I have to say something about some of the observations of the old videos that have recently popped up on social media. Since I was competing in the mid-70s era I can speak to this. The modern player looks at the crowds watching pros in the 70s, 80s etc and immediately makes a judgement like “Oh wow, the game was so much more popular! Look at the packed audiences!”
It is true the game was more mainstream but today, more people watch the top players than ever before. Back in 19whatever if I went up to a club player, before Internet, and started talking about a top ten pro they would have no clue who I was talking about. That is not true today. The average club player knows who the top players are and have seen them play online. When we ran our inaugural Arizona Open Pro stop in October of 2019, the gallery was full of local club players who wandered in just to see the best in person. Many more stayed home and watched online.
Check out the LPRT and the IRT numbers of online viewers and calculate how many would show in person if they had no other way to see the pros? I remember driving 8 hours to play the best pros of my era and then hanging out to watch the matches until Sunday. Yes, you do not lose 10 million plus players and say our sport is just as popular, but you can say more people now, than ever, watch the best players play online in the worlds, IRF, and the Pros, LPRT, and IRT