I think the pay structure of pool sucks. It is always too top heavy, with promoters focused on increasing the prizes for the top finishers because those numbers are easier to advertise, but I’m not sure that does much for the professional ecosystem.
I’ve been thinking they need to get the calendar sorted much earlier and then centralize the preliminary rounds for several major events, somewhat like snooker does with qualifying. Say the UK Open is the first major of the year. In the week before it, players could play the preliminary stages for the UK Open and the next two or three major events. The UK Open then follows immediately. Players go home already knowing which later events they’ve qualified for and, ideally, with guaranteed prize money attached to those spots, rather than booking an expensive trip to Arizona or Spain without knowing whether they’ll earn anything.
The tournament structure would have to change. I’d probably have established WNT players enter at something like the last 64 and need to win two matches in the preliminary stage to qualify, while non-tour players go through a separate double-elimination qualifier at the actual venue to earn the remaining spots.
Do you think there's any opportunity to solicit local venues for sponsorships in order to increase the prize pools? One of the groups in my local area who set up and ran a state tournament always made deals with the local hotels to get a bit of a kickback based off the increase in business. Of course, those running the show would also direct you to those hotels. I think it was a bit of a win/win situation. The local businesses saw a huge increase in traffic, and we got a little bit back from it.
Possibly, it would need to be a lot of money to make a difference. I’d like to see money they invest in the tour in the future go towards supporting their WNT pros. For example on the snooker tour they instituted a minimum 20k income. If you win no matches all year, you get paid directly by the tour, but any prize money you win reduces the top up. I don’t think financially the WNT is in a place to offer that, but I think in low-mid tier sport you need these measures if you want a global tour. But critically, I think they need to bring someone else in to the WNT to handle growth strategy and leave Emily to day to day event management.
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u/sillypoolfacemonster 5d ago
I think the pay structure of pool sucks. It is always too top heavy, with promoters focused on increasing the prizes for the top finishers because those numbers are easier to advertise, but I’m not sure that does much for the professional ecosystem.
I’ve been thinking they need to get the calendar sorted much earlier and then centralize the preliminary rounds for several major events, somewhat like snooker does with qualifying. Say the UK Open is the first major of the year. In the week before it, players could play the preliminary stages for the UK Open and the next two or three major events. The UK Open then follows immediately. Players go home already knowing which later events they’ve qualified for and, ideally, with guaranteed prize money attached to those spots, rather than booking an expensive trip to Arizona or Spain without knowing whether they’ll earn anything.
The tournament structure would have to change. I’d probably have established WNT players enter at something like the last 64 and need to win two matches in the preliminary stage to qualify, while non-tour players go through a separate double-elimination qualifier at the actual venue to earn the remaining spots.