All this always gets back down to the root question and that is ‘why are people in other sports paid so much and top pool players paid so little. The exception of course is snooker where the player in England are paid well, but generally why is it that when pool does get on tv the average person tends to skip right past the channel saying to their wife of husband, “oh those pros never miss” before skipping over to watch something else. One answer might be that the general public is not educated of the subtleties of pool and no youth programs teaching it to the young, let alone children’s tournaments like soccer, baseball, you name it. Another thing is people need sports heroes to root for, and this leads back to the chicken and the egg thing. If our pool player can’t get media exposure, people can’t get to know them and rivalries can’t be created. All this has been said before so I’m afraid nothing is going to change this dynamic anytime soon, unless that is if Shane or Earl can learn to hit a 98 mph fast ball!
No investor has figured out how to monetize pool in America, like they’ve done with Baseball, Football, etc.
Those sports were turned into businesses.
England has betting parlors on every street.
America does not.
Matchroom Sport created events in popular games, then filmed them and created a library of content that television & cable stations around the globe purchase.
This is how Matchroom thrives, off of its library of content.
They produce events in: Boxing, Golf, Snooker, Poker, Pool, Table Tennis, Darts, Fishing, Bowls(Lawn Game)
$$$
Matchroom had additional help in the form of BBC $ that they spent on creating content.
They were at the right place at the right time.
Pool is amazing. Cue sports are amazing.
It’s in our hands.
Wait til Phil Capelle’s new book,
“Pool is the Answer” is finished.
I’m trusting that that book will smack pro sports in its head.