I'd be astonished if the Florida Open does not become a permanent major. Has all the ingredients. MR has been seeking the right venues in the right locations. They are thrilled by what they saw in Orland last December and this August.
Hanoi was the first place MR struck gold. Now Orlando. MR is praying Manilla turns out to be another.
The UK and European opens, on the other hand, have not found the ideal situation.
I posted earlier this year about MR's end game. I figured they would like to have at least two big majors in the U.S., two in Europe and two in Asia. Plus there would be the wildcard of the World Pool Championship with floating locations (though next seven years in Saudi).
Would Matchroom go beyond that?
They also have the Reyes and Mosconi. They still have to figure out which of the three other non-ranking events - World Pool Masters, World Cup of Pool, and Premier League of Pool - to keep.
There may be no WPM this year for just the third time in 40 years. The World Cup of Pool is about to be absent for the second year in a row.
Big Matchroom events take a minimum of 9-10 days for WNT and the players if travel time is included. That's a lot of time.
Could MR go behind seven big majors? Seems no more than nine is likely in the long run, but even that might be too much given WPA events and other established tourneys (International, Derby, etc).
Of course, MR has now created a tier of so-called GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE events. They are aiming to have more SILVER and BRONZE events with the help of partners. Good strategy to build on.
