The Key to Making Pool Mainstream

[macguy]

For a start, why don't promoters that swear there is no money at the gate for tournaments send out invitations to known stars from other sports, movies, TV, and just plain famous people that play pool as a hobby? Have someone like the "Black Widow" do a short interview with some of them. Give the stars a lot of camera time in the beginning and see how fast mainstream will tune in to hear and watch the hobby of their favorite stars. Johnnyt

They used to show up. I used to go to the US open 14.1 most years and celebs would show up. I met Forest Tucker on the elevator going to the tournament room and he was by himself so we sat together. At one time of another I saw Fred Astair, James Caan, Peter Falk, numerous ball players, and I am sure many other at tournaments around the country.

Years ago Leo Durocher the ball player not only played but entered tournament play with some success. All it would take would be for a celeb to at least lend their name to a tournament. That I am suer would draw sponsorship.
"The Al Pachino 9-ball classic" or Certainly "The Tom Cruse all around pool championship"
I don't think it is pie-in-the sky. It would work if they could be convinced to do it.

 

[Cardigan Kid]

I posted about the getting some stars involved in the game and getting it in the schools also about a year ago. If we could get guys like Jordan playing pool or some hot female star, people might notice the game more and follow it maybe. Kind of like dancing with the stars. Have Earl and Kim Kardasheon team up against SVB and Halle Berry or something. Actually they did try this type of pro am deal with some of the pro football players i think and it didnt fly, Probably because it wasnt done for long enough. We need to make Micheal Jordan as good as SVB then it would sell. lol

You are almost onto something but I always said it has to be a relevant player/athlete who leaves his sport in mid career and starts playing pro pool. When Jordan had his early retirement and went to try baseball, the minor league team, I think it was the Birmingham bulls, sold out every game, reporters lined the field, etc.

This would only stick if someone along the lines of Kobe Bryant(not mid career) or LeBron James left nba and went to play pool. You would bet if they excelled even a little, ESPN would be all over the tournaments he would be in. The coverage and talk of pool would be unprecedented and all of a sudden you would have Mike and Mike in the mornings debating on if LeBron could at least get one rack of earl Strickland.

 

[lost]

You are almost onto something but I always said it has to be a relevant player/athlete who leaves his sport in mid career and starts playing pro pool. When Jordan had his early retirement and went to try baseball, the minor league team, I think it was the Birmingham bulls, sold out every game, reporters lined the field, etc.

This would only stick if someone along the lines of Kobe Bryant(not mid career) or LeBron James left nba and went to play pool. You would bet if they excelled even a little, ESPN would be all over the tournaments he would be in. The coverage and talk of pool would be unprecedented and all of a sudden you would have Mike and Mike in the mornings debating on if LeBron could at least get one rack of earl Strickland.

You guys crack me up. Here is what would make news. SVB actually has a hidden talent for throwing a baseball 100 mph, and the Dodgers sign him to minor league deal. Every week we watch the "pro" pool player as he shows the world what amazing athletes pool players are as he marches his way through the minors and reaches the Major Leagues at the end of season 1.
The 2nd season ends as he pitches a perfect game in the 7th game of the World Series.
Finally pool is now rightly viewed as obviously the most difficult game to master and ESPN dumps college basketball to make room for barbox 10 ball.

OK that's all I have. Who wants buy my script?

 

[Cardigan Kid]

You guys crack me up. Here is what would make news. SVB actually has a hidden talent for throwing a baseball 100 mph, and the Dodgers sign him to minor league deal. Every week we watch the "pro" pool player as he shows the world what amazing athletes pool players are as he marches his way through the minors and reaches the Major Leagues at the end of season 1.
The 2nd season ends as he pitches a perfect game in the 7th game of the World Series.
Finally pool is now rightly viewed as obviously the most difficult game to master and ESPN dumps college basketball to make room for barbox 10 ball.

OK that's all I have. Who wants buy my script?

You can be negative all you want. I still standby the fact that the characters, personalities, and life stories by many in pro pool are fascinating. The hard work and dedication is second to none. If a following was generated by all the different personalities around a poker table, and having ben Affleck entering tournaments didn't hurt, ESPN saw commercial value. The same would happen to pool. It just needs the catalyst.

Other "sports" covered by ESPN....
curling
Spelling bee
Beach volleyball (like pool, the women had the larger share of the tv time and ratings)
Lumberjack tournaments
Strong man tournaments

So no, Shane doesn't need to do anything he already does. His personal story and accomplishments are enough for ratings.

 

[lost]

You can be negative all you want. I still standby the fact that the characters, personalities, and life stories by many in pro pool are fascinating. The hard work and dedication is second to none. If a following was generated by all the different personalities around a poker table, and having ben Affleck entering tournaments didn't hurt, ESPN saw commercial value. The same would happen to pool. It just needs the catalyst.

Other "sports" covered by ESPN....
curling
Spelling bee
Beach volleyball (like pool, the women had the larger share of the tv time and ratings)
Lumberjack tournaments
Strong man tournaments

So no, Shane doesn't need to do anything he already does. His personal story and accomplishments are enough for ratings.

You aren't realistic. I could ask the next 500 people I meet and not a one of them would know who SVB is. Not even in the 3 bars within a mile of me.
Why would a world famous NBA athlete need to prove he can play pool, or curling for that matter? On the other hand I guess he'd never need the bridge.
The funniest thing when I was young was to see so called pool pros come through my college town (35,000 students) in the mid '70s looking to hustle suckers at the downtown pool hall. There was a graduate engineering student that had a "hidden" talent. He could simply shoot lights out pool. The word would go out to "Ed", he would head to the pool hall, grab his favorite house cue and take the guys money. Now THAT was great entertainment...it drew a pretty good crowd too. It was priceless watching the "pro" stuff his fancy cue back into his case after paying up. I think he did it more for spite than anything. BTW not for even a second did "Ed" think about making a living playing pool. Heck I didn't even know he played till the day another buddy of mine said to head over to watch "Ed" hustle the "hustler"....lol....gooooood times.
One more memory....
A bunch of us (pretty good shooters btw...the fish dropped out) had a sort of modified ring game I guess it's called, on a 9' gold crown. We'd play the 5 and 9 for money, and if one guy ran a couple racks it could get expensive for poor college guys. Ed never played...as I said before I didn't even know he played pool at all. Turns out he simply didn't feel good taking money from anybody except braggarts and "road" players. I almost forgot...he had a hot girlfriend he soon married and made more money than ANY pool player. What a loser right?
Now compare Ed's story to all the sad tales of faded pool players...even many of the ones who had a brief moment of fame on TV. What lifestyle do you want for your own son?

"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.".....George Bernard Shaw

 

[Cardigan Kid]

You aren't realistic. I could ask the next 500 people I meet and not a one of them would know who SVB is. Not even in the 3 bars within a mile of me.
Why would a world famous NBA athlete need to prove he can play pool, or curling for that matter? On the other hand I guess he'd never need the bridge.
The funniest thing when I was young was to see so called pool pros come through my college town (35,000 students) in the mid '70s looking to hustle suckers at the downtown pool hall. There was a graduate engineering student that had a "hidden" talent. He could simply shoot lights out pool. The word would go out to "Ed", he would head to the pool hall, grab his favorite house cue and take the guys money. Now THAT was great entertainment...it drew a pretty good crowd too. It was priceless watching the "pro" stuff his fancy cue back into his case after paying up. I think he did it more for spite than anything. BTW not for even a second did "Ed" think about making a living playing pool. Heck I didn't even know he played till the day another buddy of mine said to head over to watch "Ed" hustle the "hustler"....lol....gooooood times.
One more memory....
A bunch of us (pretty good shooters btw...the fish dropped out) had a sort of modified ring game I guess it's called, on a 9' gold crown. We'd play the 5 and 9 for money, and if one guy ran a couple racks it could get expensive for poor college guys. Ed never played...as I said before I didn't even know he played pool at all. Turns out he simply didn't feel good taking money from anybody except braggarts and "road" players. I almost forgot...he had a hot girlfriend he soon married and made more money than ANY pool player. What a loser right?
Now compare Ed's story to all the sad tales of faded pool players...even many of the ones who had a brief moment of fame on TV. What lifestyle do you want for your own son?

"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.".....George Bernard Shaw

Your take is valid and it has many points. And it's from the American point of view on pool. In Europe, countries sponsor their players. The value the sport as an Olympic one. If everyone had your point of view, we would never have kids in a US bobsledding camp up at lake placid. There's no money in that at all. Or a number of Olympic sports, but parents still sponsor their kids and countries provide assistance to train them to excel.

As for your friend you knew, he sounded like a pure natural. How disappointing that there wasn't a platform he could've attended just to compete in an Olympics or world games. Another gold for the USA, probably.

There are thousands of naturals in this country and if someone wanted to give it a go for five years, there should be a way to validate it, instead of road trips and hustlers. As for my son, if he wanted to play double A baseball, there still isn't money in it, living in hotels, long road trips, but at least there's a meager salary, so it's validated. And if there was the same for pool, I'd be right behind him.

That being said, if Shane was on ESPN every midnight, like Matt moneymaker, daniel Negreanu, and all the talk of gold bracelets, people would know his name too. media first, the rest follow, that's where a catalyst is needed, hence a superstar entering the sport.

 

[BeiberLvr]

Funny how a joke/troll post can start up some interesting conversation.

And people think trolls don't offer anything to these forums.

Just for clarification, I don't think of myself as a troll, but my OP definitely was (in a light hearted way)

 

[Cardigan Kid]

Funny how a joke/troll post can start up some interesting conversation.

And people think trolls don't offer anything to these forums.

Just for clarification, I don't think of myself as a troll, but my OP definitely was (in a light hearted way)

I thought the same thing, got a chuckle from the carrot top wig guy too. But there is ever present, this underlying potential of pro pocket billiards, so I'm always in for interesting conversation on how it can be capitalized on.

So sometimes a light joke is just the way to get the party started, so to speak. Great thread!

 

[logical]

They used to show up. I used to go to the US open 14.1 most years and celebs would show up. I met Forest Tucker on the elevator going to the tournament room and he was by himself so we sat together. At one time of another I saw Fred Astair, James Caan, Peter Falk, numerous ball players, and I am sure many other at tournaments around the country.

Years ago Leo Durocher the ball player not only played but entered tournament play with some success. All it would take would be for a celeb to at least lend their name to a tournament. That I am suer would draw sponsorship.
"The Al Pachino 9-ball classic" or Certainly "The Tom Cruse all around pool championship"
I don't think it is pie-in-the sky. It would work if they could be convinced to do it.

Anyone who was famous after the Kennedy administration?

 

[lost]

Funny how a joke/troll post can start up some interesting conversation.

And people think trolls don't offer anything to these forums.

Just for clarification, I don't think of myself as a troll, but my OP definitely was (in a light hearted way)

Trolls get views = ad revenue = you did pretty well

I don't deny my trolliness, it's part of my lack of charm


"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
George Bernard Shaw

 

[jburkm002]

What defines the success of pool? Leagues are bigger then ever. Probably more pool products and companies then ever. Sure it's not on TV in america. Not sure about other Countries. Snooker appears to be huge. There is a lot of competition on TV these days. It would have to be more than two guys playing pool. There are a lot of people making money off pool and pros. Pool is huge. Just isn't on tv.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

Best way to make Pool mainstream, is to travel back in time to the 1900's, when Pool was thriving.

 

[a.jin88]

Simple Solution: Scholarships. Sponsors for high school kids getting a college education playing pool. Clean up the image of pool. Get rid of the idea of nothing but low lifes playing all day, rid of the dirty pool hall image (which I do love an old run down pool hall with good tables), and get kids who are the future of the business market playing pool to get a scholarship. Obviously, the colleges would probably want nothing to do with it, but it would bring a new era to pool.

 

[(((Satori)))]

The "next big thing" was a pool reality show or maybe even more than one. Unfortunately it's not that easy to sell a new show to a television network. That does not mean it isn't going to happen though. Stay tuned. :wink:

You should try to contact Big Smo (King of hick-hop) to find out some trade secrets.

http://youtu.be/EyZDiEaTfvQ


Some of his songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugj1NTzl3b8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0Jg...hv-K0k8aVlyUeMPS3IoxUv&feature=share&index=26

 

[macguy]

Anyone who was famous after the Kennedy administration?

Tom Cruse, James Caan is still around. Lots of celebs have billiard rooms in their homes and like the game. Robert Blake used to be on talk shows and brag what a good player he was. Point is, there is no doubt what so ever that star power works.

Look at some of the golf tournaments they lend their names to. In the case of golf the celeb get the benefit of the involvement and the exposure. In pool's case the celeb would be the hook that would bring the attention to pool. Back in the IPT days I actually thought he may bring some attention to the sport and involve some celebs. But as it worked out, the only people who knew the IPT even existed were on this forum.

 

[336Robin]

I would argue that

What defines the success of pool? Leagues are bigger then ever. Probably more pool products and companies then ever. Sure it's not on TV in america. Not sure about other Countries. Snooker appears to be huge. There is a lot of competition on TV these days. It would have to be more than two guys playing pool. There are a lot of people making money off pool and pros. Pool is huge. Just isn't on tv.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

I don't know the exact number of league players or if its grown or not but...from previous threads the numbers I remember hearing were 40 million pool players down now to around 20 million. I do know from a friend who is in the pool wholesale business that half of the wholesalers of pool products have shut their doors. We have a lot of rooms here that have closed. We are seeing more Pool Leaguers here because they have no where else to go in our area. I also don't see a lot of money being made off pool promotion. Its promotion I do believe for other reasons than actually making money off the events, I think its more for advertising value. I hear the BCA tradeshow is all but gone, Tunica didn't make it from what I know. Dawn Hopkins tried and event in Atlanta that didn't go well a few years back. I don't have all the figures or know where they came from but Im not sure I could agree with you. I have a few room owner friends and they aren't seeing it either.

 

[336Robin]

Popularity of Pool

I think the best way to make Pool Popular is create activity. I see Doubles Matches as fun for Amateur Tournaments. It creates suspense and people are more inclined to watch it.

I also see that Room Owner Apathy is a big problem. With Alcohol it seems they only want to turn the key on the door and sell alcohol. I don't see much done in the way of cultivating pool business.

I see it as pretty easy if you market to groups of people like corporate fun days, invite people to come in and play and have it semi organized but let them have fun. I think a lot of it is the lack of an idea but a lot of it is the lack of wanting to do something.

 

[smashmouth]

not sure why celebrities would wanna be near a pool match, and not sure why pool needs to be mainstream either

 

[Banks]

Most pool halls would be more lively if used as libraries, nitch museums or methadone clinics.

Who wants to spend their evenings and afternoons in such places?

Stop making the game boring.

 

[bdorman]

You had me nodding my head in agreement, until you said "one-pocket, race to 100". Saint Patience couldn't sit through that!

Sure, celebraties would go a long way to popularizing pool, but it's not something you can manage; it just has to happen on it's own. Therefore, it's a crap-shoot.

Personally, I would focus on golfers. Very similar games (put the ball in the hole with the stick) and requirements (stance, stroke, follow-through, etc). Golfers are competitive and need a game to play when the weather isn't conducive to golf. Plus, golfers tend to have money.