3.8.11

WHERE AND WHEN TO WATCH

A rather dizzying document released by World Snooker today lays out the extent of television and internet streaming coverage of the game over the course of the next season.

It explains that major events shown on television in, for instance, the UK will not be available to watch online on liveworldsnooker.tv.

This is because separate deals have been struck for internet rights with the BBC and Eurosport.

However, the document shows just how much snooker will be available to watch: all the ranking events on TV or online, the European PTCs on Eurosport, English PTCs and qualifiers online.

It also shows how crowded the calendar is going to be after Christmas.

Players risk burn-out going to the World Championship but the tournament schedule is having to be built if not from scratch then from a pretty low starting point.

The strategy appears to be to get the tournaments on in the first place and then, presumably, try to schedule them in the future so that there's not quite so much flying here, there and everywhere.

Whatever, it beats sitting at home complaining there aren't any tournaments.

Read all about it here.

23 comments:

kildare cueman said...

Starting to look like a pretty full calendar. Not sure if I misread the list but it appears as if a ranking event clashes with the masters. Maybe its a qualifier, in which case they can run concurrently.

There's no doubt that fatigue may play a part as the season reaches its climax, but its up to the players to plan their diaries and maybe not enter everything if they dont feel capable of giving their best. Those that are consistently reaching the latter stages will probably need to skip a couple of events, but they'll have built up enough points to enable them to rest without being penalised too harshly, while those who have had poor seasons will be relatively fresh and will relish the opportunity to enter everything.

Still nice to be able to watch it all. Onwards and upwards.

Chris Turner said...

Yes there is a ranking event clashing with the masters and another (TBC) at the end of February at Sheffield (more qualifiers? but for what?)
Hainan World Open is scheduled but nothing has been announced so far and the World Championhsip qualifiers seem to have been shifted to the beginning of April ending just 6 days before the championship proper starts.

Nothing has yet been changed on the pulished calendar however.

Anonymous said...

World Open seems to be reinstated in China March 5 to 11 with qualifiers at Sheffield Jan 11 to 14. This means World qualifiers are moved to April 4 to 15, hopefully still in Badminton Hall - nobody seems to have noticed this yet. When World Snooker say the schedule is provisional, they really mean it. Some people book hotels in advance but they have to be careful in future!

Anonymous said...

Doesn't anyone think that there are now too little opportunities for having time with families anymore? Every sport has an off season. Snooker now does not.

Anonymous said...

The final say on these matters lie at the hands of the governing body of the sport.
Within 3 months i'd expect a minority to officially burst through the doors of the House of Lords brandishing pool cues to demonstrate a displeasure of anything modern.

Anonymous said...

there's no off season in tennis or golf.

there's as much time with families as people working on oil rigs or even working closer to home.

a whole week off for most between PTC 2 AND 3.

Week off between PTC 4 and Shanghai Masters.

there are plenty of time off but not as Much as Rodney Walker liked.

Anonymous said...

I was Rodney Walker had been Minister of Education when I was at school.

likahokeith said...

I think India will host the ranking event in March

tatannes XI said...

it's poor that UK arent available to watch online.

Eurosport & BBC coverage arent covering all the event, especially on Week ends.

Chris Turner said...

I expect that the tour will develop like the golf tour and players will choose to miss some events, depending on their ranking situation.

I do not see many players playing every week from now till May which is virtually what is available if they want it.

Perhaps we could have a situation when the best 10 results, say, would count for the final rankings which would minimize the penalty for missing the odd event.

Anonymous said...

Chris, what a nonsense point, if you start going down that road you won't have enough good players in all the best events. It's okay for tennis and golf as they have superstars and a level of stars below that. That doesn't exist in snooker, get real.

Anonymous said...

Right sentiment, wrong solution. If you play in all the events then you should get all your points. What needs to be sorted is the point distribution, although we all know that would be missing the point: the points schedule disproportionately awards the PTCs so the players have to play in all of them more or less; Barry Hearn and World Snooker aren't going to start giving players opt-outs any time soon.

Although in reality anyone in the top 8 can afford to skip these things to no detrimental effect if they're willing to relinquish their ambitions to be World Number 1, or even a top 4 player. Being a top 8 player still counts for something—it gets you a much easier second round draw (provided you dodge Ronnie), but being top 4 doesn't really give you any real discernable advantage these days; being top 4 is mainly a prestige thing now, but if they give up on that rather empty ambition the top players can exercise quite a bit of choice over their schedules, and maybe target and prime themselves for the majors.

BL

Witz78 said...

Does anyone else agree that with the World Championship qualifiers now being played directly before the World Championships that there its crazy to determine the top 16 who automatically qualify for this AFTER the Welsh Open in Feb?

when there are the China Open, World Open, PTC Finals and possibly an Indian tournament after this cut off point, but before the World Champs, when by which time the top 16 could look very different to how it did in Feb?

why have rolling rankings but not fully implement them as much as possible?

also by having the race to Sheffield lasting right until the end of the penultimate event of the season it would guarantee more interest for fans and dedication from players than there normally is in the likes of the China Open as it would now have a real importance before the World Champs rankings cut off, rather than just being a distraction and annoyance to some players that it currently is. Also by ensuring everyone is at these events and taking them seriously, it would boost their prestige and profile which has to be better for the fans abroad, than the normal farcial scenarios we get with players pulling out, not trying (?) etc.

And take Brazil next month for example, a total joke so many big names arent going, they should be ashamed. Grasp these opportunities whilst you can. Your career will be a long time over, so no point having any regrets after it. The likes of Trump skipping it especially is baffling, International Playboi? More like Bristol Mummysboi id say !!!

Anonymous said...

bl, why would they want to avoid ronnie?

hes sliding down more snakes than he is climbing ladders

kildare cueman said...

I agree with both your points Witz. I cant understand why we need a cut off point. Why not just implement the current rankings when the draw for each tournament is being made?
That way the most recent seedings possible are used and the general public is not totally confused.

Regarding the Brazil tournament, it certainly is disappointing to see so many big names missing.

They have an obligation to promote the game in new territories. You wouldn't mind them missing established events like the wuxi but Brazil? You'd think they would take the hand off you for a place.

Perhaps the top players should have the option of block booking 3 or 4 invitational tournaments or none at all. Throw the masters and premier league in with 2 new ones and let them choose- All or nothing.

Anonymous said...

Nice in theory, but potential sponsors may not like the idea of top players being potentially barred because they didn't enter some other event.

A shame about Brazil. I can understand players not being steamed about the PTCs, but the Brazilian Masters could be a full ranker in a couple of years if this trial run goes well and that's what the players are after. South America has huge natural resources like Africa—but far fewer problems—and has the potential to be a very lucrative territory if it takes to snooker. I'm starting to wonder if the administration was the problem all these years, or if the tail was just wagging the dog. Barry can't be happy with the support the Brazilian event is getting and must be starting to wonder if he's made a mistake getting back into snooker. No world champion, no world number 1, no Trump, no Robbo, no Ronnie, no surprise; if ranking points were up for grabs I bet they all would have been there except for Ron. It's kind of bizarre that some of the best support for Barry's new ventures seems to be coming from one of his most vocal opponents, Peter Ebdon!

BL

Anonymous said...

It's just plain daft bringing tournaments to places like Brazil where snooker is never going to be a hit. We keep getting told how the sport is being globalised, etc. If that's the case, why's all the qualifiers still in the UK then? I think the UK is the hotbed of snooker and it shouldn't be ashamed to be so. Why the World Open was scrapped from Glasgow I'll never know, but not hosting a ranking tournament here you're depriving tons of fans who would love to watch it and instead going to places in the world where noone is interested.

Anonymous said...

Have to agree with kildare on Brazil, Trump's been hanging with O'Sullivan too long. Would love to know what Higgins and Williams' excuses for skipping the event are.

Anonymous said...

@854

The thing is anon, the turnout for the most part in Scotland was shocking for a start, so the Scottish didn't really provide the BBC with a convincing reason to cover an event there. The qualifiers are here simply because most of the tour is still British, but if we end up with a huge Chinese contingent then I wouldn't be surprised to see Chinese qualifiers. Secondly, this Brazilian tournament may not stick, but going out to China in the 80s introduced the game to the country and it was able to return a generation later and exploit that. So in short, the Brazilian event could see a similar effect in South America.

To be fair this is what Hearn does best, establishing sports in new territories; I hate all his gimmick crap, but on the bread and butter of the game he proves again and again to be a progressive thinker. Brazil is a gamble, but the payoff if it sticks or launches snooker in South America is potentially huge.

kildare cueman said...

I thought the whole idea of having a high ranking was to get seeded better and to gain invitations to smaller field tournaments where you only need to win 3 or 4 matches to pick up the cheque and trophy.

The Brazil turnout is a sign that maybe its time to change the qualifying system to players ranked 33-64 playing 65-96 with the winners playing 1-32.

The cossetted top 16 would be glad of those invitational tournaments then.

Anonymous said...

946?

excuse?

maybe reason, but not excuse.

these people have families. some of their families work, be it voluntary or....

sometimes they pick dates in the calendar and take a holiday.

they do this when non rankers are on, usually.

how it has to be an excuse to not go to something that is INVITATIONAL ill never know

look past your nose when youre looking to blame or feel dissappointed.

Anonymous said...

5.05am - you having a laugh? The World Open in Glasgow was one of the best attended ranking tournaments in years. It was being praised all over the place on BBC's coverage, 'we'll defintely be back here I think' I'm sure Hazel said.

Anonymous said...

The World Open attendance was better than in previous years, but it only picked up after Ronnie's maxi-non, and that was probably due to the media coverage it received. And ratings were still down. Fact is if the Scottish had complained enough about the BBC cutting its snooker coverage in Scotland (while retaining full coverage of the three events in England) they probably would have backed down; the BBC always cowers when the race/nationalism card is played, and there isn't a people on the planet that can whine and complain like the Scottish.