Pro Pool Is Exactly As It Should Be

[rexus31]

The key to attracting a younger, more affluent demographic is to get kids playing pool and the only way to do this is to have legitimate juniors leagues which are easily accessible across the country. If kids are interested when they are young, they will be interested as they reach adulthood.

 

[Cameron Smith]

Why is it the taxpayers of a pro basketball team have to pony up for the stadium, pay outrageous ticket prices, and then also have to pay to park in their own lot that they paid for? Not to mention 8 dollars for a cup of beer.

In theory, tax payer money is used to build stadiums because of the economic boost that comes having major league sports teams and big concerts. Whether those benefits outweigh the expense of the upkeep is another conversation. As to why the beer costs $8? Because people will pay it. They’d charge $15 for beer if they could.

 

[mizzoutiger26]

If you're content to ruminate in your rocking chair all day on your own thoughts because enjoying things is ridiculous, more power to you. Let me spend my money how I want.

 

[JB Cases]

Why is it the taxpayers of a pro basketball team have to pony up for the stadium, pay outrageous ticket prices, and then also have to pay to park in their own lot that they paid for? Not to mention 8 dollars for a cup of beer.

Because the "job creator" myth is STRONG. The build it and they will come mentality is so alluring and those wanting to profit from the "building of it" are great at selling that myth.

And in fact, there are examples where taxpayer funded attractions have brought more revenue into a city. But on net many if not most of these subsidies for the rich projects end up being losing propositions for the cities and states that fund them.

 

[JB Cases]

Anyone blaming "over paid" players is laughable.
An old target. So who gets the biggest share of the money then? The owner?
Pay the players. If you don't like it don't watch.
I really only watch football and I don't cry about them or the other sports.
Pool USED to have money in it.
Players f'd it all up.

Pool never had any real money in it. While there was a brief time when the results of pool tournaments and major challenge matches could grace the front pages of major papers occasionally the fact is that even then the earnings of professional pool players wasn't great. The greatest straight pool player of our lifetime Willie Mosconi HAD to earn his money doing exhibitions 200 days a year. He HATED it. The second best of that era was a car salesman in his day job.

For the top tier pro sports in America the owners do in fact reap most of the rewards.

The NFL’s Most Valuable Teams 2021: Average Team Value Soars To $3.5 Billion As League Shrugs Off Pandemic Year

With lucrative new media deals and some fruitful investments, the NFL’s 32 teams are worth 14% more than last year on average as the Dallas Cowboys hold on to the top spot at $6.5 billion.

www.forbes.com

 

[Cameron Smith]

Pool never had any real money in it. While there was a brief time when the results of pool tournaments and major challenge matches could grace the front pages of major papers occasionally the fact is that even then the earnings of professional pool players wasn't great. The greatest straight pool player of our lifetime Willie Mosconi HAD to earn his money doing exhibitions 200 days a year. He HATED it. The second best of that era was a car salesman in his day job.

For the top tier pro sports in America the owners do in fact reap most of the rewards.

The NFL’s Most Valuable Teams 2021: Average Team Value Soars To $3.5 Billion As League Shrugs Off Pandemic Year

With lucrative new media deals and some fruitful investments, the NFL’s 32 teams are worth 14% more than last year on average as the Dallas Cowboys hold on to the top spot at $6.5 billion.

www.forbes.com

Although that is true, pools glory years were before it was common for athletes to get super rich. Here is an interesting article.

When did athletes get so rich?

Stephen Curry's yearly salary is a cool $34 million. Where did all this money come from?

bigthink.com

Of course we had people like Babe Ruth (and other big stars) making what would be in today’s dollars, $1 million a year, it wouldn’t be until the 1960s that you start to see player salaries sky rocket. The fact that pool was widely reported in pre-war era despite not having much money in it seems to have been the rule rather than the exception. Sadly, pool was not well positioned (and never has been) to take advantage of the influx of advertising dollars,

 

[sellingboe]

Let's say the best pool players in the world were around 750 fargo.

And we had never heard of an 800

Would we know the difference?

There would still be the best of the best but they would be far more likely to spend their days running a back hoe, or welding, or working on wall street. They would just love the game in a healthy fashion.

Would this hypothetical group of people be more or less happy with their lives than those who spend all day every day practicing pool?

Let's say they held an NBA game and no one came. Or watched on TV. There would still be a group of the best Ballers on the planet they just wouldn't be as good. Same with all of it. Celebrity worship is decay.

Celebrity worship is decay. You should have just stopped there without the socialism. Even in the Soviet Union, hockey players would have done better financially than pool players. People still paid for their entertainment.

 

[Guy Manges]

The money does go away. It goes away when people quit buying Nike's at $200 a pair. It goes away when people quit paying $100's of dollars on tickets to games. It goes away when people quit spending $50 dollars for a ticket, popcorn, and a beverage to see a movie. There would be no money there for the executives. People don't pay to watch pool, that's why there is no money in pool.

Yes this is true in our United States, Commercials pay and viewers have no value, So I am a viewer of other countries. This in time will have to change. Also as I watch I see more of this in other countries as well. The paying viewer must have more value. I believe in our country there are many people that would pay to watch good pool games. Couldn't this be done ?

 

[jonesrick]

Such a simple matter. Not enough humans (if you will) willing to pay the price of admission. End of story.