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10 Year Earnings for Top Billiard Players

1/22/2011 10:03:29 AM

10 Year Earnings for Top Billiard Players

I have an excel spreadsheet listing all income for the top cue sport players over the past 10 years.

Download Attachment: Top Money Earners.xls (50kb)

Here is a screenshot of the data listing the top money earners:

10 Year Earnings for Top Billiard Players

Replies & Comments
  1. sundownrMitch Alsup on 1/29/2011 5:27:21 PM

    So, basically, this means one is better off with an engineering degree than being a top 10 pool player.

  2. sundownrsundownr on 1/30/2011 6:13:17 AM

    Mitch

    I am not sure what you mean here but if nothing else the spreadsheet points out the whole of the billiards world makes less than a Wall Street banker... and being the avid billiard player I am I find this annoying.

    After all Mitch we both know billiards is a great game requiring supreme skill to master.

  3. sundownrMitch Alsup on 1/30/2011 1:03:16 PM

    I am now retired, but when I worked in the computer industry, the companies would hire the top 25% Masters Candidates and pay them between $100K and $120K, and their salaries would grow to $150K over 10 years. The top 3% of the engineers would surpass $200K (including bonuses).

    Thus, whether one likes it or not, its a lot more profitable to be an engineer than to be a top 5 pool player. On top of that, there is a lot more room to be an engineer as there are at least 20,000 engineers in this country making that kind of money. Then, beyond pay, there are the side benefits of:

    • living at home
    • having a normal life
    • short commutes
    • medium levels of stress
    • little need for practicing your art outside of daily life
  4. sundownrsundownr on 2/1/2011 7:55:01 AM

    @Mitch Alsup - FYI... the admin is going to post the entire spreadsheet on this thread.

    Given these figures, and I believe they are correct, you can see just how poor the compensation really is in cue sports industry (if I can be allowed to call billiards an industry).

    As you can see the tournament prize money does not even cover expenses for many good players.

    If you ask me billiards (the industry as a whole) needs a face lift. How this face lift comes about I have no idea but unless somebody does a better job of promotion, we players will have to be content with pitching for pennies.

    If you have any ideas let me know... Maybe we can start a billiards revolution or something like that.

    Have a great day and a great game.

  5. sundownrbubbakid on 2/1/2011 9:09:21 AM

    Whoa! There are a lot of unemployed people out there, and what could be better than pay to play?

  6. sundownrMitch Alsup on 2/1/2011 9:19:10 AM

    Before billiards can receive its face lift, it is going to have to come to the conclusion that what is needed is ONE SET OF RULES for everyone everywhere, and this includes smoking, drinking, sharking, etc.

    Thus, there is little but hope.

  7. sundownrbilliardsforum on 3/24/2011 5:54:50 PM

    Sorry to take so long to get this posted. Just had a baby and bought a new house so it has been hectic 8 months or so.

    Thanks again for compiling the data.

  8. sundownrwaverun1 on 4/8/2011 12:59:00 AM

    You'd be doing me a huge favor if you'd email me that spreadsheet file with the top pool player earnings.

    This is exactly the kind of info I'm searching for.

    My email address is deanclover47@yahoo.com, thanks a lot!

    That must have taken a lot of work to compile such a list, you mind me asking how did you get your info?

    I mean are you an avid 9 ball watcher on ESPN or what? Just curious. You don't have to answer that if you don't want to, but please send the file to me.

    Thanks again,
    Dean T. Clover

  9. sundownrlorenb on 5/12/2011 8:28:16 AM

    I think you guys may be overlooking sponsorships. I mean, tiger woods a few years back made around 10 million a year on tour and about 90 million from nike, buick, gatorade, taguar (spelling), so I'm guessing a lot of these players are sponsored for sticks, balls, chalk, tables, training aids. I'm sure this adds a decent chunk to their salary.

    But I may be off

    We could also assume inflation over the past 10-11 years has effected how much it seems like they made in the earlier years. Probably a pretty small percentage.

    I haven't been involved with watching professional pool that much so my assumptions may be false, but just trying to add a point of view.

  10. sundownrbilliardsforum on 5/21/2011 3:57:03 AM

    @lorenb, I agree. Do you know if this information (sponsorship deals for billiard players) exists anywhere today? If we can come up with some sources on the web somewhere, I would be interested in programming some software to automatically collect it, and then we can present it here on the billiards forum.

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10 Year Earnings for Top Billiard Players

  • Title: 10 Year Earnings for Top Billiard Players
  • Author: (Jim Osborne)
  • Published: 1/22/2011 10:03:29 AM