 9 Ball Championships were here a few weeks ago and Joshua Dickerson was able to secure an outside sponsor. nTrust Wealth Management took a shot at the suggestion of the room owner, who is a money manager, and was one of the key sponsors. We made a big deal of it on the live stream, too.

You can see the sponsors at www.va-pool.com and catch some of the matches.

Seems to me, if I were the promoter of a Major tournament, I'd be talking to the various energy drink companies (5 hour energy sponsored the Va State champs a few years ago) as well as soft drinks and fast food places. Maybe they realize pool players are already buying that stuff and the money invested wouldn't bring in additional business. I can't say for sure but I'm not sure any one has done a demographic study on pool tournament watchers (i.e. pool players) to determine if it would be worth the money.

Brian in VA

I was the official rack sponsor of the VA State 9-Ball Championships with Racktight...I am not by any means well off but feel that the amateurs are the ones who support the industry so that is where my meager advertising dollars are going to be spent....they buy product and their word of mouth advertising is INVALUABLE!...I have already seen a return on my investment....Thank you Joshua and the state of Virginia.

Sincerely,
Grace Nakamura-Babcock

 

[Georgia Boy]

Some good points by everyone but Pool must start somewhere if it wants to become a recognised part of any sports broadcasting package, which is a must for improved sponsorship. It needs to attract and retain sponsorship outside of it's own ranks, wholly sponsored from within is simply a recipe for disaster. Great point about the need for a product, the players themselves cannot be a product. The product needs to be an organisation that grabs Pool by the nuts and takes it forward. Until that entity is established or one takes control, Pool stands still at best or goes backward.

It's to some extent the chicken and egg syndrome, better coverage means more sponsorship, but more sponsorship means more awareness and therefore better coverage, which comes first? I think these days coverage maybe the way to go, it's still not going to be easy, but it maybe easier than new money. All pool players can make a difference here by supporting tournaments and leagues, lets make every one of them a complete success. If there is a tournament in your area go along and support it. Lets raise the awareness, contact your local media outlets and make it known how much we'd all like to see results of tournaments and even leagues in our local papers and local TV stations. If they think they can get one over another paper or TV station and boost ratings, for little expenditure, they may do something about it.

 

[justnum]

If I had some money, I would set up a server, send out cameras to various pool halls and ask them to record, then just stream from a server.

Applying the principle of what can I do to better the situation inspired me with the idea.

If you can put motion capture device over a table to record ball data, send out the numerics and have software recreate the table environment at the end user. This way broadcasting data is minimal.

If I had a lot of money I would just create a material similar to pool felt that collaborates with a camera and can record/transmit the data without software.

With some time I could probably rig software to detect position of a ball based on frames of the film and use that to generate the data.

As exciting as HD and high speed film is, I prefer a simulation with a dynamic user-chosen viewing angle.