The modern era.

A world federation for pool

The World Pool-Billiard Association formed in 1987, set up a provisional board at an assembly in Stockholm in May 1988, and was sanctioned as pool's world governing body on 3 March 1990. It works through six continental federations, including the BCA in North America. Pool, snooker and carom came together under the World Confederation of Billiards Sports, which first met in Bristol in 1990 and was formally constituted in 1992; the IOC recognized billiard sports in 1998, though they have not yet entered the Olympic program.

The first world championship

The first WPA World Nine-ball Championship was held in March 1990 in Bergheim, Germany. Earl Strickland won the men's title and Robin Bell the women's. In 1999 Matchroom staged a rival world championship in Cardiff, televised by Sky and won by Efren Reyes; both 1999 events are now counted as official, and Wikipedia's Reyes article describes Cardiff as the first televised world pool championship.

Matchroom and the Mosconi Cup

Barry Hearn founded Matchroom in 1982 in Brentwood, Essex, first managing snooker players such as Steve Davis. Matchroom says it has promoted televised international pool since 1993, and it promoted the world championship from 1999 to 2007.

The first Mosconi Cup, USA against Europe, was staged in 1994 at the Romford Roller Bowl in Essex with Sky Sports, and the USA won 16 to 12. It was named for Willie Mosconi, who had died months earlier, at the suggestion of Bill Cayton and with the blessing of Mosconi's widow, Flora. The 1994 teams had six men and two women each. Europe later won eight in a row from 2010 to 2017. Hearn describes the Mosconi Cup as the start of what became the World Nineball Tour. Eddie Hearn succeeded Barry Hearn as Matchroom chairman in April 2021.

The US Open changes hands

The US Open began in 1976, founded by Barry Behrman and held at his Q-Master Billiards in Norfolk, Virginia, through 1988 (with one exception). After Behrman's death (April 2016 per Matchroom and Wikipedia, 2015 per Billiards Digest), Matchroom announced on 22 March 2018 that it had bought the event from his children. The 2019 edition moved to Las Vegas with a $300,000 guaranteed prize fund.

The BCA Hall of Fame

Created in 1966 with Ralph Greenleaf, Willie Hoppe and Charles C. Peterson as its first inductees, the Hall has two categories: Greatest Player (minimum age 40 and 20 years as a professional) and Meritorious Service. Selected inductees: Mosconi (1968), Lassiter (1983), Wanderone (1984), Balukas (1985), Sigel (1989), Ceulemans (2001), Reyes (2003), Strickland (2006), Fisher and Archer (2009), Jeanette Lee (2013) and Van Boening (2024).

FargoRate

FargoRate grew from a rating idea that Mike Page, a former chemistry professor at North Dakota State University, described in a 2002 Billiards Digest article, and it was first used at Fargo Billiards in Fargo, North Dakota. His partner is Steve Ernst, a former Microsoft developer; by November 2016 the app was in beta and the company had an exclusive contract with CueSports International. Its public launch date is not something we could confirm. See how FargoRate works.