The 12 minute time limit is exclusively for the 64 player 1-frame shootout tournament he has proposed it also has a shot clock but can't remember the time limit on that.
So how is it going to work?
If you limit only the total match time, then it is likely to have unintended consequences: When the clock starts getting close to the 12 minute mark, the person in front is likely to engage in slow and negative play (take up the full 25 seconds on each shot and play containing safeties). Just what you want to avoid.
On the other hand, if you give the players 6 minutes each and use a chess clock, then you would get players running between table and clock. At best undignified and at worst farcical.
I am not saying that it cannot be done; but I would be interested to know what they have in mind.
I am also not sure what the point is of reserving 25% of the places to amateurs in the proposed 'World Open'. What the majority of viewing public want to see (rightly or wrongly) are faces that they recognise. Not amateurs.
When Barry Hearn was involved in snooker the first time round, because of the way the system operated the top amateurs were significantly better than probably 2/3rds of the professionals. But snooker solved that problem by opening up the pro ranks to anyone who was prepared to pay the annual subscription. (I had always assumed that this was one of Hearn's initiatives - it was certainly part of a very clever package of measures which I didn't think anyone else in the game could have come up with). But now that anyone can be a pro, what is the purpose behind opening up this tournament to amateurs? Just novelty perhaps?
