Pool Is A Product Too

[Floppage]

The average "Joe" doesn't watch "pool". They watch "PEOPLE PLAYING POOL"!

You can have a guy in a tuxedo, in a sterile room, without a noise, running more balls than Willie Mosconi and never missing and 90% of the people would change the channel after a couple minutes.

Whatever they do, they need people like "Earl" in the mix to keep the audience. You need the excitement of "the Thrill of Victory or the Agony of Defeat". Nobody is going to sit and watch a guy in a tuxedo who never shows any emotion, whether he wins or loses.

I completely agree.

Some people seem to think that higher tournament payouts will make pool tournaments more interesting but I think that's just no true. The general public doesn't care how much a professional player makes. They want a good show.

I think players like Earl are great for pool. Watching Earl and Shaw snipe at each other during the Steinway Classic was great. I'd love to see more of that. That's the kind of pool that happens in leagues and in local pool halls and its a lot more fun to be around. The energy at the Mosconi was also great.

Face it! We're a rowdy group.

 

[vjmehra]

The average "Joe" doesn't watch "pool". They watch "PEOPLE PLAYING POOL"!

You can have a guy in a tuxedo, in a sterile room, without a noise, running more balls than Willie Mosconi and never missing and 90% of the people would change the channel after a couple minutes.

You pretty much just described snooker over here!!!

Yet that gets a lot of viewers still, so its not that simple.

Personally I think its about perception, which could be solved with marketing, ideally the World Championships needs to be a flagship event on something like (in the UK) Sky Sports, like it used to be for things to really kick off.

I believe the reason why snooker is popular is because:

1) Its marketed well
2) The prize money is excellent (people like to see people playing for big prizes)
3) The world championships are considered very prestigious, perhaps thats just a British thing, but over time it could apply to pool too (I mean outside the existing pool community who appreciate it already)
4) People sitting at home know they couldn't come close to a pro on a 12 foot snooker table. In reality 99% couldn't on a 9 foot pool table either, but perception wise (I'm going to blame 8-ball and perhaps 7 foot tables here) people think pool is easy and anyone could play it well
5) This is the tricky one...over here at least its considered almost part of the furniture, a good traditional event (again the World Championships I mean), perhaps in the 1980's when we only had 4 tv channels there was nothing else to watch, something like 1/3 of the country watched the 1985 World Championship final apparently!!!

Its also worth pointing out that in Europe (but not the UK), they have the Eurotour, you can buy a season pass on Kazoom, which has excellent quality coverage of the whole season for a fairly low amount (I can't remember how much exactly, but I'm sure it was less than $50 for the entire season last time I checked), so there is some market for it.

Here in the UK we have GB9 (our 9-Ball tour) which has free streaming and the IPA (a Blackball pool tour), which also has free streaming. I'm not sure how many people watch these streams, but for those who just want a pool fix they are free, so worth checking out! However as of yet I guess they aren't marketable enough to charge for, but who knows, as the tours get more popular over time, maybe one day they could be snapped up by someone!

 

[Bella Don't Cry]

Reading this thread, it would be great if all our knowledge could be pulled and collated together annually. BCA have their trade show - so am thinking on the lines of an international seminar with guest speakers. A all ticket event, perhaps $3 per head, which could off-set costs etc... The only venue IMO that could suit this kind of platform would be SBE, but of course there would need to be public interest from the players and industry alike...

But seriously, NONE of us are dumb - But our daily actions to the onlooker are very dumb indeed IMO. Just ask anyone who doesn't give a rats A$$ about pool and you begin to unearth its core problems... :thumbup:

 

[The Renfro]

This was not directed at MIH. I stated in another thread how much I enjoyed that tournament. There are other people on here that weren't happy with the rules and the chosen players. I said, if your not happy with it don't buy it. Johnnyt

Knew you had watched it an posted Johnnyt so wasn't addressing anything you had to say since you would be entitled to any opinion you had formed by being a part of it..... I was directing the comment at the $50 dollar post since I knew that was the price because I had paid for it for the Outville store drawing......

 

[The Renfro]

You pretty much just described snooker over here!!!

Yet that gets a lot of viewers still, so its not that simple.

Personally I think its about perception, which could be solved with marketing, ideally the World Championships needs to be a flagship event on something like (in the UK) Sky Sports, like it used to be for things to really kick off.

I believe the reason why snooker is popular is because:

1) Its marketed well
2) The prize money is excellent (people like to see people playing for big prizes)
3) The world championships are considered very prestigious, perhaps thats just a British thing, but over time it could apply to pool too (I mean outside the existing pool community who appreciate it already)
4) People sitting at home know they couldn't come close to a pro on a 12 foot snooker table. In reality 99% couldn't on a 9 foot pool table either, but perception wise (I'm going to blame 8-ball and perhaps 7 foot tables here) people think pool is easy and anyone could play it well
5) This is the tricky one...over here at least its considered almost part of the furniture, a good traditional event (again the World Championships I mean), perhaps in the 1980's when we only had 4 tv channels there was nothing else to watch, something like 1/3 of the country watched the 1985 World Championship final apparently!!!

Its also worth pointing out that in Europe (but not the UK), they have the Eurotour, you can buy a season pass on Kazoom, which has excellent quality coverage of the whole season for a fairly low amount (I can't remember how much exactly, but I'm sure it was less than $50 for the entire season last time I checked), so there is some market for it.

Here in the UK we have GB9 (our 9-Ball tour) which has free streaming and the IPA (a Blackball pool tour), which also has free streaming. I'm not sure how many people watch these streams, but for those who just want a pool fix they are free, so worth checking out! However as of yet I guess they aren't marketable enough to charge for, but who knows, as the tours get more popular over time, maybe one day they could be snapped up by someone!

The NUMBER 1 reason snooker has viewers is that you can bet on Snooker even at the Junior level pretty much on every corner...

Until the open up the gambling rules here in the states pool won't have enough of a following at the pro level to grow

 

[lost]

The NUMBER 1 reason snooker has viewers is that you can bet on Snooker even at the Junior level pretty much on every corner...

Until the open up the gambling rules here in the states pool won't have enough of a following at the pro level to grow

Problem is snooker is more equivalent to poker or blackjack
Pool is more like the slots. What kinda of interest would the general public have on gambling on a smash and run game like 9 or 10 ball? They can see that played in the bars every night by decent players...WITH JOBS...not gonna impress anybody or generate interest with that.

 

[The Renfro]

Problem is snooker is more equivalent to poker or blackjack
Pool is more like the slots. What kinda of interest would the general public have on gambling on a smash and run game like 9 or 10 ball? They can see that played in the bars every night by decent players...WITH JOBS...not gonna impress anybody or generate interest with that.

That's a great point.. The bar bangers think they could play that well if they only quit work and practiced... You actually have to be a certain speed or have been I think to truly understand the nuances... That's why maybe more offense and less nuance might be the ticket for the average Joe to be interested.. Hard to say since it's not done but it is popular over seas where they use the templates and alternating breaks each tournament... Just pointing that part out again... Maybe without the nuances more player show up for the tournaments as players to slug it out......

 

[ceebee]

At Magoo's Pool Room in Tulsa... they have TV's everywhere, but not a single TV is showing a Pool match or a Pool tournament, nor does it ever have ads to merchandise the products in has in the Pro Shop or Cue Makers Shop.

Once, I asked the owner if he had invited the news media, for the really big tournament he was running that coming weekend. He said no, we never do.

One poster on here was beating his drum about YouTube getting the cash instead of Pool. The NFL, NBA, PGA & MLB are getting their fare share for folks staring at the TV, while Miller, Bud & Frito lay make a killing.

I think a Pool Room should sell POOL.... & make Pool interesting. Each time they have a gambling match about or even in another town... the talk is about who one & the side bets... that kind of thing can be used to sell POOL...

 

[chefjeff]

I'm sorry but these sound like the wrong reasons to not buy. I mean if there are serious ethical issues like there have been with the US Open, that's a good reason. But I can just imagine I REFUSE TO BUY THIS PPV BECAUSE THEYRE BREAKING FROM THE CENTER AND THEY PUT THE ONE ON THE SPOT. We need to support people trying to promote pool, not find even more nitpicky reasons to boycott.

Asking someone to buy what they clearly don't want is not going to help pool.


Jeff Livingston

 

[Johnnyt]

You pretty much just described snooker over here!!!

Yet that gets a lot of viewers still, so its not that simple.

Personally I think its about perception, which could be solved with marketing, ideally the World Championships needs to be a flagship event on something like (in the UK) Sky Sports, like it used to be for things to really kick off.

I believe the reason why snooker is popular is because:

1) Its marketed well
2) The prize money is excellent (people like to see people playing for big prizes)
3) The world championships are considered very prestigious, perhaps thats just a British thing, but over time it could apply to pool too (I mean outside the existing pool community who appreciate it already)
4) People sitting at home know they couldn't come close to a pro on a 12 foot snooker table. In reality 99% couldn't on a 9 foot pool table either, but perception wise (I'm going to blame 8-ball and perhaps 7 foot tables here) people think pool is easy and anyone could play it well
5) This is the tricky one...over here at least its considered almost part of the furniture, a good traditional event (again the World Championships I mean), perhaps in the 1980's when we only had 4 tv channels there was nothing else to watch, something like 1/3 of the country watched the 1985 World Championship final apparently!!!

Its also worth pointing out that in Europe (but not the UK), they have the Eurotour, you can buy a season pass on Kazoom, which has excellent quality coverage of the whole season for a fairly low amount (I can't remember how much exactly, but I'm sure it was less than $50 for the entire season last time I checked), so there is some market for it.

Here in the UK we have GB9 (our 9-Ball tour) which has free streaming and the IPA (a Blackball pool tour), which also has free streaming. I'm not sure how many people watch these streams, but for those who just want a pool fix they are free, so worth checking out! However as of yet I guess they aren't marketable enough to charge for, but who knows, as the tours get more popular over time, maybe one day they could be snapped up by someone!

Snooker has legal gambling. Take that away and see what you have left. Johnnyt

 

[vjmehra]

You may well be right about gambling increasing interest, it seems fairly logical...but I'm also not sure we have a massive sports betting culture over here, perhaps because you can gamble on anything, anytime, any place it's not seen as a big deal!

I think snooker is popular purely as a spectator sport and would remain so even without gambling (bear in mind the major tournaments are all sold out in advance...that's fans not gamblers), but of course I may be wrong!