Can poker ever be a successful spectator event? That depends whether it sheds its sporty affectations
So the WSOP 2008 is finally over and the general consensus is that the final table delay was a success, generating an increase in audience ratings of around 46% for the final table and about 15% for the event as a whole. A crowd of around 800 people turned up at the Penn and Teller Theatre at the Rio to watch the two-day long final table, which included a risible ‘boxing style’ introductory press conference for the final two players.
While I am sure an extra few hundred thousand television viewers justifies the excruciating three-month delay for Harrah’s and ESPN, when we consider the difference between what was promised for the November Nine and the reality, there are some interesting lessons for poker as an industry.
When the November Nine concept was first announced, the WSOP commissioner, Jeffrey Pollack, spoke of a blitz of mainstream media interest, of players appearing emblazoned with corporate sponsors like Nascar drivers, and a final table with a flagship sports event feel. What actually happened was a slight extra ripple in the mainstream US media, virtually no corporate sponsorship outside of online poker sites and the poker media, and a final table watched by about a thousand people – at least half of whom were brought in by the players as support.
A NICHE GAME
Essentially what this shows us is that poker is still a niche interest, even in the US. For example, the lack of corporate sponsorship shows us most mainstream companies have little interest promoting their brands through poker players. The US television audience for the WSOP final table was roughly equivalent to the opening days of golf ’s Ryder Cup or the X Games, both of which are awash with corporate logos; this is patently not the case for poker.
Poker is in a catch-22 situation. For as long as poker players put up the buy-ins themselves and events take place in casinos, poker will struggle to get the same sort of corporate sponsorship that, for example, means golfers don’t have to stump up their own prize pool.
However, until we get corporate- sponsored prize pools, poker will always be played in casinos for the players’ own cash and will always be aligned with the murky gambling underworld.
The final table delay was created to try and make poker more of a spectacle, widen the audience and elevate the game to mainstream acceptance. What actually happened was it demonstrated that poker is really only a big deal to poker players and the poker industry.
It’s time we started thinking harder about how we present the game. We need to stop wedging poker into the ‘sports’ box – it’s no more a sport than Monopoly. It needs to be more creative and honest in the way it sells itself.
The talent exists to create good entertainment from poker – for example, EPTlive has set a precedent for intelligent coverage of the game – but at present Harrah’s presentation of the showpiece tournament remains fixated on adapting poker into a model that simply does not work.
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