This is why our sport will never die out

[arnaldo]

It's played all over the world and many kids start out on inexpensive little home tables appropriately sized for them.
This little fella has excellent fundamentals and the side-armed stroke that's typical and necessary, without relying on the dangerous practice of having him standing on a box at a full-sized table. About the same age as my greatgrandson:

Arnaldo ~ Love to see these kinds of "off to a good start" pool photos

 

[Bavafongoul]

It will always exist but it will never again reach the popularity it previously enjoyed from the 30’s through the 90’s.
The peak was the late 50’s - 80’s; wishing for that to happen is like hoping drive in movies will make a comeback.
Many smaller cities and towns are down to just one pool hall or none at all aside from saloons and sports bars etc.

Pool will always have a following & larger metropolitan areas will fare OK but the small room operator is perishing.
COVID was, and continues to be in many regions, the death blow for small business owners. Pool rooms were on
already declining trend over the past 20 years. Unfortunately, it’s going to continue but pool will always be around.

 

[jay helfert]

They were playing pool in this country 150 years ago and they will be playing pool here 150 years from now. This sport will never die. It's too cool a game.

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

Pool is firing off in USA the competition I as killing it off.

People have more thing to choose from for recreation, or even things dot do at home.

Other places in World Pool might be alive and well.

Phoenix, Arizona 10 years ago had 20-30 more commercial pool
Room, and bars that had 4 or more pool tables. Those place closed, and few ever were replaced.

Part of problem was owners did not work in a direction together. If they had 3 with 4 or 5 miles apart would not all host events same day.

Pool needs one group to run and tire, league, and pro events. Not 5-7.

PGA is one golf group, pro and a mature golfers do not get rubber checks at er vents, or promoter leaving town with price money.

 

[mikemosconi]

Actually, the peak of pool n the U.S. was in the 1920s! There were 40,000 pool rooms in the U.S. then , with 4,000 rooms in the NYC area alone. That was with a U.S. population of 200 million less than today!! Baseball, Billiards, and boxing dominated the sports pages back then.

So, right now is one of the lowest points in U.S. history for participation and certainly for mainstream sports news coverage and exposure. Not dead of course, but far, far out of the mainstream now. The problem is not with the interest of folks like us here, it lies in our youth; even in the mid 1960s, almost every boy had picked up a cue a least once by age 16, I remember that well - now - boy or girl - maybe 1 in 25 has played pool by age 16.

It is not just pool rooms that have disappeared. Years ago every boys club ( which there were thousands), every senior center, every military base, most major colleges and universities, most bowling establishments, many, many large factory settings with rec rooms from major corporations like GE, Westinghouse, GM, Ford, etc. etc. ALL had billiards as a major component of recreational activity with dedicated billiard space.

All the high end mansions were built to include a billiard room from Newport RI to California. Most major sports clubs and political unions such as the NYC Athletic Club, the Union League, etc. etc. had very large and elaborate dedicated billiard rooms, which remain to this day as testaments to the past popularity of the game; if you get a chance to see them.