This is a little off pool topic but I just wanted to point something out. A lot of us (me included) feel that if the purses were higher in pool that more people would watch it on TV and at the venue, there for getting good sponsors.
This has been proven not true with the IPT and other large purse tournaments in the states. I just got finished watching the opening rounds of the Derby Lane Million, a greyhound race that has a $1,000,000 purse with $500,000 going to the winner.
I followed and owned greyhounds for over thirty years and can remember when a night of stakes races a lot smaller than these at Derby Lane and other tracks would bring out 10,000 people or more and they would bet over $2,000,000 for the night.
In the last ten years or so with the bad press put out by the animal rights groups (some of which was deserved) and the growing competition from cards and other sports betting, Greyhound Racing can’t even get a dog food company to sponsor them. Tonight at Derby there were only about 1000 people there and I doubt if the total bet was $500,000.
I believe that pool has that same bad image and is why it can’t get good TV sponsorship either. It’s too late for Greyhound Racing and the horses. They won’t be around much longer. If pool wants to pull it self up it needs some top players that are clean-cut and can talk in front of a camera. Of course another blockbuster movie like the Color of Money wouldn’t hurt it either. Johnnyt
This has been proven not true with the IPT and other large purse tournaments in the states. I just got finished watching the opening rounds of the Derby Lane Million, a greyhound race that has a $1,000,000 purse with $500,000 going to the winner.
I followed and owned greyhounds for over thirty years and can remember when a night of stakes races a lot smaller than these at Derby Lane and other tracks would bring out 10,000 people or more and they would bet over $2,000,000 for the night.
In the last ten years or so with the bad press put out by the animal rights groups (some of which was deserved) and the growing competition from cards and other sports betting, Greyhound Racing can’t even get a dog food company to sponsor them. Tonight at Derby there were only about 1000 people there and I doubt if the total bet was $500,000.
I believe that pool has that same bad image and is why it can’t get good TV sponsorship either. It’s too late for Greyhound Racing and the horses. They won’t be around much longer. If pool wants to pull it self up it needs some top players that are clean-cut and can talk in front of a camera. Of course another blockbuster movie like the Color of Money wouldn’t hurt it either. Johnnyt