Steve Davis urges Barry Hearn not to ‘throw history away’ with major World Snooker Championship change
STEVE DAVIS says it will be a “sad day” if the World Snooker Championship ever moves from away from the Crucible.
But even though he is someone who is indelibly linked to this old Sheffield Theatre, Davis accepts that cold-hard cash may be the deciding factor in its future.
One of the biggest talking points of this year’s tournament has been whether the venue will remain as the home of the sport post 2027.
That is the year in which the existing contract with Sheffield City Council expires and negotiations for a new deal have stalled.
Some fans fear it might go to Saudi Arabia, which has pots of money.
Another possibility is it moves to China where the game is booming and there are lots of talented players.
Barry Hearn, president of Matchroom Sport, has given the Steel City council officials an ultimatum: Build me a bigger arena or we are leaving.
Whatever happens, Davis, 66, believes the health of the sport is in good shape these days despite what he hears on the street.
The six-time world champion told SunSport: “There are reasons why you don’t throw your history away lightly.
“The game is massive now worldwide. More so than any of the general public in the UK realise.
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“If I’m talking to somebody who’s a casual neutral watcher, they’ll say to me: ‘Ah, it’s a shame isn’t as good as it used to be.’
“I say to them, you cannot believe how it good is now. Everything is sold out.
“The World Championships are sold out the year before.
“There might not be so many snooker clubs around but trust me, the game worldwide is getting bigger as well.
“It would be great if Sheffield Council really do commit.
“I don’t know how difficult it is for them to maybe make capacity of the Crucible bigger or show more commitment.
“The snooker brings in loads of money to Sheffield. It would be a sad day if it ever left.
“If the game of snooker gets bigger and bigger worldwide, somewhere down the line there will be more pressure on the powers that be to do something with that.
“I don’t think a move is imminent by any means. But you can never say never.”
The winner of the world title receives £500,000 – it is £200,000 for the runner-up – but Hearn wants to see the top prize eventually bumped up to at least £1milllion.
To do that there has to be major cash injection from somewhere.
To achieve that, then perhaps the event has to leave its spiritual home, which has hosted the action at the highest level since 1977.
Millions of kids have dreamt of winning the Crucible crown but that history could be lost if numbers on a chequebook are considered.
Davis, who works as a BBC snooker commentator, added: “I have no knowledge of anything happening.
“You cannot take Wimbledon away from Wimbledon. Because it is called Wimbledon.
“If the World Championship was called Sheffield or the Crucible or something like that, you couldn’t move it.
“But if one day somebody offers an amount of prize money that means it would be foolish of the powers-that-be not to pass that on to the players, then how can you stop them?
“If it was going where the money was, it would be that it was in the interest of players.
“But at some stage in the future if you were actually reducing the players’ earning power by keeping it where it is, then maybe that would be the tipping point. We are not there yet.”