Billiards Digest August Mag: "The Rainmaker" featuring Barry Hearn

[JAM]

Billiards Digest knows what time of day it is.

Excerpt of From the Publisher: "But after spending the better part of an hour on the phone with the always enthusiastic and loquacious silver-haired promoter, my anxiety has been replaced with optimism and excitement. To hear Hearn explain it, extra time away from daily Chairman duties will free the still-vibrant 73-year-old to focus on 'global development and commercialization' of Matchroom properties ... Hearn plans to devote much of his energy to pushing pool to its full potential. In our interview in this issue (pg. 44), Hearn said he expects Matchroom to add several new events to its 2022 pool calendar. He also suggested that he will 'be concentrating on pool more than anything else over the next 12 months.'"

"That has to be music to the ears of pool players, fans and the entire billiard industry. Anyone that knows Hearn at all knows that he has booked precious few losers in his 45-plus years as a promoter. With dynamo Emily Frazer"—speaking of Emily, where has she been lately?—"heading up the Matchroom Multi Sport division (in which pool is the major property) and the smooth-talking, globally respected Hearn selling the sport and events, professional pool could take a huge step forward in 2022.

Read the complete From the Publisher (Michael Panozzo): http://www.billiardsdigest.com/showblogentry.php?id=472

Read the interview here: http://www.billiardsdigest.com/new_current_issue/aug_21/bb_index.php

 

[Cameron Smith]

I think this is pretty positive and more or less what people have been asking for. A millionaire to come in and invest in pool. Except in this case it’s an organization willing to build a foundation underneath the game which it has sorely lacked. I honestly never thought Hearn and matchroom would do this.

The difference between matchroom and others that have tried and failed is they do have a track record for success in other sports and they aren’t going to fall into a trap of offering too much prize money all at once. Think about how long the IPT could have survived if they didn’t commit all of that prize money to those three events.

I’m sure a lot of people will not like this structured tour approach. A lot of people enjoy being able to enter into just about any tournament and brush shoulders with the top players. And I think that includes some players who currently compete as pros. If they follow a snooker approach with a tour of 128 players, that will leave a lot of guys out in the cold.

 

[livemusic]

I hope it works! Good luck, Matchroom! Was just thinking of the Olympics and how I would watch pool over some of the other events! Next thing ya know, cornhole will be in the Olympics!

 

[Bob Jewett]

Billiards Digest knows what time of day it is.

Excerpt of From the Publisher: "But after spending the better part of an hour on the phone with the always enthusiastic and loquacious silver-haired promoter, my anxiety has been replaced with optimism and excitement. To hear Hearn explain it, extra time away from daily Chairman duties will free the still-vibrant 73-year-old to focus on 'global development and commercialization' of Matchroom properties ... Hearn plans to devote much of his energy to pushing pool to its full potential. In our interview in this issue (pg. 44), Hearn said he expects Matchroom to add several new events to its 2022 pool calendar. He also suggested that he will 'be concentrating on pool more than anything else over the next 12 months.'"

"That has to be music to the ears of pool players, fans and the entire billiard industry. Anyone that knows Hearn at all knows that he has booked precious few losers in his 45-plus years as a promoter. With dynamo Emily Frazer"—speaking of Emily, where has she been lately?—"heading up the Matchroom Multi Sport division (in which pool is the major property) and the smooth-talking, globally respected Hearn selling the sport and events, professional pool could take a huge step forward in 2022.

Read the complete From the Publisher (Michael Panozzo): http://www.billiardsdigest.com/showblogentry.php?id=472

Read the interview here: http://www.billiardsdigest.com/new_current_issue/aug_21/bb_index.php

Barry Hearn's autobiography has just been published. Here is a store that can deliver a hardback copy to your door (in the US) for under $25:

My Life

Barry Hearn is credited with turning snooker into one of the biggest sports in Britain. He essentially turned a sport in which competitors wear bowties into a m

blackwells.co.uk

 

[JAM]

Barry Hearn's autobiography has just been published. Here is a store that can deliver a hardback copy to your door (in the US) for under $25:

My Life

Barry Hearn is credited with turning snooker into one of the biggest sports in Britain. He essentially turned a sport in which competitors wear bowties into a m

blackwells.co.uk

I ordered mine a while back when the announcement was first made. Mine is en route to me now. Because I ordered early, I also saved a little chunk of change on the book.

I wish I lived in England, though, and attended the snooker events because Barry was there autographing books outside in front of the venue.

Now if I can only get my hands on a Ronnie O'Sullivan T-shirt, my life will be complete.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Here is a long, informal interview with Barry Hearn. He's talking about a million pound first prize for snooker ($1.25 million) in a few years. He also says that all of Matchroom's businesses make money.

 

[Bob Jewett]

A revised version of the autobiography has just been published. Shipping from England is amazingly cheap for some sellers. ($5 for 9-day shipping)