Bdorman-
Thanks for letting me know this was already posted. I just did a search and cannot find the previous comments, any suggestions?
BTW - I think there are more similarities to golf and pool.
Golf did overbuild - but did pool.
Golf is expensive - yet pool is very affordable most of the time.
Both are too hard to master.
The idea of 15' golf cups is intriguing. What would be a big pocket in pool (maybe 5.5 inches)?
Markg
Very few leisure activities maintain a super high participation factor year on year. We already know that trends are sparked by publicity. For pool it was the Hustler and the Color of Money, for golf it was 24 year old black Tiger Woods getting a 20 million dollar contract from Nike despsite never having competed in a pro tournament.
When the publicity fades the interest wanes. Pool "overbuilt" in the 90s when pool rooms were springing up on every corner. But that's not really overbuilding either it's simply responding to demand. Then when demand shrinks, either through boredom of the masses or through a real shrinkage in disposable income OR through competition from other activities then there are a lot of closed courses and closed pool rooms.
Pool simply hasn't done anything to grow the interest in the game. It's that simple.
If I owned a pool room I would put a pool table in the local mall and give away free hours as my house pros introduced hundreds of people a day to the great game we all love.
If I was a league owner I would take .25cts or even a dollar from every league member's dues and fund a pro tour that would be on television two times a month. I would send my contracted professionals out to barnstorm the country.
Brunswick promoted pool as a family activity in the 40s, 50s, 60s in their advertising. They are the ones responsible for branding pool as pocket billiards.
The Billiard Congress of America and just about every league and room owner in the United States is responsible for the fact that pool is not bigger than it is.
Why?
Well a couple reasons but the biggest one is quite simply that they rode the wave until it was gone with no real plan to generate more interest. Pool is one of the most economical activities to do. It is also one of the easiest, show up in your work clothes and play and have fun.
So why don't more people play?
Because we haven't asked them to. That's the bottom line. We haven't been out there on the ground at malls and fairs and wherever people gather to show them what a great indoor sport this is.
Regarding big pockets. A lot of very successful rooms have a lot of their tables done with big easy pockets for the very reason that making balls makes people happy and happy people stay longer and spend more.
and signed up for lessons. After a few weeks they'd quit, or they'd come to the club dressed for tennis but sit and chat and drink instead of play. They discovered that the game was a lot harder than it looked. 
