is this hobby dying ?

[MplsTom]

Is this hobby dying?

1) Because of this last go-around...no. One of the challenges/beauties of this hobby (depending on your perspective) is that it has so many different ways of playing and sets of possible rules. There is no governing board and when pure, unregulated free market happens, well we saw how well our large financial companies police themselves the past 8 years. Same concept here...people will do their own things, form their own groups depending on their point of view and vision, and try to convince the masses. That usually doesn't work.

2) Overall, absolutely. We are an aging group of players with very little interest amongst the youth - save a few children of coaches or league players. I've said this before and I'll say it again...the youth of tomorrow will fondly get together and have Madden tournaments when they are 40 and their kids will be playing the 3d virtual reality something or other.

It isn't a secret in the hobby that before I started my consulting business, I looked at acquiring one of the major manufacturers. In doing so, my marketing plan was basically a 5 to 10 year cycle. We can get the youth interested for a short amount of time if we have TV tournaments, etc with sponsors and the like. That will de facto set the "standards" in the hobby as guys will want to be preparing that style because that's where the recognition and $ is.

Having said that, it would be unwise to consider the business venture anything more than a short-term, grow the business and sell proposition. The youth are fully invested in the video culture and we would be marketing toward an aging group using the nostalgia angle.

In my eyes, at that time, the manufacturer had to take the lead in driving that type of strategy. It requires a ton of energy and some initial $ / risk to do so. The business is theirs and I respect their ability to do with it what they like. It is their business model to be a niche player, comfortably servicing the existing players and generating a nice side income and allow for some decent tax benefits. That is their perogotive and I do not fault them at all for that. Again, it is only my opinion as to how this hobby can get a serious bounce.