Snooker split over Barry Hearn revamp plans for top 16 players
- Thread starter church66
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Hmm !
One of the best BBC Snooker threads for a long time & I read it a few times but one minute I think it's a great idea and the next I'm not so sure.So I read it again a few times,I've read all 83 comments posted on the BBC thread @ my time of posting but no replies so far here on Azbilliards.So don't be shy,post your opinions on this if you think it's a good idea or a bad idea because I'm 50-50 right now.:wink:
:grin-square:
One of the best BBC Snooker threads for a long time & I read it a few times but one minute I think it's a great idea and the next I'm not so sure.So I read it again a few times,I've read all 83 comments posted on the BBC thread @ my time of posting but no replies so far here on Azbilliards.So don't be shy,post your opinions on this if you think it's a good idea or a bad idea because I'm 50-50 right now.:wink:
:grin-square:
I don't think it's a bad idea...
The public either gets to see great players....
...or the ones who beat them.
And I don't mind Barry Hearn making the decisions.
When the players have too much to say, the choices are much more petty.
Players tend to think with their own short term agendas.
The public either gets to see great players....
...or the ones who beat them.
And I don't mind Barry Hearn making the decisions.
When the players have too much to say, the choices are much more petty.
Players tend to think with their own short term agendas.
With short matches the big guns are more likely to misfire, so the lower ranked players will have a better chance to get deeper into the draw. That has to encourage players to qualify to get on the tour.
It will give the bettors lots more action.
But most of the matches will not be seen by the public, and one suspects that those matches that are seen by the public in the latter stages of tournaments will have more lopsided contests. So one questions whether or not this new format will impact the audience numbers.
It is the format used by tennis, also a two person match. One of the more dissatisfying expenditures is to pay top prices for the final, only to see an uncompetitive match. Early round seats are cheaper, and give more entertainment value.
The other view, the Big Four dominate the game :grin:
No problem!
http://www.prosnookerblog.com/2013/01/22/a-new-big-four/
It will give the bettors lots more action.
But most of the matches will not be seen by the public, and one suspects that those matches that are seen by the public in the latter stages of tournaments will have more lopsided contests. So one questions whether or not this new format will impact the audience numbers.
It is the format used by tennis, also a two person match. One of the more dissatisfying expenditures is to pay top prices for the final, only to see an uncompetitive match. Early round seats are cheaper, and give more entertainment value.
The other view, the Big Four dominate the game :grin:
No problem!
http://www.prosnookerblog.com/2013/01/22/a-new-big-four/
You Say You Want A Revolution - The Beatles
The players called for it and Barry Hearn is making it happen so let's hope it happens to be a success but this idea is loaded with good & bad angles.
I think it would've been better introduced slower, say 3 tournaments in the 1st year but these 3 tournaments I'd make abroad & for talking sakes let's have one in the U.S.A,Canada & Russia for a sampler & try to spread the game worldwide.Loaded with good and bad angles as I said.
I'll be back,said The Terminator.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKB-w179PIQ
The players called for it and Barry Hearn is making it happen so let's hope it happens to be a success but this idea is loaded with good & bad angles.
I think it would've been better introduced slower, say 3 tournaments in the 1st year but these 3 tournaments I'd make abroad & for talking sakes let's have one in the U.S.A,Canada & Russia for a sampler & try to spread the game worldwide.Loaded with good and bad angles as I said.
I'll be back,said The Terminator.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKB-w179PIQ
Armchair Viewers,Best In The World !
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/snooker/21127300
Back to the BBC thread.It's all very well reading the BBC comments and blah de blah but what about the overseas viewers who have PPV ? Are they still going to subscribe when the TV stages are showing the 3rd 4th tournament in a row where only the top 2 seeds in the World Rankings survived to get to the TV stages ratings dwindle & only us AzBilliards diehards are left.Yeah you say but with low TV rating & the TV companies unplug the coverage.Eventually as it doesn't pay them to broadcast.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/snooker/21127300
Back to the BBC thread.It's all very well reading the BBC comments and blah de blah but what about the overseas viewers who have PPV ? Are they still going to subscribe when the TV stages are showing the 3rd 4th tournament in a row where only the top 2 seeds in the World Rankings survived to get to the TV stages ratings dwindle & only us AzBilliards diehards are left.Yeah you say but with low TV rating & the TV companies unplug the coverage.Eventually as it doesn't pay them to broadcast.
Compare The Market . com
Back to the BBC thread & some comments say it's like the F.A. Cup & that will create underdog stories,doesn't happen very often though.It's getting compared to Tennis but let's face it,in the Mens Tennis,it's odds on Djokovic,Federer,Murray,Nadal if he is injury free so you might not want to watch until the Semi Final stages.Golf,can't compare that format with Snooker.Would that make the World Match Play Golf Champion the same as the World Snooker Champion.So that leaves Darts as the blueprint for the revolution but will the Darts format work for Snooker ?
Loaded with debate.
I'll be back :
Back to the BBC thread & some comments say it's like the F.A. Cup & that will create underdog stories,doesn't happen very often though.It's getting compared to Tennis but let's face it,in the Mens Tennis,it's odds on Djokovic,Federer,Murray,Nadal if he is injury free so you might not want to watch until the Semi Final stages.Golf,can't compare that format with Snooker.Would that make the World Match Play Golf Champion the same as the World Snooker Champion.So that leaves Darts as the blueprint for the revolution but will the Darts format work for Snooker ?
Loaded with debate.
I'll be back :
Barry Hearn has tried all sorts of stuff over the years. Much of it was not beneficial and was killed and buried in an unmarked grave. So I wouldn't get too concerned that the new format will endure if it is not profitable. 
The only way to watch in North America is on the web, which is either free, ore about $5 a month for LiveWorldSnooker. It can get you fat overcharges if you are not monitoring web usage.
Ranking points are being replaced by money won, so if the big guns aren't in the final stages of tournaments they won't have the money, and they won't be considered big guns anymore.
Shaking up things may make matches more interesting. One of the oddities of the current method is the number of players who have rarely played each other despite being on the tour for years.
The only way to watch in North America is on the web, which is either free, ore about $5 a month for LiveWorldSnooker. It can get you fat overcharges if you are not monitoring web usage.
Ranking points are being replaced by money won, so if the big guns aren't in the final stages of tournaments they won't have the money, and they won't be considered big guns anymore.
Shaking up things may make matches more interesting. One of the oddities of the current method is the number of players who have rarely played each other despite being on the tour for years.
I like this new format for all tournaments except the World Championship and the Masters.
Masters should still be a reward for the top 16 and also the Worlds should stay the same with the top 16 going through to the TV rounds and the last 32.
I know it wont affect those above two tournaments next year and I hope it stays that way.
Masters should still be a reward for the top 16 and also the Worlds should stay the same with the top 16 going through to the TV rounds and the last 32.
I know it wont affect those above two tournaments next year and I hope it stays that way.
A preview of things to come
In the fourth round of the Championship League the two top ranked players have been sent off home.
Bye bye to Mark Selby and Judd Trump
In the fourth round of the Championship League the two top ranked players have been sent off home.
Bye bye to Mark Selby and Judd Trump
Last edited:
Is this the future for Snooker ?
Chris Mason.PDC Dart's Player/Commentator Blog :
http://chrismasondarts.blogspot.co.uk/
Quote :
So where does not getting a tour card leave me, well last year they only filled the allocated 128 spots once, but I cant see the same happening this year with 311 q-school entries. I can still play all the UK Opens, all the euro tour events, Im actually only possibly going to miss 6 weekends from looking at the calendar.
If Snooker is to go down the Darts blueprint,one day Snooker will have a qualifying school to get into the elite top 128 players.What do you think about that ?:wink::grin-square:
Chris Mason.PDC Dart's Player/Commentator Blog :
http://chrismasondarts.blogspot.co.uk/
Quote :
So where does not getting a tour card leave me, well last year they only filled the allocated 128 spots once, but I cant see the same happening this year with 311 q-school entries. I can still play all the UK Opens, all the euro tour events, Im actually only possibly going to miss 6 weekends from looking at the calendar.
If Snooker is to go down the Darts blueprint,one day Snooker will have a qualifying school to get into the elite top 128 players.What do you think about that ?:wink::grin-square:
Would you have bought the ticket ?
Barry Hearn made a bomb with this decision and in my opinion what he should've done was picked a few new countries for a tester & spread the game of Snooker.If he was short of players for the event abroad in say the USA,Canada,Russia,all he had to do was phone that countries Snooker Assocciations & invite players to make up the numbers & if they don't show up it's chalked as a W/O.
If this event was local to you you would've bought the ticket wouldn't ya ?:wink:
Barry Hearn made a bomb with this decision and in my opinion what he should've done was picked a few new countries for a tester & spread the game of Snooker.If he was short of players for the event abroad in say the USA,Canada,Russia,all he had to do was phone that countries Snooker Assocciations & invite players to make up the numbers & if they don't show up it's chalked as a W/O.
If this event was local to you you would've bought the ticket wouldn't ya ?:wink:
It's the Darts format
All two player sports appeal to me.Snooker,Pool,Darts,Boxing,Tennis etc & @ the end of the day it's really just a game of Chess.:wink::grin-square:
All two player sports appeal to me.Snooker,Pool,Darts,Boxing,Tennis etc & @ the end of the day it's really just a game of Chess.:wink:
:grin-square:
Dear Scaramouche
Can you imagine how busy you will be when the Snooker 50 week calandar is on?You might end up in a quacks room requesting help for a new medical condition called Burntfingertipsathekeyboardirits & the quack will just say hire another few fingers to do the trick & you are cured.
I will help you out but you might need a few more.
If these new plans go through for the early rounds what will be the race to?It looks like you are calling 3 the winner matches but it might be best of 3 to accommodate 128 players & these ideas are also loaded.:wink:
A preview of things to come
In the fourth round of the Championship League the two top ranked players have been sent off home.
Bye bye to Mark Selby and Judd Trump
Can you imagine how busy you will be when the Snooker 50 week calandar is on?You might end up in a quacks room requesting help for a new medical condition called Burntfingertipsathekeyboardirits & the quack will just say hire another few fingers to do the trick & you are cured.
I will help you out but you might need a few more.
If these new plans go through for the early rounds what will be the race to?It looks like you are calling 3 the winner matches but it might be best of 3 to accommodate 128 players & these ideas are also loaded.:wink:
Can you imagine how busy you will be when the Snooker 50 week calandar is on?You might end up in a quacks room requesting help for a new medical condition called Burntfingertipsathekeyboardirits & the quack will just say hire another few fingers to do the trick & you are cured.
I will help you out but you might need a few more.
If these new plans go through for the early rounds what will be the race to?It looks like you are calling 3 the winner matches but it might be best of 3 to accommodate 128 players & these ideas are also loaded.:wink:
Isn't the Legends matches the best of 3?
Players will just have to perform.
In Group 4 of the Championship League that finished today Mark Allen won 8 matches, lost none.
Won 24 frames and lost IIRC 5.
Selby and Trump went home, never to return.
As for my flying fingers, the gods of AZB may have to settle for a sticky thread providing links to World Snooker, snooker.org, the network schedules, and the sources of live feeds.
But all that is in the future.
Have to go now to post info for the German Masters
1 or 2 more thoughts & then this thread is a closed shop
Cheers for now Scaramouche but a few thoughts before this thread closes are to be left but thanks mate fore last nights Brits are weird thread as that is the best laugh I have ever had on here.:wink::smile::grin-square:
Isn't the Legends matches the best of 3?
Players will just have to perform.
In Group 4 of the Championship League that finished today Mark Allen won 8 matches, lost none.
Won 24 frames and lost IIRC 5.
Selby and Trump went home, never to return.
As for my flying fingers, the gods of AZB may have to settle for a sticky thread providing links to World Snooker, snooker.org, the network schedules, and the sources of live feeds.
But all that is in the future.
Have to go now to post info for the German Masters
Cheers for now Scaramouche but a few thoughts before this thread closes are to be left but thanks mate fore last nights Brits are weird thread as that is the best laugh I have ever had on here.:wink::smile::grin-square:
W/O - The World Snooker rankings list
http://www.worldsnooker.com/staticFiles/17/ba/0,,13165~178711,00.pdf
There's a lot of head scratchers in the ranking list for example Stephen Hendry,retired but still ranked 40.
So a lot of W/O will be in the first draw but if I was Barry Hearn I would be on the telephone to the national associations because out of the top 128 listed players there will be lots of W/O stats on the scoreboards and this trick might have worked better if you tried it in the USA,Canada or Russia even and when the players in the top 128 ranking don't show he could've handed out wildcard entries to local players.
So yeah,good idea Barry Hearn but a big oppotunity to spread the game of Snooker might be lost.I suggest you try out this idea,first in a new country that hasn't had a Snooker tournament broadcast on TV before or any media coverage.
http://www.worldsnooker.com/staticFiles/17/ba/0,,13165~178711,00.pdf
There's a lot of head scratchers in the ranking list for example Stephen Hendry,retired but still ranked 40.
So a lot of W/O will be in the first draw but if I was Barry Hearn I would be on the telephone to the national associations because out of the top 128 listed players there will be lots of W/O stats on the scoreboards and this trick might have worked better if you tried it in the USA,Canada or Russia even and when the players in the top 128 ranking don't show he could've handed out wildcard entries to local players.
So yeah,good idea Barry Hearn but a big oppotunity to spread the game of Snooker might be lost.I suggest you try out this idea,first in a new country that hasn't had a Snooker tournament broadcast on TV before or any media coverage.
But where do they hold these bigger knockout rounds?
Two that have been used are no longer available.
http://snookerscene.blogspot.ca/2013/01/farewell-sheffield.html
Two that have been used are no longer available.
http://snookerscene.blogspot.ca/2013/01/farewell-sheffield.html