Let's take a moment to discuss what motivates manufacturers, a cue maker for example, to sponsor a pro player.
You can choose to take my opinions with a grain of salt...or not. I am a typical pool player and my opinions just may represent a pretty big portion of the pool community. This is my honest opinion on the state of endorsements.
At the moment, I see little benefit to the manufacturer. I've been around a lot of tourneys and I fail to see a significant effort by the players (as a unit or individually) to promote their products. There are rare exceptions, but at best the player will wear a patch.
Where are the product endorsements in interviews? It seems you have to drag an answer out of the player when asking, "What kind of cue do you shoot with?" This information should fall out their mouth at every opportunity. Look at what such an effort has done for other sports. Nascar would have died an early death if they weren't so product-endorsement friendly.
Where are the product endorsements in news articles? I've scanned a lot of them lately looking for something like, "...Professional Pool Player John Doe, who is sponsored on tour by Acme Cues, won the XYZ 10B Championships held last weekend at the ABC Resorts in ....", but I never see such a all inclusive statement. The player's sponsor(s), the event's sponsor(s), the host facility, the host city,.... should all get mentions to attract future events and future endorsement deals. The players should demand it. The industry should demand it.
Sure, you see the player's face in advertisements or signing autographs in a booth, but outside of that I don't see where the player is helping their own cause.
Two exceptions are John Schmidt & Jeanette. JS is doing a good job with OB-1 and Jeanette is the obvious Queen of promotion.
Maybe a true players organization could organize an effort such as this. If the players do not unite they will forever wallow in mediocrity.
Sorry if this comes off as overly negative, but I just hate seeing the players suffer for choosing to play professional pool. I love the game and want to see the players and the industry flourish.
You can choose to take my opinions with a grain of salt...or not. I am a typical pool player and my opinions just may represent a pretty big portion of the pool community. This is my honest opinion on the state of endorsements.
At the moment, I see little benefit to the manufacturer. I've been around a lot of tourneys and I fail to see a significant effort by the players (as a unit or individually) to promote their products. There are rare exceptions, but at best the player will wear a patch.
Where are the product endorsements in interviews? It seems you have to drag an answer out of the player when asking, "What kind of cue do you shoot with?" This information should fall out their mouth at every opportunity. Look at what such an effort has done for other sports. Nascar would have died an early death if they weren't so product-endorsement friendly.
Where are the product endorsements in news articles? I've scanned a lot of them lately looking for something like, "...Professional Pool Player John Doe, who is sponsored on tour by Acme Cues, won the XYZ 10B Championships held last weekend at the ABC Resorts in ....", but I never see such a all inclusive statement. The player's sponsor(s), the event's sponsor(s), the host facility, the host city,.... should all get mentions to attract future events and future endorsement deals. The players should demand it. The industry should demand it.
Sure, you see the player's face in advertisements or signing autographs in a booth, but outside of that I don't see where the player is helping their own cause.
Two exceptions are John Schmidt & Jeanette. JS is doing a good job with OB-1 and Jeanette is the obvious Queen of promotion.
Maybe a true players organization could organize an effort such as this. If the players do not unite they will forever wallow in mediocrity.
Sorry if this comes off as overly negative, but I just hate seeing the players suffer for choosing to play professional pool. I love the game and want to see the players and the industry flourish.
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