Want to know why pool doesn't grow?

Nice post RJ. One thing though, just wait until you cant play as good anymore. The day will come when you go to dive for that ball up the middle, and you flop on your belly instead. Happens to us all, though I used to think I could play baseball into my 60's. In reality, very few of us can still play anywhere near as well in their 40's. Thats when its time to retire the glove, and revisit the table.
 
Celtic said:
Threads like this take away the focus from the real issues that plague this sport, the game played and how freaking boring it is for the spectators currently. THAT is the problem with pool and it has been for decades.
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It isn't a problem in the Asia or it isn't a problem with snooker in England. Pool actually has decent television numbers. Enough that ESPN uses as filler programming. Will pool ever be the NFL? Nope. But, it can carve out it's own little niche.

The problem that I see it is the lack of organization within the sport itself. The industry doesn't/can't/won't help support a viable tour. The players are short sighted but I can understand this because they are just trying to survive. Promoters can't make any money running tournaments, etc, etc, etc.

Yes pool can be boring to watch but so is golf, baseball, chess, poker, to name a few. Here is my unprofessional opinion on how to make the game grow:

1. Have some semblance of an actual professional pool tour. Take the existing large scale tournaments such as the DCC, SBE, BCAPL Championships, US Open, Joss Tour finale, etc. as the basis of the tour.

This pro tour will be bare bones. Create a points structure that can determine player of the year, Mosconi cup invitations, etc. There will need to be some minimum requirements for a tournament to be "sanctioned" a tour event. Say minimum $10,000.00 added, certain rules, etc. But beggars can't be choosey at this stage of the game. Just compromise so that it can work.

2. Get at least the finals on TV. Streaming is an interesting avenue but the most people that I have ever seen watching a stream is about 2000. That number is world wide. For the sport to grow, it has to get on television. There are a bazillion channels on cable (ok not that many). I watch local sports such as high school football on television so getting billiards on a channel say Versus, etc. should be possible. Again, there has to be some sort of organization of the sport for this to happen. The WPBA had the right idea with their affiliation with ESPN. But, their business model needs to change with the current economic conditions.

3. Market,market, market the tour stops. Did I say market? Use Guerrilla marketing techniques, create an official program with player bios, create a media package (include free press passes, program, etc.), pro am event for charity, use grass roots marketing (word of mouth), etc.

Hopefully, the tour catches some momentum and gets picked up by a network or corporate sponsor. If not, then it can at least still be viable. The problem is that it takes an organized effort between the promoters, players, etc. Good Luck with that.
 
It just isn't a spectator friendly sport. I love pool and watching pool more than most any other sport, but I know I can put in a pool DVD and I can be asleep in 15 minutes or less. It doesn't matter who is playing, I am out. Now imagine if the networks had more pool on. No one would watch TV because they would all be asleep.
 
Bambu said:
Nice post RJ. One thing though, just wait until you cant play as good anymore. The day will come when you go to dive for that ball up the middle, and you flop on your belly instead. Happens to us all, though I used to think I could play baseball into my 60's. In reality, very few of us can still play anywhere near as well in their 40's. Thats when its time to retire the glove, and revisit the table.
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I'm just about there since I turn 50 this year. Don't think my back will allow me to play baseball this year and will have to finally retire, other than playing with my kid.

Gonna play more tennis, and def play more pool. I really don't like Golf only because I get the same satisfaction out of pool, they are both on the low level athletic scale, but pool is a hell of lot cheaper, and I don't have to burn the whole day :)
 
pool is very different

The two big booms in pool were after the movies. The Hustler really got
it going. After that movie, pool rooms popped up everywhere. It was the
gambling and living a little on the edge that made it so popular. When you
came to the Cotton Palace in Dallas, so many people were in the pool area watching and betting on the games, that the players had to move them to
shoot. Nobody gave a crap how they conducted themselves. No one said
"Boy, Alf Taylor sure was a gentleman when he lost today, I want to be
like him". There were very few tournaments. Even if they had one it was
a reason to get everyone together for the action. Pool is so different than
all other games,that you could have two of the best players in the world
playing for the World Championship on one table, and two guys that could
not run three balls betting $100 on the other table, and every one would
be watching the action game.When I was 16 I went to Johnson City, Jack
Terry asked me to give a note to Danny Jones. Boy oh boy when I saw him
and told him I was from Dallas and had a note for him from Jack Terry I
was so excited. He asked me about what was going on in Dallas and so on
as we walked into the action room. From then on I could walk right in, I
was with Danny Jones. Mingle with the best in the world when your just a
dumb kid, no other sport like it, and to this day could not tell you who won the tournaments but can remember almost all of the action games I watched. Does anyone think that if the Hustler
had been about a guy playing leagues, tournaments and leaping off
his chair to congratulate his opponent after he lost that pool would have
taken off like it did. Not saying it's right, it was just the way it was. It slowed down a little and then The color of Money came out. Action, con, treachery . Big boom. Look at the pool books that are popular, Buddys,
Bobby Cottons, Jays, etc. Alf's book will be too. Back then even if you
weren't playing you were part of something. You were sweating or betting
the games, trying to match up,steering someone, getting steered, etc.
Sitting at home watching on tv or even in the stands is not the same.
Pool is so different. You were up close to the best in the world. No other
sport was like that. If they lived in your town it was easy to get to know
them. They played where you did, and they were there every day. I could
never play a cheap 18 with Tiger Woods, but I have played quite a few
with Buddy,Louie,Craig, and so on. I don't know how to make it, so good
players can make a decent living, it is just so different. But so is the world.
Maybe the younger generation that weren't around during that time can
figure a way. The only game that you can really play good all your life.
Take a look at the Billy Stroud video. Truly the best of all games.
jp
 
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