Emily Frazer, CEO of Matchroom Multi Sport, has detailed the challenges and ambitions of the World Nineball Tour following a major new streaming deal with ESPN. The US Open in Texas this August will debut on the broadcasting giant, while the Mosconi Cup returns to ESPN from Orlando, Florida in November.
ESPN deal a game-changer for nineball
Frazer expressed excitement about the partnership, stating: 'We’re super excited to get the news out to the pool fans, but also show ESPN our viewership for the pool. I know that there is huge potential for Nineball pool over here. I want to move the needle for them and this collaboration is really big news for the sport.'
Streaming on ESPN+ is a US venture, but Frazer put it into a UK context: 'I see what it does when we do snooker events with coverage on a major broadcaster. This would be like the Mosconi and UK Open, going live on a BBC or ITV sport. That’s how big it feels.'
Overcoming pool's image challenges
Matchroom Sport launched the World Nineball Tour in 2023, aiming to replicate the success of the Professional Darts Corporation. Frazer noted that nineball has an image 'not considered as professional as snooker,' but drew parallels to darts, which overcame similar perceptions. 'Nineball is the way forward and us partnering with ESPN, it puts more eyeballs on it as an actual professional sport,' she said.
Broadcast and sponsorship hurdles
Frazer identified broadcast and sponsorship as the main challenges: 'Recent collaborations we’ve had, for instance, with talkSPORT, they’ve been taking one exclusive table at the UK Open, and they had some great numbers. TalkSPORT were never showing any pool before on their channels. Broadcast has always been something that’s held us back in trying to get pool out there as a proper professional sport. But ESPN will open the doors to a lot more people.'
Building demand for events
Frazer hopes viewers will tune into the Mosconi Cup this year: 'It’ll be an incredible atmosphere, and they’ll go, “Oh, my gosh, I need to get there! How do I get there?” But it will be in Europe the following year. So then all of a sudden, it builds up the demand for when we head back to America in 2028. You need to create a demand for these events and that is what is happening.'
Darts as inspiration
Frazer cited the US Darts Masters at Madison Square Garden, where Luke Humphries beat Luke Littler in front of 5,000 fans last month, as inspiration. 'I look around at 5,000 people in there. The next morning, I wake up and I go, “How the hell do I do this with the pool? How do I imitate this?” I just find it exciting.'
She concluded: 'Something like this, partnering with ESPN gets us on the map and that’s even more motivation. It wakes you up, it excites you. And it’s fun being here on the ground in America whilst it’s happening, because you’re thinking so much bigger picture, which really excites me, because we know the US is our market. Nineball originated here, it’s got the history here. This is our market.'
