Come on, are you trying to insinuate that by moving to Buckinghamshire they operated at a loss and just for the benefit of TV viewing fans? I would believe they make more money from TV than in person attendance. "Willingness to step up to the plate"
He is not trying to "insinuate" anything. Sjm has made simple and reasonable points about your criticism of Matchroom, acknowledging what he doesn't know when he doesn't know.
Something from which you could learn a lesson. You insinuate a lot of stuff with zero knowledge.
Case in point: The Ko brothers. They chose to play in China - and said so themselves - but you of course saw nefarious Matchroom machinations. Well, the Ko brothers also chose not to attend the Qatar 10 Ball Cup with a $100,000 top prize. Matchroom's fault, too?
A few years ago, I dug up Matchroom's financials and looked at pool. Whatever money it gets from TV for pool was not very large.
Looking at the most recent fiscal year, Matchroom generated far more revenue and profits from Darts, boxing and to a much lesser extent, snooker. At least 85% of its sales and revenue came from darts and boxing - Darts is the biggest moneymaker by far.
Snooker earned less than $1.5 million in fiscal 2024. Pool was so small it wasn't even broken out, and it might not even make more than fishing.
Pool simply is not highly profitable - that's why prize funds are small no matter the promoter. Predator isn't making much money on pro events, either. Company execs say the focus is on growing the sport so they can sell more equipment.
The lack of money in pool should be blindingly obvious to anyone who follows pro billiards. It should be obvious to you, too, but you implied repeatedly they are exploiting the players for profit.
I doubt Sky is paying a lot for WNT events. WNT is probably just happy they show any pool at all. I am guessing - because I do not know - that they leveraged their other sports to get pool coverage, too. Just look at the Youtube viewership. Even when pool matches are free, viewership globally is ridiculously low whether it is MR or Predator.
I know MR/WNT has its fair share of critics. You are one of them. Really, I understand. I share some of your complaints and irritation. The Reyes Cup organization and player favoritism, among others.
But the critics do themselves no favor when they say ridiculous things with little or no facts or logic.
Matchroom should indeed be subject to criticism. They need to do better. WPA/Predator need to do better, too. But I will give credit where credit is due.