WNT, WPA and 2026

[uk_9_ball_convert]

what i mean is "getting something on tv" isn't a thing anymore. even the legacy media tv channels have streaming platforms, and that trend won't reverse..

In the UK the major Matchroom pool events are on Sky Sports which is legacy media tv and still a big deal in the UK as it has lots of Premiership football matches and the Formula 1. Not sure what kind of money Sky are paying them, they spend big on some sports, but doubt they'd spend much on pool

 

[sjm]

Matchroom did not buy the long term rights (in perpetuity) to the WPC in 2000, as it did in 2020. So I viewed the 2000-2003 period as a one-off well before the company committed to a global tour 20 years later. Going into detail about that three-year period didn’t seem necessary to me, but thanks for adding your insight.

Definitely some truth in what you say, but ,,,,

I think that Matchroom's jump into producing the World 9ball in 2000-03 may have been the single biggest moment in the growth of pool in Europe. In the 1990s, you could count the European cueists that played international events on your fingers (Souquet, Ortmann, Feijen, Lely, Chamat, and few, if any, others). The Euro-tour, which was formed in 1992, had yet to attract too much attention. A couple of years later, the Mosconi Cup was devised, but Europe usually took a beating. When European cueists could suddenly try their hand at, or watch, American pool at the World 9ball in Cardiff, American pool's place in their collective consciousness skyrocketed. Even though the World 9ball moved to Asia in 2004, the seed had already been planted. Euro-tour participation took off, and within a decade after that, European pool had caught and passed American pool and since 2009, America has won just two Mosconi Cups.

Whether the World 9ball might have been the launching point for a tour even back then is certainly debatable, but the four events in Cardiff are among the most important ever staged because they jump-started Europe's wide participation in American pool.

 

[uk_9_ball_convert]

Definitely some truth in what you say, but ,,,,

I think that Matchroom's jump into producing the World 9ball in 2000-03 may have been the single biggest moment in the growth of pool in Europe. In the 1990s, you could count the European cueists that played international events on your fingers (Souquet, Ortmann, Feijen, Lely, Chamat, and few, if any, others). The Euro-tour, which was formed in 1992, had yet to attract too much attention. A couple of years later, the Mosconi Cup was devised, but Europe usually took a beating. When European cueists could suddenly try their hand at American pool at the World 9ball in Cardiff, American pool's place in their collective consciousness skyrocketed. Even though the World 9ball moved to Asia in 2004, the seed had already been planted. Euro-tour participation took off, and within a decade after that, European pool had caught and passed American pool and since 2009, America has won just two Mosconi Cups.

Whether the World 9ball might have been the launching point for a tour even back then is certainly debatable, but the four events in Cardiff are among the most important ever staged because they jump-started Europe's wide participation in American pool.

The fact the original Mosconi cups had professional snooker players in it was pretty key in the UK at least to raising awareness of the sport. I doubt more than a handful or people in the UK had ever heard of 9 ball pool before the first Mosconi. Steve Davis, Jimmy White, Alex Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan were all well known to wider public due to snooker, so having them play in early events meant a lot of cue sport fans who had never heard of 9 ball suddenly knew what it was. I'd never seen an American pool table in a UK pool hall back then, now most pool halls will have a similar number of American and UK tables. Though I've still had people come up to me when I'm playing 9 ball asking us what game we are playing, so it's still relatively niche compared to 8 ball even now.

 

[Badpenguin]

Matchroom is still trying to prosper on a dead/dying business model - licensing with broadcast/cable TV providers. That business model is dead for all but the sports that have been established and entrenched for multiple decades (soccer, football, basketball, baseball, etc). Snooker is probably only profitable in small niche markets like the UK.

Matchroom's handling of streaming has been terrible and has probably alienated the majority of the market that would have made pool successful. I am a hardcore pool fan and have completely given up with watching anything matchroom related. If I have to spend 20-30 minutes digging around multiple web and social media sites with different logins required at each and still cannot determine what time I need to reserve to watch matches, I give up. None of the streaming controls work effectively or consistently (can't rewind/pause the live streams for example). First it was DAZN, then their own attempt that completely sucks. At $5 - $10 monthly, at least I was getting what I paid for.

Watching sporting events at empty venues in the Middle East, and sorry to get political, having to stomach the sports washing of Saudi money, just turned me off. Zero inclusion of women and half-hearted attempts at junior events. No coherent schedule. Outright bizarre announcers dressed like they are cosplaying. They killed their biggest revenue possibility by only including certain outer tables on youtube. The list just goes on for me.

I'm pretty sure that travel, particularly for non-US players to the US, and for any players to the Middle East, is going to be a major issue for the next few years. Not only because of expense, but also for personal safety and security. The world is falling apart right now.

Anyway, it appears to me that matchroom's ultimate goal is primarily to tap into gambling revenues. I don't see any obvious business strategy otherwise. I hope they succeed and elevate pro pool while they are at it, but I'm not seeing evidence that they have the ability to.

 

[sjm]

The fact the original Mosconi cups had professional snooker players in it was pretty key in the UK at least to raising awareness of the sport. I doubt more than a handful or people in the UK had ever heard of 9 ball pool before the first Mosconi. Steve Davis, Jimmy White, Alex Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan were all well known to wider public due to snooker, so having them play in early events meant a lot of cue sport fans who had never heard of 9 ball suddenly knew what it was. I'd never seen an American pool table in a UK pool hall back then, now most pool halls will have a similar number of American and UK tables. Though I've still had people come up to me when I'm playing 9 ball asking us what game we are playing, so it's still relatively niche compared to 8 ball even now.

Agreed 100%. The inclusion of snooker players at the Mosconi, chiefly from 1994-97, was a critical step in making Europe more familiar with American pool.

 

[jbart65]

I don't see the diluted fields (compared to a few years ago) being an issue. The fields are strong, new players are coming through, and there are more and more elite players - the game is way stronger at all levels. It won't be long before the "diluted" fields are stronger than the fields of a few years ago when all the "top" (according to someone's list) were all repeatedly at the same events.

Pool is booming globally in terms of strength, exposure and participation.

You might be right, but hardcore fans do like to see lots of established players in big tournaments. I know I do. That said, there is no other sport whose history is very useful to figure out a likely path of pro pool/the WNT.

 

[jbart65]

SVB was never the keenest of travellers. Now that he has a World Championship in the bag and has probably made enough money from the game to see life out, I'm not surprised if that reluctance to travel has kicked back in.

Panozzo also said ... SVB likes Asia and will travel to some events in the region this year.

After listening to SVB on the Boomer and Freezer show, my sense is he will play in all big events in the U.S., plus all "world" title events. So WPA 8-ball and 10-ball. He seems obsessed with winning a "World" 10-ball championship to pad his resume. He speficially mentioned playing in "WPA" events, but I don't recall him mentioning the WNT by name.

If I am right, SVB will play in the WPC, Florida Open, Arizona Open, maybe the Phoenix Open, and the U.S. Open. And he'll play in the big Predator/WPA events I already mentioned.

He'll skip the UK Open and the Philippines Open.

 

[jbart65]

Definitely some truth in what you say, but ,,,,

I think that Matchroom's jump into producing the World 9ball in 2000-03 may have been the single biggest moment in the growth of pool in Europe ...
Whether the World 9ball might have been the launching point for a tour even back then is certainly debatable, but the four events in Cardiff are among the most important ever staged because they jump-started Europe's wide participation in American pool.

I should have interviewed you when doing my research! No surprise, you are a fountain of great info. Please keeping adding and correcting as necessary.

I do wonder if Hearn was already thinking a global tour when MR got involved in the early 2000s with WPC. We had two recessions, in 2001 and 2008-2009, and they were probably a big setback.

 

[jbart65]

Matchroom is still trying to prosper on a dead/dying business model - licensing with broadcast/cable TV providers. That business model is dead for all but the sports that have been established and entrenched for multiple decades (soccer, football, basketball, baseball, etc). Snooker is probably only profitable in small niche markets like the UK.

Matchroom's handling of streaming has been terrible and has probably alienated the majority of the market that would have made pool successful. I am a hardcore pool fan and have completely given up with watching anything matchroom related. If I have to spend 20-30 minutes digging around multiple web and social media sites with different logins required at each and still cannot determine what time I need to reserve to watch matches, I give up. None of the streaming controls work effectively or consistently (can't rewind/pause the live streams for example). First it was DAZN, then their own attempt that completely sucks. At $5 - $10 monthly, at least I was getting what I paid for.

MR knows big TV deals won't be its main source of revenue. That's why WNT TV was created. But as you note, they mishandled its opening act.

I found WNT.TV to work much better this year, especially during the Euro Open. But as you note, still too many problems and shortcomings. Since I am only paying $8 a month, I am not super irritated. It still has to improve a great deal, however.

Watching sporting events at empty venues in the Middle East, and sorry to get political, having to stomach the sports washing of Saudi money, just turned me off. Zero inclusion of women and half-hearted attempts at junior events.

MR has enough trouble trying to make the WNT success without taking on women's pool. Sad but true. It's running as many junior events, if not more, than anyone else, and now appears to be adding to it. Some leeway should be allowed.

The world is falling apart right now.

I always chuckle when I hear this. My father grew up in a single-parent family during the Great Depression - a common situation. He fought in a world war in which 40 million people died. He lived through the Korean War. The Vietnam war. The Cold War and mutually assured destruction. The peace riots. The race riots. The end of Bretton Woods. Watergate. The Latin debt crisis. The Farm crisis. Stagflation.

The world is always messy, but it's less so in our lives than in the lives of our parents, and their parents, and their parents ...

Anyway, it appears to me that matchroom's ultimate goal is primarily to tap into gambling revenues. I don't see any obvious business strategy otherwise. I hope they succeed and elevate pro pool while they are at it, but I'm not seeing evidence that they have the ability to.

Maybe so, but all major sports are directly or indirectly tapping into gambling.

 

[jokrswylde]

The fact the original Mosconi cups had professional snooker players in it was pretty key in the UK at least to raising awareness of the sport. I doubt more than a handful or people in the UK had ever heard of 9 ball pool before the first Mosconi. Steve Davis, Jimmy White, Alex Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan were all well known to wider public due to snooker, so having them play in early events meant a lot of cue sport fans who had never heard of 9 ball suddenly knew what it was. I'd never seen an American pool table in a UK pool hall back then, now most pool halls will have a similar number of American and UK tables. Though I've still had people come up to me when I'm playing 9 ball asking us what game we are playing, so it's still relatively niche compared to 8 ball even now.

The last sentence is a great point. I think for many on here, the pool junkies, Matchroom trying to make 9 ball THE game makes perfect sense. However, what you say rings true, even in my encounters her in the southeast US.

The VAST majority of pool being played in the US is 8 ball. Even at the bar where I used to play league, several time I have tried to play 9 ball with someone and have had to explain the rules of the game, whereas everyone knows how to play 8 ball, even if there are a multitude of subsets of "house or bar" rules.

I feel this will always be the case as long as coin operated tables rule the bars.

Just for fun here is what Gemini AI provides:

Approximately 65% to 70% of all pool participants in the United States are considered casual players who play fewer than 13 times per year.

The vast majority of the pool-playing population falls into the "casual" category, often defined by recreational play in social settings like bars or home environments.
Eight-ball is the most played pool game in the United States. It is the standard game found in nearly every American bar and home, often treated as synonymous with the word "pool" itself by casual players.
While eight-ball dominates the social and amateur landscape, nine-ball is the most popular game at the professional and competitive tournament levels.

This is certainly not anything new or groundbreaking to us, the same things have been said many times on here before. However it does serve to reinforce those points.

It just seems to me an exercise in futility. The most popular game to the casuals, whose money and viewership is needed, is not being promoted as THE professional game.

And again, I am trying to look at it from the perspective of a brand new, casual player and not someone who carries their own balls around to pool halls or has projector systems set up on their home tables.

Would darts viewership be as high if televised tournaments and championships were contested using a dart game that very few people in the local pub have heard of or played and didn't quite understand the rules?

 

[Jerry R]

The last sentence is a great point. I think for many on here, the pool junkies, Matchroom trying to make 9 ball THE game makes perfect sense. However, what you say rings true, even in my encounters her in the southeast US.

The VAST majority of pool being played in the US is 8 ball. Even at the bar where I used to play league, several time I have tried to play 9 ball with someone and have had to explain the rules of the game, whereas everyone knows how to play 8 ball, even if there are a multitude of subsets of "house or bar" rules.

I feel this will always be the case as long as coin operated tables rule the bars.

Just for fun here is what Gemini AI provides:

Approximately 65% to 70% of all pool participants in the United States are considered casual players who play fewer than 13 times per year.

The vast majority of the pool-playing population falls into the "casual" category, often defined by recreational play in social settings like bars or home environments.
Eight-ball is the most played pool game in the United States. It is the standard game found in nearly every American bar and home, often treated as synonymous with the word "pool" itself by casual players.
While eight-ball dominates the social and amateur landscape, nine-ball is the most popular game at the professional and competitive tournament levels.

This is certainly not anything new or groundbreaking to us, the same things have been said many times on here before. However it does serve to reinforce those points.

It just seems to me an exercise in futility. The most popular game to the casuals, whose money and viewership is needed, is not being promoted as THE professional game.

And again, I am trying to look at it from the perspective of a brand new, casual player and not someone who carries their own balls around to pool halls or has projector systems set up on their home tables.

Would darts viewership be as high if televised tournaments and championships were contested using a dart game that very few people in the local pub have heard of or played and didn't quite understand the rules?

I agree and have said before choosing 9 ball was a huge mistake. The recent rise of Heyball (more so globally than in USA) and the money behind it will likely make it more dominate. The times I've travelled to Europe seems like most were playing English eight ball or blackball. When/if pool gets into Olympics, we will certainly be watching Heyball.

 

[jbart65]

I agree and have said before choosing 9 ball was a huge mistake. The recent rise of Heyball (more so globally than in USA) and the money behind it will likely make it more dominate. The times I've travelled to Europe seems like most were playing English eight ball or blackball. When/if pool gets into Olympics, we will certainly be watching Heyball.

Don't agree. Eight-ball is fun to play, especially for intermediate players like me. But it is boring to watch the pros play. A World 8-ball Tour would not succeed any better, and might do worse, than a 9 ball tour. You might gain more casual fans and lose more hardcore ones.

Pro pool will probably always be a niche sport regardless. How big a niche is what MR is trying to determine.

As for heyball, is there really a lot of money in the game outside of mainland China? I don't see any evidence of that.

Keep in mind: Well before the creation of the WNT or the Predator Pro Billiard series, 9 ball was the primary choice of promotors running big tournaments. This is not a new development.

 

[Bob Jewett]

wasn't it until 2007? the had it in taiwan and manila a couple of years after cardiff. so eight years?

Yes. I did not remember that Matchroom moved it to Asia for four years after Cardiff.

 

[sjm]

Approximately 65% to 70% of all pool participants in the United States are considered casual players who play fewer than 13 times per year.

The vast majority of the pool-playing population falls into the "casual" category, often defined by recreational play in social settings like bars or home environments.
Eight-ball is the most played pool game in the United States. It is the standard game found in nearly every American bar and home, often treated as synonymous with the word "pool" itself by casual players.
While eight-ball dominates the social and amateur landscape, nine-ball is the most popular game at the professional and competitive tournament levels.

This is certainly not anything new or groundbreaking to us, the same things have been said many times on here before. However it does serve to reinforce those points.

It just seems to me an exercise in futility. The most popular game to the casuals, whose money and viewership is needed, is not being promoted as THE professional game.

This is a subject we tend to get around to from time to time on the forum. Let's not pretend that nobody has ever tried to make 8ball the standard game in pro pool.

In 2006, Kevin Trudeau's IPT 8ball tour offered more prize money than any pool tour in history but his business model fell apart. About 10 years later, Darren Appleton created an impressive new tour called the "World Pool Series" which played 8ball. In the end, however, he could not make financial ends meet and the project lasted just a couple of years. No, we have the Ultimate Pool events trying to bring 8ball back to prominence. Nobody has made a really big splash with an 8ball tour yet, but the day may be coming.

A major reason that straight pool was replaced by 9ball (approximately 1983) was that it was too slow to make for good viewing. The worst thing about straight pool was the calling of shots. The player would call the shot, wait for the referee to repeat the call (which only a few of the attending fans could hear) and then shoot. Fans grew weary of call shot, and it was obvious that televised pool would do better without it.

Snooker, which was starting to gain some momentum at that point, had it right. You never had to say which red you were trying to pocket or which pocket. If you made a legal hit on any red, then any red that dropped counted. 9ball was the same, for on any legal hit, anything that dropped counted. TV viewing always worked best without call shot.

When TV coverage became accessible to pro pool, they knew they had to play a game that would move along at a much faster clip than straight pool. As so many of the best pro players were already playing 9ball exclusively (examples include Earl Strickland, Jose Parica, and Buddy Hall), the choice, right or wrong, was easy.

Hence, the undeniably intuitive argument for 8ball being the pro game has not held up very well in practice. That's because recreational players, on average, so rarely watch the pros. Most of those who follow the pros are more serious players, and most of them would rather watch 9ball.

 

[iusedtoberich]

8 ball is the most boring game possible on a pool table. Please, let's not go there.

 

[sjm]

I do wonder if Hearn was already thinking a global tour when MR got involved in the early 2000s with WPC. We had two recessions, in 2001 and 2008-2009, and they were probably a big setback.

We may never know, but it seems quite possible.

It's the Matchroom way. Purchase and production of the US Open 9ball in 2018 was surely a Matchroom experiment to see whether Matchroom could make the big field event business model work. The 2019 US Open 9ball was a huge success that I presume whetted Matchroom's appetite for greater entry into the world of big field tournament pool. As we know, 2020 was lost to COVID, but by 2021, Matchroom was already devising plans for producing new events, and these plans, over time, gave rise to the WNT.

 

[skogstokig]

I agree and have said before choosing 9 ball was a huge mistake. The recent rise of Heyball (more so globally than in USA) and the money behind it will likely make it more dominate. The times I've travelled to Europe seems like most were playing English eight ball or blackball. When/if pool gets into Olympics, we will certainly be watching Heyball.

sure, but the reason heyball looks like it does (i.e. boring, for the most part) is because regular 8-ball is too easy for the pros. watching 650-700 level players is more fun to me than watching the top players just run out.

if there were no money to speak of in heyball, interest would be even lower.

 

[Bob Jewett]

You are correct. MR ran it from 2000 to 2007. The event wasn’t held in 2008-2009.

When I did my research earlier in the year, it was hard to find lots of good information on the history of pool tournaments....

Wikipedia has a pretty good history of the World Championship. It seems that Matchroom's first event in Cardiff in 1999 (Reyes) was retroactively given world championship status.

 

[jbart65]

... Predator started its own tour of sorts for the same reason Matchroom did. It was trying to grow a stagnant sport and protect its existing interests (sales of cues, racks, balls, cloth, eventually tables). Predator leaders are also passionate about the game, just like Barry Hearn.

The first big step by Predator was resurrecting the moribund World 10-Ball Championship in 2019. The event had only been held twice between 2010 to 2018 (it was also skipped in the 2020 Covid year).

Predator followed up two years later by creating its Pro Billiard Series (PBS) in 2021, almost two years before the official launch of the WNT.

The Pro Billiard Series was not big to start. Just five announced events initially, including the World 10-Ball championship, and not a ton of prize money.

The World 10-ball tournament in 2021 had a total $100,000 prize fund, with $35,000 for the winner (Eklent Kaci).

The following year, in 2022, Predator brought back to life the World 8-Ball Championship. The last time the event was held was a decade earlier in 2012.

Interestingly, Predator's website now touts its Billiard Series as the "No. 1 Pro Billiards Tour in the World."

This year, the PBS has 15 or so events overall, being held in eight locations (Las Vegas, St. Louis, Austria, Rome, Ho Chi Minh City, Bali, San Antonio and Jacksonville, Fla.)

TBC

 

[Jerry R]

Don't agree. Eight-ball is fun to play, especially for intermediate players like me. But it is boring to watch the pros play. A World 8-ball Tour would not succeed any better, and might do worse, than a 9 ball tour. You might gain more casual fans and lose more hardcore ones.

Pro pool will probably always be a niche sport regardless. How big a niche is what MR is trying to determine.

As for heyball, is there really a lot of money in the game outside of mainland China? I don't see any evidence of that.

Keep in mind: Well before the creation of the WNT or the Predator Pro Billiard series, 9 ball was the primary choice of promotors running big tournaments. This is not a new development.

I think you are underestimating the importance of familiarity. Baseball is also boring to watch, as is golf. But it's a game many of us play or played and it makes sense when we watch it. This draws masses of casual fans and that brings outside sponsor money.
Also, when the push for 9-ball was made, it was only available on ESPN. And while many may have had cable TV in the 80's and 90's, most did not. Now with the ability to stream, I think you'd reach a lot more of the people who are casual and would take an interest.

This is a subject we tend to get around to from time to time on the forum. Let's not pretend that nobody has ever tried to make 8ball the standard game in pro pool.

In 2006, Kevin Trudeau's IPT 8ball tour offered more prize money than any pool tour in history but his business model fell apart. About 10 years later, Darren Appleton created an impressive new tour called the "World Pool Series" which played 8ball. In the end, however, he could not make financial ends meet and the project lasted just a couple of years. No, we have the Ultimate Pool events trying to bring 8ball back to prominence. Nobody has made a really big splash with an 8ball tour yet, but the day may be coming.

A major reason that straight pool was replaced by 9ball (approximately 1983) was that it was too slow to make for good viewing. The worst thing about straight pool was the calling of shots. The player would call the shot, wait for the referee to repeat the call (which only a few of the attending fans could hear) and then shoot. Fans grew weary of call shot, and it was obvious that televised pool would do better without it.

Snooker, which was starting to gain some momentum at that point, had it right. You never had to say which red you were trying to pocket or which pocket. If you made a legal hit on any red, then any red that dropped counted. 9ball was the same, for on any legal hit, anything that dropped counted. TV viewing always worked best without call shot.

When TV coverage became accessible to pro pool, they knew they had to play a game that would move along at a much faster clip than straight pool. As so many of the best pro players were already playing 9ball exclusively (examples include Earl Strickland, Jose Parica, and Buddy Hall), the choice, right or wrong, was easy.

Hence, the undeniably intuitive argument for 8ball being the pro game has not held up very well in practice. That's because recreational players, on average, so rarely watch the pros. Most of those who follow the pros are more serious players, and most of them would rather watch 9ball.

The lack of interest in 8-ball did not kill the IPT. In fact, the only time I can recall hearing the local league players talk about watching pool on TV was when the IPT was happening, because the pro's were in fact playing the same game they do. Not that "paint by numbers, slop counts" game that many either don't understand, don't recognize, or simply don't like.



Heyball (basically 8-ball) will become bigger than 9-ball in 10 years. They are the only game making an effort to meet the Olympic requirements and if Curling can become popular and generate interest, Olympic Heyball will certainly get people to start using the 8ft Olhausen/Brunswick in their basement for something other than folding laundry.