Some Interesting Figures? Pool Needs....

Tom In Cincy

Tom In Cincy

AKA SactownTom
Silver Member
We (pool players for the most part) have been wondering what it would take to bring Pool into the ranks of Professional sports.

IIRC, the most common response is a SPONSOR with Tons of $$$.. Well we had the IPT and KT's richest pool tournaments ever... and it FAILED...
It did generate some of pool's best ever paydays for the players.

Currently there is only a very few people in the pool industry that the Professional players TRUST without reservations. And I know.. there are exceptions to even those individuals. Not every player trusts even the most trustworthy.

Some figure I thought might be interesting;

Sports $$$ Statistics from Plunkett Research, Ltd.

Estimated Total revenue for Sports for the year 2010
Where do you think Billiards fits into this picture?

Total estimate for 2010 $414 Billion
Major League Baseball will bring in about $6.8 BILLION
NFL $7.8 BILLION
NBA $4.0 BILLION
NHL $3.0 BILLION

The PGA, NASCAR and Tennis is under a BILLION

All golf courses combined across the USA will generate $19.8 BILLION in 2010.


Now.. can you imagine if pool had a 10 year commitment from a wealthy sponsor for $5MILLION a year. That is $50 MILLION.. very very very LOW compared to the above figures.

$5 Million a year... who would you suggest administer that amount? That is 20 times an annual amount of an estimated $250,000 a year in prize money currently available in the USA only.

Of that $5 MILLION.. how much would you think would go to the official Operating funds. The Expenses of administration and operating such an organization. Just to promote and run tournaments for the Professional players.. how much of that $5 Million?

$150,000 a year? for a Commissioner? $350,000 for staff and operation funds?

See... first we have to spend some of that SPONSOR'S money to get it to players. Fun huh?

Now.. we have to come up with 10 monthly tournaments.. and a championship.

Someone has to decide how much to spend on each tournament and then the location(s) and how much for the prize fund, TD and staff, and table and venue renting. Contracts to be signed for long term usage for dedicated venues and guaranteed pricing.

We are still spending a lot of that sponsor's money and haven't even had a tournament yet.

Sounds easy huh... where is the TV? will it come in the first year? or will it be in the 5th year... oh wait... another show stopper.. what if the Benefactor big dollar sponsor demands a business plan.. before we get the money?

Who will develop the business plan? will the players get to review it before the Sponsor sees it? Will they know enough about a business plan to be able to judge its merits or be able to see how it affect them in the short and long run?

still no tournament date.. it takes time, a plan and dollars and most of all a leader and dedicated staff to pull this off.. and then the players need to at the very least TRUST that organization and LEADER

If this were to start today.. I would estimate it would take the better part of the next 12 months to decide who will be the Commissioner.. then there has to be a committee to approve the business plan. That will take another 12 months.

Two years and then we can start seeing some progress on when a tournament schedule might be presented.

Anytime less that that... for just $50,000,000 would be wasted on petty bickering.
 
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I would argue that none of the listed sports started off with such attractive financing. They started from grass-roots efforts. From meager beginnings they grew & grew & grew. Look back at NASCAR. Bunch of dudes racing around on the Daytona sand. Now it's big business.

Pool has no chance of stumbling into funding on the order of 10's of millions. Instead, it needs to grow brick by brick, just like all successful sports have. Problem is, there aren't any brick-layers around.

EDIT: I should note that my comments are aimed at professional pool as it pertains to TV & general media. How many people attended the last pro tourney you went to? The only money to be made in the game right now is in amateur leagues. I can't see people ever sitting down to watch pool like they do the other sports. Bowling is pool's twin-sister & they are struggling.
 
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Well stated and I agree.

Pool is still in the womb stage compared to the Majors. IMO infancy would be a step forward.

Unlike many pool enthusiasts I am all for status quo with the present structure of pool. Pool is not broke.

Improvement is a dream that others want. I was just trying to point out how much further this game needs to go to reach that 'infancy stage'

Humbly "Not in my lifetime" I am sorry to say.

mosconiac said:
I would argue that none of the listed sports started off with such attractive financing. They started from grass-roots efforts. From meager beginnings they grew & grew & grew. Look back at NASCAR. Bunch of dudes racing around on the Daytona sand. Now it's big business.

Pool has no chance of stumbling into funding on the order of 10's of millions. Instead, it needs to grow brick by brick, just like all successful sports have. Problem is, there aren't any brick-layers around.

EDIT: I should note that my comments are aimed at professional pool as it pertains to TV & general media. How many people attended the last pro tourney you went to? The only money to be made in the game right now is in amateur leagues. I can't see people ever sitting down to watch pool like they do the other sports. Bowling is pool's twin-sister & they are struggling.
Click to expand...
 
To get sponsorship pool needs a face to sell to the sponsors first,a recognizable personality,to sell their products.The biggest one we have is Jennette Lee,but she has been unable to make the leap from pool products to major sponsors like Budweiser or Proctor and Gamble.We are in for a long uphill climb!
 
'Sprout" ? 500years?

maybe 150 years old.

Pool enjoyed a very prominent reputation from the late 1800s through the 1950s.

Then it went down hill with introduction of Color TV and the rise of exciting Professional sports.
 
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I'll get the ball rolling on nominating someone to be a commissioner, I nominate Greg Sullivan! He's educated, experienced and has a passion and an "inner workings" knowledge of the business end as well as the tournament end of the sport. I also believe he has the right approach in not trying to clean up pools image too much! Lets face it, it's the gambling and action side of the sport that always has been the only thing to elevate it. The Hustler and the Color of Money are unarguably the best things to happen in regards to business picking up, goes! Every time pool is featured in a TV show, the plot is about the same. Somebody gets hustled and the hero plays the hustler and teaches them a lesson! lol Ever talk to a distant relative or old friend you haven't seen in decades and see the reaction when they find you're a pool player? They always ask if you gamble and if you ever played Minnesota Fats, or something of that nature. I agree that the dump artists and stiffers aren't good for the image, but gambling is! I think instead of going against the grain and trying to make the general public think it's a game for people in tuxedos, we'd be ahead to capitalize on the mystic of the gamblers and action matches.

OK, I'm off my soapbox! Who's next?
 
Greg is a good choice....I'd also like to see Allen Hopkins involved. Allen has had much success putting on large events, and he's old enough to remember what didn't work back in the day.......and what did work.


I remember the Camel tour, and weekly pool on TV....that was cool!
 
The reason those sports grew is people watch them and attend events they have fans that buy merchandise. How many people can fit around a pool table? How much money do the people spend at events when they do attend?

The difference between nascar, football, soccer, baseball, golf, tennis, basket ball, high school track and field events etc. and pool is pretty simple to see...It's about 29,000-100,000 people in the crowd which is about 4-10million dollars a hour per event. A normal pool event here in the USA brings about 300 people to watch.

The only way to make pool more popular is for events to start making money hand over fist. There is no other way, this has to happen first, before anything else can happen. It is not the job of the sponsors to make a sport work, it is the job of the players to make their sport popular. If people flock to your sport then money comes with them, there is no other way...
 
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