Germany will host a world ranking event next season according to new WPBSA chairman Barry Hearn, who briefed the media at the Pokerstars.com Masters at Wembley today.
Snooker is high in popularity in Germany and continental Europe is likely to be one of Hearn's main areas of interest as he attempts to breathe new life into the sport.
More details in Clive Everton's Guardian story here.
15 comments:
I'm jumoing in the air... will it be the Paul Hunter Classics??
Oh that are great news!!
Claudia
There never have been better news for me as a German Snookerfan *jumping up and down* Can't get much better!!!!
"Stephen Maguire's 6-1 win over Ryan Day in the Masters was one of the best displays the 28-year-old Scot, the world No2, has produced since he won his fourth ranking title 21 months ago."
I think Clive is losing the plot. Maguire was average today, bordering on poor. He has played better than that at points during the last 21 months that is for sure!
Great news dave. is there any word of a possible seventh ranking event that may be occuring this season ?
Great news, but tempered with the news that the Welsh Open will have to buck its ideas up; i.e. get long term sponsorship or face the chop. Looks like removing one tournament from the UK and moving it abroad, to where the growth is. The more events that can be moved outside the UK, the better as far as I'm concerned.
Best news for a while. Snooker is going to go parabolic in Mainland Europe!!
Mat Wilson
I'm delighted that there will be a ranking event in Germany- this is a real step forward for snooker in a country where it's surprisingly popular.
I also share Barry's view that the Welsh Open needs to raise its game. It loses £200,000 a year at present and it can't carry on like that indefinitely.
In the last decade, it's gone from the CIA in Cardiff to a leisure centre in Newport, and hasn't had a sponsor or the level of TV coverage Sky used to give it for some years.
The Welsh Open is the nearest tournament to my home, but it's also the poor relation in terms of the ranking events, ranking points and prize money.
I wonder whether it's either viable or desirable in today's market. There's certainly room for a major tournament in Wales, but whether it should be this particular event packaged in this way is another matter.
Fantastic! Will it be an extra event or replace an existing one?
I'm not too impressed with this. We all know Germany is full of ronnie fanboys who can make the crowds very biased and it's just not fun.
Snooker © The Fine Art Method
A secret is wasted if not shared
Dear Dave
How are you lad! The games down ward popularity and the absence of “Bums on Seats” is a business reflection Dave not the demise of the game. If there was clear money to be made in sponsoring snooker, our top players could find an easy £20,000,000 pounds to invest.
The game was giving away free tickets during the Jimmy White period of the eighties and more so in the nineties. The game wasn’t sponsored but subsidised with tobacco money. The game as you know Dave never showed a profit margin.
Barry Hearn and Ian Doyle were rejected by a close shop policy. The players wanted a go at running a multi million pound industry that never showed a loss. Pro’ Snooker Dave will always be in bother until they vote to be “Self Supporting” Mr hey you.
Thats great news! I will definitely be there every single session of the tournament.
@ Anonymous 9:40
Maybe you should come to Germany to an exhibition or tournament then you would know that the fans support all players, not only Ronnie.
Cool.
Next I would like to see one in Poland
Probably a couple of years to late, but yay.
^better late than never.
Great news for us fans here in Germany, but I really hope it will NOT replace the PHC!
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