Well said

He's nothing more than a parasite, surely Steve Davis can see their "friendship" was a farce and Hearn was simply using him. I hope Hearn suffers a particularly nasty end to his existence, and at 75, here's more than hoping he doesn't have many more years of his pointless, money driven ways.

He's really going to ruin snooker isn't he... setting up his own generational wealth

Superb comment

Him and his son - destroyers of all that is sacred.

Too many seats. At the back of the crucible the view is just about ok.

Best venue name in all sport too, "The Crucible". Huge venues full of people who can't see what's going on and have to just end up watching a tv at the back, using it as another excuse to crank prices through the roof anyway, Saudi oil sheikhs wandering about making noise while someone's on the final colours of a 147... Meanwhile, what will the actual benefit be? Slightly more prize money? Another billionaire or two made at the top...more access to high level corrupt business dealings for the WPBSA? Is that really worth selling out and trampling all over the soul of snooker for? Seems to be the way every business goes now.

@@AD-kv9kj Too right, mate. Really fucking pisses me off.

Yeah but that doesn’t make the price money bigger 98% of people watch on tv so it small minded view

@everyonesawinner is adolf also a winner?

To be honest he’s just being a business man. Love him or loathe him, he makes money from the players passion for snooker and the people’s passion to watch the game. From that perspective, any sense of sentimentality loses him a buck or two. At this stage, if it isn’t the Hearns who take the initiative, someone else will and the players will break rank anyway for a larger payday, while potentially still being able to play at the worlds…..whatever the decision is in 2027. I’m no business man myself, and in many respects prefer not to have a dime in my pocket than to sacrifice my morals, yet, with a Hearn Hat on, I can see that it’s an obvious meal ticket to change the structure of the game. In the long run, I don’t think it will knock the sport one jot. Passion is passion is passion, you can’t put a price on it…and THIS is how the Hearns have made the billions they have done. Even an iconic venue like the crucible had a beginning…….and yet we are now so far ahead from those beginnings that these boys and girls coming into the sport won’t necessarily feel connected to that long ago history as I do as a 48yr old. I think the time is ripe for change personally. Time to create a new history for these young’ns.😊

Spot on ..great comment

Yes it will rip the heart out of the game, money cannot buy history but it can ruin it

Yes I have a bad feeling about that idea it will take away the charm of the World Championships in my opinion

@@stephenboyd4934 Yeah for sure 👍

Sad state of affairs its inevitable its going away unfortunately. Money talks . The crucible is the home of snooker why can't they expand the crucible or build a new one . 900 currently capacity it needs to be bigger

100% - it's all very well dismissing everything we have as old and pointless and all just nostalgia bla bla, so therefore let's just allow big business and billionaires to dictate literally everything we do...but it'll just be more dodgy castles made of sand and oil...

Honestly thought it would take Eddie taking over (rip Barry) to see this day as he has no respect for the sport. Barry loves it but obviously the last generational payday has taken over

^yup, this

Wouldn’t it bring more eyes to the sport if they took it out of Sheffield.

Wrong. You forgot where it started and in one of the biggest countries in the world. India. Also the Arab states. So when you add those to all the other countries you get a better view

Nearly all of the tickets go to coperates hardly anyone has a chance

Yes agreed

Yep the same. Foreign Billions ruined it decades ago. Today they kneel for bullshit and it gets presented by a cnut. It stirs zero in people that recognise bullshit.

Soulless and just all money related. It’s sickening!

Man, I only just walked past a bloke leaving the supermarket who was on his phone talking really loudly and aggressively to some mate saying, "I NEED...WE need a new keeper NOW!" and going on about how many tens of millions of pounds HE...sorry, THEY need to spend on one. Some absolute nobody student thinking he's part of the billionaire in-crowd because he follows some football team. Some people love this stuff because it makes them feel like they're part of the super-rich elite talking about multi-million pound deals for players bla bla. Absolute bootlickers and airheads.

Difference is no one is taking football venues or grounds, anfield or OT not going to saudi. The issue is they want to take the venue away.

Yes, yes they will.

Yes they will.

Saudi Arabia will ship people in to make it look like it's well attended

@@chrisboggon9467 only men though

Rachel needs to be very careful what questions she asks

You clearly aren’t aware how much money they’re paying boxers to fight there. AJ got £30 million to fight Ngannou

Snooker ain't that popular

@@tylaplease apples and pears m8. The first prize will not be double Wimbledon FFS.

@@davidbrown9947time will tell but again, the Saudis basically have an endless money pot and if they want to tempt Barry Hearn with moving the world championship to Saudi by potentially offering £5 million for the winner they could easily do so. I was just pointing out how much money they have by using boxing as an example

@@gordoncockfield Hmmm not so sure about that 🤔

^Madness

Yes but they need to justify the reason for sending somewhere else,, and straight up barefaced lying is all good nowadays.

Nah you wouldn’t expect to book a year early for the World Cup final, Wimbledon etc… in fact not many sports where what you’re saying is remotely true… Think your talking rubbish tbh, name a few?

thank you , i know hearn is talking crap

Like the people that allegedly can't get tickets would go to Saudi Arabia.

Agree with you

Enit just 💯

totally correct - I do however believe that the event should be held in China every other year...i think its only fair for Chinese players. But Saudi...jeez , what a mistake that would be for the game.

Did you see the crowd at the last Saudi event? John Higgins on a maximum and there are people stood up walking all over the place. Lol what a joke.

Disgusting what he's doing pal

He's been waiting years to do it just slowly bit by bit

Barry even stated that in the cue tips video with Hendry! It's a bit worrying!

He said it himself on talkSPORT a few weeks ago he couldn’t care a less he will take it to Saudi in a heartbeat

Exactly

Or 🇨🇳.

Totally agree 3 more years enjoy it people because we all know it's going to saudi

That's called being a businessesman, not a politician

Honestly, the logic behind that statement was baffling.

But the Chinese masters gets 10k and goes up every year...😂

​@@HeWhoDaresEhDelyes and most of the crowd watch on a large TV screen because you can't see what's going on a snooker table from so far away .

​@@TriggLuthat's like saying nobody goes to baseball, cricket, basketball because of the size of the stadium. It's invidious not true

Spot on Snookerstones

@snookerstones Great man? After all these years? He’s always been a scumbag and so is his son. A pair of greedier men you’d struggle to find anywhere

Too true.... Ask his old cash cow Steve davis what he thinks 🤔

⁠@@matthewmorgan748Actually Steve Davis just discussed it with Stephen Hendry on the latest CueTips. He seems open to the idea. Hendry is not so keen on the idea.

he was always a prick.

The Saudis will pay ten times that and more.

@@zbigniewczaykowski514 Fucking rich bastards 😡

They no doubt would and destroy this wonderful game as we know it

​@@zbigniewczaykowski514Then they can create their own tournament with a Golden Ball......oh hang on.😅

@@Nico-qt4qz its better to have WSC in India. More crowds. Sheffield is a boring place.

so in short , Hearn is full of shit

"p s. It's going to Saudi"

@@rockface901 Yep 👍

Course she would say that. She can't offer anything other than heritage, and scared they will lose their cash cow. As much as I don't like the idea Barry is right. What player would turn down 10x prize money just to stay at the crucible?

I'd love to see Ronnie play on Centre Court 😀 (Don't you dare edit your post 😅😅😅)

Wimbledon is not the world championship of tennis though is it? And they expand and improve Wimbledon as time goes on.

It took many years for Wimbledon to get a roof,so many years lost to rain​@@Dystopianutopiabuilds

​@@Dystopianutopiabuildspop a closing roof on it 😂

@@gordoncockfield Sheffield could easily have made plans to adapt or build somewhere suitable for the world championship and wst has been telling them for years something needs to change but they have done nothing. There's not a lot ou can do about that really.

They are a sports organisation not into real estate. It's like asking the premier league to build football stadiums

Saudi knows nothing about any sport,, its nothing more than a nice little desert hole to have their little get togethers without being disturbed.

It knows snookers a money spinner and will be of use to cover up their appalling human rights record by sportwashing

So build a larger stadium in Sheffield! Not happening. When the contract ends so will the world championships at the Crucible

Except that they already did in riyadh first time of asking

@@HeWhoDaresEhDel i watched it - the venue was empty

@@martinreynolds5905 so did I there were way over 200 in attendance

Do a head count you can count over 100 on one side and another 100 on the head of the table side so your talking bollocks. Type in Eurosport go to world masters of snooker 2024 do a head count on the two sides you can see visibly from the camera then stop talking shit. I'd estimate it had 4-500 in attendance

@@HeWhoDaresEhDel no chance your talking balls, google the sun article you can see empty seats on second row all round venue. max 100 people there, plus the Saudis are disrespectful standing up in the eyeline of the player on shot - not cool

Immortal Money 💰

I think that a lot of people will moan when it moves but that's just what people do. And it will be mostly older people that only care about how they feel about things and don't really care about the future of the sport or those playing it. The same people that moan about self service checkouts and wilcos going bust. They want the world to be as it was when they were younger and don't like change. It's pathetic really. For me I'd like the wc to move about from country to country like other global sports do it. Make a new ranking event at the crucible to become a 4th crown event to keep the traditionalist old folks happy.

How can you respect one man being in charge of such an amazing sport. It should be ran by a body of people who take it seriously

I think they should make a bigger place.

​@@mrjohnzilla-zx8sjhe's built the sport into what it is today. Was on its arse before he got involved.

What you going to do with a 3,000 seat venue for snooker the rest of the year ?

Great comment🤘

So you make a set up with a huge crowd close to the tables 😂 how hard is that

You better come over by 2027 at the latest as that will probably be the last one at the Crucible

@@djsteves554 my mum went this year she could only afford to go to qualifications though because the tickets are so expensive...

@@HeWhoDaresEhDel so she can't afford to buy tickets as it is but she'll be on the first flight to Saudi Arabia? Makes sense

A shit one

There were talks of building a crucible-like snooker focused venue in sheffield...

@@mrjohnzilla-zx8sj yeh it was Barry hearn talking shit

it would thrive more if snooker had more investment in publicity and better exciting matches and venues

Because theyve closed all the snooker halls ffs,, its not hard to know the reason,, theyve ruined social activities up and down this country because of silly rules and regulations,, and the most annoying fooking aspect about it is that the public have let them do it.

@@ginjaedgy49 I don't disagree. Some form of shot clock would be good.

The game itself is fine its the venue it's played in that would make it more appealing worldwide

i think moving the championship to a diferent country each year is a fantastic idea.. whats the issue with that?

Salam alaikum Ahmed! Best comment on here. There is no shortage of sport in Saudi now so it's not like snooker is a novelty either.. I wouldn't mind seeing it move around the world but only to places where it can sell tickets to fans - England, China, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Thailand and other countries where it can sell tickets and not just invite rich people for the final..

Exactly 👍

They get 10k for the Chinese masters.. 😂

There might be empty seats but theyve been paid for. The crucible is a complete sell out every year. Its very difficult to get tickets. he is right about that

Oh yes the infamous great crucible great crowd. With such greats chant's as ooh ahhhhh and last but not least come on Ronnie. Come on xyz.... How will that ever be replicated anywhere else 😂

The Chinese crowds are alright. Saudi events are like funerals

@@Mark-eg2yd there's only been one... And there was noise

"Money doesn´t talk, it screams" Bob Dylan

Matchroom is a billion$ company. They can build a purpose made venue in Sheffield tomorrow if they like. He wants to move away and get more £ for Matchroom in events everywhere else.

Sure why not have it in Russia get a gas company to sponsor it 👍

Money talks....people walk

@@johannbogason1662 😂😂😂👍

Brilliantly put

I don't think he will read the comments here. Even if he does I don't think he will be intimidated by your attempt at a threat lol.

@@Dystopianutopiabuilds I didn't know you had a hotline to what he does and doesn't read.

@@bigjob7551 are you on drugs? I know 7 year old with more sense than you seem to have.

Higgins should'v been banned already but i get your point.

Well, I would love to see this too just to laugh, and I want the WC to stay in sheffield. But in terms of Ronnie leaving due to it's move, that wouldn't be the cause of him leaving, as he wants the better venues. He will leave because of his own reasons. I could see Williams maybe leaving purely because of the WC move, he is very loyal, and funny as well, always been my fav player for his personality

What will happen at this rate is the crucible will stay the same but it will be stripped of the name world championship. Because it's only in name that it is. Crucible classic Sheffield open take your pick. World championships?? Nah mate

If it stays the same and Barry takes it else where they won’t give the crucible any event. The point he’s making is it’s too small.

@@amac1657 nah they'll get something they'll probably move the Johnstone paint trophy there call it the crucible classic... But you could be right shows how out of date the crucible and Sheffield is if no organisers want the venue if the world champs leave the crucible..

500k but to win the world championship takes 8 hours practice a day for decades. Why put in all that time when in other sports you can make that in a month

There's some football players that earn close to 500k a week! The snooker players deserve to be rewarded financially, and it's important to attract young people to Snooker. Young players are the future of the sport. Get with the times.

No you couldn't. 500,000/35 is 14.2k on average. 14k probably wouldn't even cover a years worth of expenses on tour. Your opinion was valid until you started talking rubbish.

500k is chump change for a pro sport player footballers make 10x-20x that a year

Forgot to add, you don't even get 500k once tax is paid which makes your point even less valid.

Agreed. You look at the atmosphere of the Chinese events and it's great, snooker is unbelievably loved over there. Personally I like the intimacy of The Crucible, but the capacity could be better and there is some rose-tinted glasses about the conditions considering they haven't been updated for nearly 50 years so maybe a new venue is needed. But, Barry saying it's on Sheffield to build a new venue rather than Matchroom or WST is a bit of an ask. How do you expect things to get done if you expect handouts rather than getting the job done yourself? But, I digress. You just need to look at the boxing and that joke of a tournment in Riyadh to see how soulless it'll become if it moves to Saudi Arabia. A crowd full of invited celebrities and rich people who just do not care. They may pay the most, but it's all to boost the profile of the higher-ups, not snooker as a sport.

I agree with this, whys it got to stay in one place?

You can.

Why? Will it be in America? No. Saudi is 3 hrs ahead only. We'd get an early night lol.

@@slayer5097 If Saudi, or anyone else for that matter, own the rights, they can put it on at whatever time they want, so it could very well be 4am our time. It was more of a rhetorical question - the point being they'll most likely lose a large portion of the UK viewership if that happens - hypthetically speaking!

I doubt the viewership would be affected at all, in fact it will be on at a better time. Let them run the sport, you can watch it or not.

@@slayer5097another sell out - you would let an Arab bum you if the price was right.. 😂

Yes , imagine winning that first tournament after he retires, you know what everyone is going to say.

I can’t wait to not hear his whinging 😂

It will be the best thing to ever happen to the sport!

Sheffield United

Got the Crucible Theatre 💯 %.

Absolutely correct. Ignore the small minded idiots

The lower ranking players are already putting in better performances since Saudi. Young players will start coming through in droves during the next ten years money and spectating grandeur talks and always has done. When snooker truly has a world stage people will want to step onto it.

@@HeWhoDaresEhDel Lots of sports have a world stage, and they still have the same tournaments in the same locations. None of this is relevant to where the WC should be held.

@@StevieViscuso this will get the young people back into snooker if I knew the way snooker would end up. I'd have taken it up as a kid and so would a lot more kids. This is only a good thing for the sport. There is such a thing as too much as you see in football but snooker is so far behind that and will never be as popular anyway. Man if I knew that snooker would end being a global sport with stadiums etc I'd have taken up the game as a youngster. And now that's going to happen, watch young kids all around the world will start playing it again. Like they did years ago when O'Sullivan and all the old boys came through. Why do O'Sullivan and everyone keep beating the young guys coming through year after year. Because when they came through snooker was popular it was popular because it had glamorous events and big prize money. They were obsessed. It's really not rocket science and the young players that have come through in this current era didn't grow up truly obsessed about the game. Now they will again.

@@HeWhoDaresEhDel Like when the WC was held in Australia and it didn't. If people really cared about having snooker be more world based, they would start by arguing that the Scottish, English and Welsh shouldn't be ranking tournaments. Ending three ranking tournaments being cantered around the UK would be where to start.

That's a red herring as the money coming in is for worldwide TV rights because it's the world championship , not specifically because it's the crucible in Sheffield and would be coming in from whichever venue it was held.

Fair point ..but it is coming in either way ..my own view is no matter how you look at it ..the greed is incredible ..o sullivan is by far the box office Seat seller but how long is he going to be a force for ?..Steve Davis put it to Barry hearn re a bigger venue in Sheffield he said early rounds forget a 2000 /3000 seater ....that place deserves far better respect

Ronnie just signed a big money deal with the Saudis.

That's what i'm fearing the most. Not moving away from Sheffield but the tournament becoming a flat 128 playing best of 7 event. They completely devalued the UK Championship so I really hope the World format doesn't change.