Read this and weap pool fans
- Thread starter krelldog
- Start date
Hot dog eating. Over 200K. Truly a sad day.
Last line of the article.
"All things considered, if you reach the top of your sport, no matter what it is, you'll end up making a nice living."
Haha! Tell em' how it is SVB.
"All things considered, if you reach the top of your sport, no matter what it is, you'll end up making a nice living."
Haha! Tell em' how it is SVB.
Ok, I understand all of the sports that are on TV, even the rodeo stuff. But this one really gets my blood boiling...
Next time you play darts with friends, dazzle them with details of Phil Taylor, who earned $938,497 last year in dart tournament prize money.
Really??
Next time you play darts with friends, dazzle them with details of Phil Taylor, who earned $938,497 last year in dart tournament prize money.
Really??
hasn't SVB made around 100k this year winning tournaments? I am pretty sure he has made a decent living off it.
What's hard to understand? Phil Taylor is the biggest star in a sport that.
A)Has major sponsors like Ladbrokes and Partypoker.
B)Has an organized pro tour with 10+ tounaments and a regular TV schedule.
C)Last year it's world championship drew 700,000+ viewers just on SKY TV. It was also broadcast on about 20 other channels in different countries.
D)Draws healthy live crowds, the strongest being about 9,000 people.
What exactly does pool do?
Agreed. Darts is, like it or not, much better for TV and live viewing than pool. Like pool, at the highest level, every shot means something. Unlike pool, it's fast. And, the crowds are both large and raucous. Hell, I love watching darts. I even record darts on my DVR. It's on late nights on NBC sports network.
Think about all the expenses SVB has at any given tournament. This has been discussed on AZ for a while now.
He has to get there, on his own.
He has to pay for his hotel, on his own.
He has to then pay the tournament entry fee, on his own.
Don't forget about eating out every tournament you go to as well.
Stuff gets expensive.
If he doesn't place, he is in the red just going to the tournament. I don't think many "top" athletes have to worry about that.
Then, if he does have a backer, he owes him some percentage of his winnings. So calculating all that in, you can figure out of that $100,000+ how much SVB actually pockets.
Yes, he is sponsored by CueTech, which probably makes him much better off than most pool players, but it still doesn't seem fair hotdog eaters should be making more than one of the world's best cue artists.
Not arguing, just explaining my opinion on the situation.
No, it doesn't seem fair, if you think that prize money is somehow based on the merit of the event. It isn't, of course. Prize money primarily comes from advertisers, who are making an investment. If they aren't getting the return on that investment, they won't pony up the prize money. That's the unfortunate reality of pool--not enough people want to watch it to justify advertisers putting up significant prize money. It's presumably possible for that to change, but no one is coming forward with the solution at the moment.
I've never watched darts and never competed at darts so my opinion is clearly biased but I can't imagine it being more fun to watch than pool. I'll take your word for it that's it is better for TV viewing but what I find unreal is that their top earner is 9-10 times that of a top pro. Truly Sad
Kill itself
I actually watched it the other day and it was pretty entertaining. The issue with pool is that it isn't on TV. Being on TV will create more opportunity for sponsors. To be on TV, there has to be a professionally organized ran tour. Good luck with that. Maybe Diamond has a chance with Harrahs down the road.
I higlighted the key statement. Not enough people want to "watch" pool. Millions of people enjoy playing, but they dont want to sit for an hour and watch others play. This is even true at a major event. For example: in Vegas next month at the BCA Nationals, look around at the very small crowd that watches the Finals at any event.
Unless we can get some interest from viewers, the sponsors will not throw in any money. Without sponsors, there will be no big payouts, sad but true. :frown:
If you stay at home that is a decent living. After figuring lodging, travel expenses and such that figure gets whittled down pretty quickly. Not saying that isn't decent money just that you have to figure in expenses the average working guy living at home would not have. Me, I would not like living out of a suite case for the better part of the year. It gets old after a while.
Are you sure Cuetech doesn't cover all that for him? It would be kind of pointless to pick up a big sponsor like that and not at least be covered on travel.
Try this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvnP2VwQb6E
Darts can be very entertaining and makes for very good TV. I have always enjoyed watching darts too.
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