Why is pool dying as a sport?

Did pool ever have a great following? I was the only one in my high school that played the game good enough to beat most people and even then, I couldn't come close to beating the pros. I think that's one problem with the game of pool. There is a such a huge difference between elite players and very good players. I remember back in the day when the only people winning the major tournaments were guys like Buddy Hall, Earl Strickland, Nick Varner, Efren Reyes, Mike Sigel and a few others.

You almost never heard of anyone else winning those tourneys other than those guys. It's an extremely difficult sport to play at the pro level and takes a lot of dedication to get to playing that good. The elite players can give people that play the game real well all kinds of handicaps (aka..spots) and still beat them. I love the game but it's too difficult for most people to really want to learn to play it at that level. And from what I understand, a lot of people don't even play pool for money anymore.

This may or may not be why people have stopped playing it. I think perhaps the biggest reason is the hold'em poker explosion. A lot of pool players stopped playing pool and took up the much much easier game of hold'em. And there is a lot more money in poker too.

If you're talking about young people playing pool, there are a number of hurdles.

One is perception. Pool will always be associated with dark, smoky rooms and creepy, sleazeball hustlers. It's not the glamorous.

Second is accessibility. Some places don't let minors play, and if that's the only place around, you're out of luck. It may tie back in to perception though where some people just think they can't play at certain places if they're not old enough, but many places let in all ages at least up until a certain time. Unfortunately, most league nights are evenings when age rules are enforced. I've had friends get kicked out or rejected from leagues because of their age.

Third is cost. Table time isn't cheap, especially in big cities, and so young players can't spend a lot of time there.

Fourth is time. Let's face it, it takes a good amount of patience and dedication to play better pool. And there are a lot of other things kids would rather be doing instead. Especially since practicing pool in an effort to get better isn't the most sociable activity.

Getting boring to people I assume, sucks because I plan on becoming a pool shark when I move out and get a pool table a few years from now, who knows maybe it'll pick back up by then

do you blame them?....baseball players make MILLIONS a year !! ...football players make MILLIONS a year !! ...basketball players make MILLIONS a year !!

....pool players make THOUSANDS a year ??