Barry Hearn: Snooker can be bigger than golf with huge Saudi Arabia tournament ‘very close’

Barry Hearn believes the popularity of snooker will see the green baize challenge golf in its drive to become a major global sport in future years.

Hearn became chairman of the World Snooker Tour in 2010, overseeing an increase in tournaments from six ranking events and £3.5m prize money to £15 million a decade later with 25 tournaments staged in over 20 countries.

The celebrated promoter stood down from the role amid the Covid-19 pandemic after the 2021 World Championship, while earning an OBE for his services to sport, but remains actively involved in the business of attracting new sponsors.

Hearn is predicting a golden future after the success of the Hong Kong Masters last October.

“The venue held 14,000 and they cut the capacity because of Covid,” said Hearn. “I govern myself and judge myself on prize money levels.

“When I took over snooker, the prize money was £3.5 million. Covid set us back a bit without China. We’re now on track to get to £20m.

“Then I want to see it get to £30m because I believe snooker is a more commercially valuable property than golf.

“It hits bigger numbers, it appeals to a wider number of players and I think it is purely a perception issue as to why people don’t value certain sports to other sports.

“The really big job, and this is where the players come in as they are our ambassadors, is to sell snooker.

“Sell it to a range of sponsors that have never looked at snooker before, sell it to countries that have never had it before, break barriers.

“We’ll be judged by the prize money. First stage is getting it over £20m. Then go up in 10s and see how far you can go.

“I want to see snooker expand out of leisure centres and into mainstream arenas,” he added in conversation with seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry on YouTube. “For a global sport, I still think we have too many events in the UK.

“I’m desperate to close these deals in the Middle East and I’m desperate to see China back on track.”

Hearn admits a 10-year contract for a tournament in Saudi Arabia is set to be finalised with discussions focussed on dates about when it can fit into the calendar.

He also said that the prize money on offer in the Middle East could rival the World Championship which carries a record £500,000 first prize, the biggest on offer in the sport.

“We are very close. We are now actually talking dates. It has only taken three years,” he said. “These things don’t happen quickly. It’s a massive event.

“It sets a precedent for the whole Middle East, which is an area where I think we could do better.

“We’re discussing doing a 10-year deal as part of their 10-year policy for sport in Saudi to encourage youngsters.

“This will involve setting up academies there, training referees, doing the whole job from the beginning.

“Saudi is close, but it is never done until the cheque hits my bank account.

“They wanted to do the biggest event they could, but I didn’t want to endanger the status of the worlds,” he revealed. “So their prize money would be the same as the worlds and they were quite happy with that.”