Mark,
The major problem is that "tournament pool" does not and will not capture any audience.
I have said for years that very few of us (if any) fell in love with the game of pool by watching a 64 player tournament.
We need to look within ourselves and find out what it was that attracted us to the game of pool - what made us fall in love with the sound of the balls clicking together - hitting the back of the pockets - and then traveling down the subway.
Find out what it was that attracted our eyes, our minds and our hearts, and then bottle it up.
For most of us, it was the action that surrounded the game. For years we have been told that it is a bad thing, but if handled properly by the right people and marketing it correctly, it can be used as a magnet for fans. More viewers = more sponsors. More sponsors = more money.
Just ditch the long drawn out tournaments and have 1 on 1 matchups like TAR is doing already, but add in a sense of continuity for those who win - and make it worth the time and energy for those that lose.
If you win, you become King of the Hill. Each week, you must defend your spot by putting up at least 50% of what you have won so far. The challengers that play the King of the Hill will have to qualify through 3 rounds of 5-man ring games to build up their challenge purse. Each ring game round has a buy in, as well as winner's purse put up by a sponsor. You can have different sponsors for each round, or we can just find a rich uncle. I say diversify and expand - never put your eggs in one basket.
If you lose the King of the Hill match, you have to start all over again, but you are allowed to reserve a % of what you won in the ring games for yourself.
You also receive an appearance fee paid for by a title sponsor. You go back to the bottom with some cash in your pocket, some exposure, and the drive to get back to the top of the mountain to win the BIG CASH.
This ensures a different challenger every week - perhaps a different champion every week.
Of course the financing will have to be worked out, but if this system test-run in a smaller market, such as Phoenix or Dallas, we can iron the kinks before it is taken to the national and global level.
We are infamous for putting the cart before the horse. Something such as this would work if we got our shitt together first, instead of planing the event and getting our shitt together as the event unfolds - thsi goes for any idea, not just mine.
This post is not all there is to my idea. There is so much that has to happen before this could ever get off of the ground, and that is where the growing pains come in.
That is my idea - whether or not anybody will invest in it is up for debate. Like I said, I would like to try and test run this in a local market and improve upon it gradually with the intent of expanding it to the national market.
