The Welsh Open will be sponsored by Totesport.com in the latest positive move for the sport under Barry Hearn's chairmanship of the WPBSA.
The tournament has not been sponsored since 2003 when Regal were forced out through the UK government's anti-tobacco legislation.
“This is a further boost for snooker and it proves we are definitely moving in the right direction for our sport," Hearn said.
"Having Totesport.com, one of the biggest betting brands in the World, sponsor the Welsh Open demonstrates the appeal of snooker. We’ve now got sponsors on board for four of our five UK tournaments and I’m sure that there are more to come.
"We look forward to working closely with the team at Totesport.com to make this tournament a great success.”
Trevor Beaumont, Chief Executive of Totesport said: “We are delighted to again be associated with World Snooker after a break of 5 years. As one of the premier tournaments in the calendar the totesport.com Welsh Open is a great opportunity for us to remind our audience of customers that totesport.com is relevant for them across all major sports betting events.”
Hopefully this new deal will give the Welsh Open a bit of a lift because it currently seems to be regarded as the poor relation of the world ranking circuit.
Ali Carter starts his title defence next Monday and the tournament will be broadcast on BBC Wales and Eurosport.
31 comments:
You've got to hand it to Barry Hearn - he's got a great contacts book!
Fantastic news!
I wonder how much of the £200,000 that Barry Hearn said WS lose with the Welsh Open every season will be covered by this.
Didn't ToteSport sponsor the Grand Prix for a couple of seasons? Great to see them back, but is it only another one-year deal like the Pokerstars.com Masters?.
Anyway, another 11th hour sponsorship deal from Barry and his team, where on earth is he pulling them out of?
celt.
Yeah they did the 2004 Grand Prix. This is a one-year deal, not that surprising as it's last minute, for an undisclosed fee.
Whatever they are putting in it is better than nothing and a sponsor always gives a tournament a bit of a lift.
I wonder if there's any plan to increase the paltry ranking points for this event - that never made any sense in the first place.
Will this mean a Lime Green Carpet?
In all seriousness, since the end of tobacco sponsorship the sets for ranking tournaments haven't been great - even at sponsored tournaments the most prominent signs have been the red banners advertising World Snooker's website. Surely potential sponsors need their corporate colours/identity to be the dominating feature?
Really great news. Dave, if you bump into Barry can you ask him to look at the World Snooker scoreboard on their website? It is a real bugbear for fans trying to keep up with qualifiers. It's always freezing. Thanks.
In anwser to your Twitter question about Sir Rod- Ebdon! Seriously though, reading Snooker Scene this month and hearing that Ebdon was there at that AGM to support Walker is baffling. I don't want to sound mean but does he have many friends on the circuit with his style of play and his support for an organisation that were helping to stunt the growth of this great game.
Just makes you wonder what on earth Mr Walker did in all his time as the chairman...
My guess is he just played a lot of Sodoku.
DA IAWN!!!
Diolch yn fawr Totesport!
Croeso
come on the Tornado for tomorrow!
Good sign for snooker when an "old" sponsor starts backing the sports again.
BTW, Dave, any news on that possible 7th ranking event this season you wrote about in November? Is that still in the pipeline?
DA IAWN!!!
Is Janie turning into a gangsta??
Hopefully, from next year, Hearn can persuade the BBC to screen the Welsh Open nationally.
The money is certainly welcome but I hope the "undisclosed sum" is not selling Snooker cheaply. Getting such a last minute sponsor robs them of the pre-event publicity and therefore they put in a lot less money.
Anonymous said...
Just makes you wonder what on earth Mr Walker did in all his time as the chairman...
5:41 PM
Collecting commissions for existing contracts (BBC) would be my guess.
You've got to hand it to Barry, he makes things happen, and fast
No, she's just being (and speaking) Welsh!
In response to 9.56pm, i don't think so as the 7th reanking event was supposed to be in Malta, but Barry Hearn announced there will be no events in Malta under his chairmanship cos of lack of potential growth
The old regime would have been pilloried for accepting a cheap deal at the eleventh hour for a full blown ranking event.
The funniest thing about Barry's obvious success is the despondency of the conspiracy of mediocrity that used to run snooker.
They aren't happy things are going well. Quite the opposite - it shows them up for what they are.
Totesport.com are a proper sponsor who couldn't work with the old regime. The previous board couldn't even get a sponsor for the Masters, let alone the Welsh Open, and were lucky to get one for the World Championship. Thank goodness they've gone.
I understand the Walker regime had a 'price' for each ranking event, and preferred leaving them unsponsored to accepting a lower price.... until the potential embarrassment of an unsponsored world championship forced them to accept a last-minute deal.
Unfortunately for the new regime this will probably impact on the amount any company is prepared to pay to sponsor a ranking tournament in the UK (if the WC is worth £500k a year, a sponsor is unlikely to value the Welsh Open at £200k).
there are loads of things that have to tie in to any figure....
what WS have to do to get the £ and also the length of term....and so on
sometimes just a ball park figure doesnt tell half the story and so one should be cautious when using it solely
That is my understanding as well 2:08pm, Walker could of had many sponsor's, but wanted vast amount's for the ranking event's. All he was left with is dust in his eyes after they all scarpered fast.
Anonymous said...
The old regime would have been pilloried for accepting a cheap deal at the eleventh hour for a full blown ranking event.
12:47 PM
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE TO GET TO THAT STAGE, BUT THE OLD REGIME NEVER WENT THAT FAR!
Delighted to see Drago make it, a real effort can't see him dropping him off the main tour now. I don't understand why the Monday is not televised.
It is televised!
British Eurosport2, 1pm for those in the UK.
Thought you might say that, I should have said why is the BBC online coverage not getting underway on Monday. again correct me if I'm wrong as I hope they will as Drago may well be playing on Monday. I have no access to EuroSport at the moment unless I ask the bookies to put it on which I have done but you get no sound. I will get it when I have my own place as I can watch this game every week, the only other sport is football that I would say that about.
Come on Alan McManus today!
Yes definitely televised. I've just watched the trailer on BBC Wales.
and it's on the red button so WSA assure me.
Mark Williams has just been on Sport Wales - you can probably pick up a clip at BBC Wales/Sport.
Just hope Ryan Day wasn't watching it!!
Good week for Totesport then next week, as they are also sponsoring the player's dart's championship itv4 from Thursday.
The Radio Times say it is not on the red button, it is a busy week for online users of BBC sport as we have the tennis, african nations and the snooker. I can't see why Clive is not commentating here and you have some guy called John Evans in the booth. Nothing against Evans, but if Everton was ditched as he was not a big enough name then it is a bit puzzling. Probably Evans in there as he is fron the valleys. The intro's felt a bit tame after the Masters!
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