Why Bother With Pool On TV?

Ste said:
Ouch.

Strange - Is it because nobody has had a combination of a strong enough product & chutzpah to drop a rabid (not rabbi) lawyer on these guys ?

I would have though that in a place like America, that would have been done already. Especially knowing that if the product was strong enough - they would still broadcast on ESPN after they settle out of court or take the broadcast elsewhere.

.

No Lawyer needed. No other television medium wants us.

That may also say something of what they (Networks) think about the product.
 
MikeJanis said:
I ain't to savvy on those laws.

ESPN puts it to you like this. Bend Over and take our rules. Not even a kiss.

They simply give you a list stating that they agree to air your show when you give it to them and produced by these accepted companies to these minimum standards and oh, here is a list of companies you may not have as sponsors/advertisers. ( 80 pages later ) . Take it or leave it. Your signature goes here stating you agree.

Mike, I think you're being a little too harsh. ESPN makes its own rules about access to their own air time...of which there is only 24 hours per day...just like YOU make the rules for who can and cannot play in some of your events...and if they do, how much they get paid etc.

There may well be a list of sponsors...the very major ones you referred to who can't be approached by the WPBA to sell air time to but most if not all of them wouldn't buy time anyway.

In another portion of this thread, the issue of live broadcast was brought up and you correctly stated that it has been tried and flopped big time by drawing FAR, FAR fewer viewers than is required for "live" broadcast slots.

The major broadcast networks have TONS of rules too and if you think it's hard to get programming on ESPN...try NBC one time. (-:

It's all economics people. If ESPN thought that pool programs could pull the numbers they would be THRILLED to broadcast them...but they don't and probably never will.

Hell, the FREE IPT events that have been streamed don't pull big numbers!

Regards,
Jim
 
av84fun said:
Mike, I think you're being a little too harsh. ESPN makes its own rules about access to their own air time...of which there is only 24 hours per day...just like YOU make the rules for who can and cannot play in some of your events...and if they do, how much they get paid etc.

There may well be a list of sponsors...the very major ones you referred to who can't be approached by the WPBA to sell air time to but most if not all of them wouldn't buy time anyway.

In another portion of this thread, the issue of live broadcast was brought up and you correctly stated that it has been tried and flopped big time by drawing FAR, FAR fewer viewers than is required for "live" broadcast slots.

The major broadcast networks have TONS of rules too and if you think it's hard to get programming on ESPN...try NBC one time.

It's all economics people. If ESPN thought that pool programs could pull the numbers they would be THRILLED to broadcast them...but they don't and probably never will.

Hell, the FREE IPT events that have been streamed don't pull big numbers!

Regards,
Jim

The main reason pool has not been saleable to ESPN, (or any other network) is because we have no entity to present our product to.
Until we have a viable product, and an easily understood, well structured
game, (product) to present, things are not likely to change.
We need, a professional public relation firm to promote our game. It is so fractionalized, with so many different games, even sponsor's who are interested, are soon confused and lose interest REAL fast.
We need to settle on ONE, fast and exciting game, and organize ONE professoinal group to represent it. Until that happens, the game of pool is not going anywhere. And thats a fact we should all be aware of !!!

Dick
 
SJDinPHX said:
The main reason pool has not been saleable to ESPN, (or any other network) is because we have no entity to present our product to.
Until we have a viable product, and an easily understood, well structured
game, (product) to present, things are not likely to change.
We need, a professional public relation firm to promote our game. It is so fractionalized, with so many different games, even sponsor's who are interested, are soon confused and lose interest REAL fast.
We need to settle on ONE, fast and exciting game, and organize ONE professoinal group to represent it. Until that happens, the game of pool is not going anywhere. And thats a fact we should all be aware of !!!

Dick

I have to agree with all of the above. I also think we need to take a step back to PPV. Almost everybody has a computer now. As more rooms put in a camera or two, they will already have a table or two for PPV when a tour comes in or some big action sets are playing on it.

As far as a PPV Guide, AZ would be a good place to start one. If it got big enough someone would put up a web site like an online TV Guide. Johnnyt
 
Jim...You're right, as was aptly demonstrated last night, when ESPN deliberately cut off the last half of the Great Lakes Classic finals, between Kelly Fisher & Allison Fisher. It was the first run, and had been on for 2 1/2 hrs already, before they cut it off, for Sportscenter. Total crap, imo!

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

av84fun said:
If ESPN thought that pool programs could pull the numbers they would be THRILLED to broadcast them...but they don't and probably never will.

Jim
 
Johnnyt said:
I'm sure I'm missing something here or have wrong info?but here we go anyway. I have read that it cost the WPBA about $20,000 or more to tape each WPBA Classic show for ESPN. The show only draws .03 and has very few advertisers. The WPBA must be losing big money putting these matches on TV then. My question is my bother? Is it done for the few like Jeanette Lee that reap from it? Who owns the production company taping this? Also no one really cares to watch pool on TV in its present form. People watching ANY sport/game on TV want to know what the purse and winner's share is. The WPBA thinks this should remain a mystery. Take pool off TV and give the wasted money into the purses. Johnnyt

why bother? recognition of the game and the players - possibly to bring sponsorships into the sport. just a couple of thoughts.
 
Johnnyt said:
I'm sure I'm missing something here or have wrong info?but here we go anyway. I have read that it cost the WPBA about $20,000 or more to tape each WPBA Classic show for ESPN. The show only draws .03 and has very few advertisers. The WPBA must be losing big money putting these matches on TV then. My question is my bother? Is it done for the few like Jeanette Lee that reap from it? Who owns the production company taping this? Also no one really cares to watch pool on TV in its present form. People watching ANY sport/game on TV want to know what the purse and winner's share is. The WPBA thinks this should remain a mystery. Take pool off TV and give the wasted money into the purses. Johnnyt


It costs WPBA way more than suggested by some posters. I will let the WPBA players comment.
 
9balllvr said:
why bother? recognition of the game and the players - possibly to bring sponsorships into the sport. just a couple of thoughts.

If you would list all those that got a sponser because they were on TV please? Lt's not
A. Fisher= had sponser when she came here.

K. Corr= no sponser, on TV more than anyone but Allison.

J. Lee= Maybe, but probably had one befor going on TV.

WPBA has been on TV for about a dozen years. I think most would want the more money in purses instead of the recognition. Then you can sponser yourself. Just a thought. Johnnyt
 
SJDinPHX said:
The main reason pool has not been saleable to ESPN, (or any other network) is because we have no entity to present our product to.
Until we have a viable product, and an easily understood, well structured
game, (product) to present, things are not likely to change.
We need, a professional public relation firm to promote our game. It is so fractionalized, with so many different games, even sponsor's who are interested, are soon confused and lose interest REAL fast.
We need to settle on ONE, fast and exciting game, and organize ONE professoinal group to represent it. Until that happens, the game of pool is not going anywhere. And thats a fact we should all be aware of !!!

Dick

Dick, I agree with everything you said excpet the part about the "main reason."

The "main reason" is quite low viewership statistics. ESPN would broadcast penny pitching if the ratings were high enough. Such was the case with Texas Hold 'Em...for a while.

But when international events like the Mosconi Cup...which is not a "tour stop" and carries about as much "prestige" as any event in pool doesn't generate the numbers then THAT is the main reason why the structure of the ESPN pool broadcast deals are what they are.

But everything you said about what the sport needs is certainly true.

But until there is a near complete turnover in the pro ranks (males at least) so that there is a chance of evolving the ONE professional organization that you so correctly suggest is required, the sport is going nowhere fast in terms of mass audience appeal.

The current group of players either don't get it or are simply incapable of joining together in a common goal.

Excellent post.

Regards,
Jim
 
Johnnyt said:
If you would list all those that got a sponser because they were on TV please? Lt's not
A. Fisher= had sponser when she came here.

K. Corr= no sponser, on TV more than anyone but Allison.

J. Lee= Maybe, but probably had one befor going on TV.

WPBA has been on TV for about a dozen years. I think most would want the more money in purses instead of the recognition. Then you can sponser yourself. Just a thought. Johnnyt

If so, they would be BADLY mistaken. JL makes at least TWENTY TIMES her prize money in annual income as a direct result of her recognition and HARD, HARD work in promoting herself.

Regards,
Jim
 
Endorsements Endorsements Endorsements...

Its a far more stable form of revenue income than actually playing for your money.

Thats your basic livelihood, the stuff you pay the mortgage with. Purses / winnings are (and should be) the sweeteners.
.
 
Johnnyt said:
If you would list all those that got a sponser because they were on TV please? Lt's not
A. Fisher= had sponser when she came here.

K. Corr= no sponser, on TV more than anyone but Allison.

J. Lee= Maybe, but probably had one befor going on TV.

WPBA has been on TV for about a dozen years. I think most would want the more money in purses instead of the recognition. Then you can sponser yourself. Just a thought. Johnnyt

I think the initial thought may have been for recognition and sponsorship, whether that was the outcome or not, it seems logical - do you disagree?
 
9balllvr said:
I think the initial thought may have been for recognition and sponsorship, whether that was the outcome or not, it seems logical - do you disagree?

No. I can agree on that. Johnnyt
 
Jim...Not to take anything away from Jeanette...sex sells...but the REAL reason she's making that kind of dough, is that she has a GOOD AGENT, who finds good deals to bring to her! Octagon is a big outfit! :grin:

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

av84fun said:
If so, they would be BADLY mistaken. JL makes at least TWENTY TIMES her prize money in annual income as a direct result of her recognition and HARD, HARD work in promoting herself.

Regards,
Jim
 
When I arranged The Norwegian 9-ball Challenge in 2006 we used a tv-production team, and it was broadcasted live on both bwin.com and the 2nd largest tv-channel in Norway, on their web-tv, on ppv.

We had 1 overhead-camera, and 3 other cameras, and the staff from the productionteam and tv-channel was a total of 7. The event lasted for 4 days, and 25 matches was broadcasted live.

The cost of producing was much more than 20 000 $, but I negotiated well with the companies involved and didn't have to pay anything for it myself + I got the copyrights for all the DVD's for later use.

I have discussed future tournaments like this with them, and they are interested in repeating the show.

My point is that even though the costs for this production was huge, it didn't cost me as a promoter anything. The 1.price was 10 000 $, which Mika Immonen won, but it couldn't have been 20 000 $ if I didn't bring in TV. Because I didn't use money on tv, and since the sponsors were there because of the tv there would be no money extra without tv...

Could it be that WPBA do not use their own money on tv-production? And could it be that without using money on tv-production the money wouldn't even be there at all, because the lack of tv meant fewer sponsors?

I guess that it is a lot easier to get sponsors like casinos etc. to join the event if there are matches broadcasted on tv, even though it is delayed...
 
Last edited:
Roy, the casinos wouldn't pay this money without the television coverage. And the same can be said for all the sponsors. TV makes it all fly!
 
I'm just glad it is there though I'd rather see stuff like Propool videos up close and personal filming style coverage on tv.
 
Back
Top