Is the World Snooker Championship heading to Saudi Arabia?

We all know there is rising concern within the Snooker community that the World Championships could be moving away from the Crucible in Sheffield, and with a recent interview on the BBC with Barry Hearn during the 2024 World Snooker Championships, even more questions have now been raised.
There is speculation that the World Championships could move to Saudi Arabia, where huge sums of money are being offered. Many other sports including Football & Golf have seen moves out to the Middle East - will Snooker follow suit?
We saw the first Saudi Arabian Snooker event in the form of the Riyadh Season Invitational that hosted the Top 8 Players on the Tour, boasting a large Prize Pot - and saw Ronnie O'Sullivan swooping up the prize.
But does it feel right to move the World Championships away from such an iconic venue? With it's 50 year history, bringing some of the most iconic Snooker moments to our screen, including the magical 5 minutes and 8 second 147 Maximum break compiled by Ronnie O'Sullivan against Mick Price in the 1997 World Championships, or the 1985 Black Ball final between Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor.
These are all moments we have locked away in our sports history - surely it would be wrong to move it, even if the money is astronomical...
Twitter - / jamessnooker
TikTok - / jamessnookernation
Instagram - / james_snooker_nation
#Snooker #Crucible #WorldChampionships #WorldSnookerChampionship

[@SnookerFanZone]

Great little update -thank you, money talks unfortunately. I'll be there again for the final session of the final on Monday because one year it will be the final year!

[@JamesSnookerNation]

Thanks for the comments :) and enjoy the final - I’m here for the semis right now and trying to cherish every minute as we just don’t know how many more times we’ll be here!

[@shrexlarry]

great video James and funny little clip of Barry at the beginning🤣

[@JamesSnookerNation]

Haha - let’s see if he’s a man of his word!

[@jakhaughton1800]

Ridiculous. Wimbledon to Saudi; Twickenham to Saudi; EPL to Sky the list goes on.

[@Kat-zj5kd]

If snooker is heading to Saudi arabia then it would soon be Ronnie Suleiman

[@JamesSnookerNation]

Ronnie has already got a 3 year contract with the Saudis! 😳

[@TheMacbatts]

They should knock the Crucible down and re-build bigger. Then in the meantime have the event do a world tour. By this time, people will realise its better at the new Crucible back in Sheffield, because anywhere else it's just like any other tournament.

[@JamesSnookerNation]

Not a bad shout at all - it’ll take a good few years to have a new venue build in Sheffield, so I like the idea of a world tour! Thanks :)

[@Whats.up.Ben_jji]

Great video discussing about all positive and negative aspects. Out of experience I can tell the german tournaments are wonderful. You can have a crowd up to 3-4 k at the Tempodrom in Berlin at the German Masters as well as in Nuremberg at the Kia Metropol Arena at the European Masters. Besides the chinese people the germans are probably the most enthusiastic Snooker fans outside of the UK. And that’s what the players notice, some have already mentioned that. I’m really happy to be able to visit two maintour tournaments a year. Greetings from 🇩🇪.

[@JamesSnookerNation]

Thank you, and thanks for watching! I’d love to visit the German Snooker events one year, I think it’d be great to experience what it was like and see how different or similar it is to events in the UK. I certainly agree that German fans are the most passionate outside of the UK within Europe, so to see a World Championships there would be wonderful! I suppose we will just have to wait and see what the powers that be decide! 😃

[@jones1068]

I think it's best to talk about it nearer the time. It's going to be there till 2027.

[@JamesSnookerNation]

Yes - we can’t get ourselves too down with it at the moment. Enjoy the 3 years whilst it’s there! 😁

[@iainagraham9504]

Great video there man. I hope it stays in the UK as I don't see it getting the same audience if it moves elsewhere.

[@JamesSnookerNation]

Cheers and thank you for watching! Let’s hope the Crucible stays put! 🏟️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@YTguySmithy-lk6go]

I'm amazed the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association never pushed the sport in the US. Unless I'm mistaken there's never been a snooker tournament in North America. I accept it may have niche appeal but it's a mystery why there's been zero effort to promote snooker in America.

[@JamesSnookerNation]

Yes - especially since 9 ball is such a popular sport in the USA. You’d have thought they would have tried to introduce the game over there - it’ll probably come within the next decade if have thought!

[@chraze8397]

The crucible and the worlds go hand in hand with each other. As for myself it should stay that way, but I can`t decide that. At least keep it in England. The WC doesn`t belong to Saudi or to China no matter how muich they pay.

[@JamesSnookerNation]

I agree - for me, the Crucible and the World Championships are synonymous. They can’t be broken!

[@sj460162]

Good for top players but not for fans. Not everyone would afford the travel.

[@JamesSnookerNation]

It’s unlikely many, if any will travel to Saudi.

[@Kat-zj5kd]

I think they shd hold this even in the other venue in london where they hold the other snooker tournamnet.like the tournaments dont have to be played in different stadia

[@JamesSnookerNation]

Yes - Alexandra Palace would be a great venue. But the history is steeped within the Crucible! It’ll be there until 2027, who knows after that?

[@Kat-zj5kd]

@@JamesSnookerNation ya they have to be tested at the crucible

[@JamesSnookerNation]

@@Kat-zj5kd definitely!

[@shrexlarry]

I love the crucible as a venue and I think no matter what it should stay on the tour, if not WC at least Tour Championship or English Open. But I honestly feel that it's holding back the growth of snooker as a bigger venue with bigger prize money would push other events to invest more into the prize money. That would be crucial for the top of the game, but also for the one's further down the ranking, cause right now their earnings are ridiculous for a pro sportsman. Personally I would love to see a bigger venue in Sheffield (with 4k seats) for the WC and a tournament hosted every two years (like in skiing or athletics) that goes around the world and would bring more money into the game.

[@JamesSnookerNation]

I do think the answer would be to move the WC around, maybe 1 year Saudi, 1 year China and then Sheffield, too. It would give them some time to rebuild the crucible into something amazing with a much bigger capacity, too! Thanks for your comment and for watching the video! 😃

[@CMS_SNOOKER_TV]

Brilliant video mate! I think the most likely outcome is a pure Saudi based world championship 😢 If it moves abroad they should change the location every year and cycle back to the crucible every three years if nothing is built/developed in Sheffield, because the crucible wasn’t built for snooker and the facilities are dated for sure 🎱

[@JamesSnookerNation]

Thank you! I totally agree, too. I’d love to see it come back to Sheffield every few years, if it does indeed move.

[@whodouthinkuare]

When a child is born in the UK, assuming its a male, his most likely aspiration in terms of sports would be, to be a footballer, rugby player or tennis. When a child is born in China, its born with a cue in its hand, thats the difference. The UK simply doesnt have enough emerging talents, yes aside from the obvious 12 or 15 names. China has the grass roots game, and they can sponsor the game no end. If it goes to Saudi Arabia, imagine a WC final with 100 people in the audience, it just wont have the same feel.

[@Kat-zj5kd]

Enjoy British dominance of the sport for another 5 years at least till the ronnie era/ aura lasts, the sport's future is China - I believe they have sports schools (you know) to train them in snooker. By next decade this sport will be dominated by Chinese players - like what happened to diving and table tennis

[@Kat-zj5kd]

Chinese children are not born with a cue in hand. They simply do not make that kind of choices. I mean like the CPC has decided that it is the sport we are going to focus on so they'd pick the people that are suitabel for it and put them in sports schools by age 5 -6 and train them 20 hours a day. (maybe u already know their system - like the coach will control all aspects of their lives - like what they eat drink, who they date marry etc )

[@JamesSnookerNation]

Definitely - this is why Snooker needs to be promoted better at the Grassroots level, not just in the UK, but everywhere else in the world. I do feel like if the World Championship were to be moved, the most suitable place would be China! 🇨🇳

[@Kat-zj5kd]

@@JamesSnookerNation No it wd not be. China wd be the wrong place to move world championship to (saudi is ok). Chinese players will have huge pressure to win in china - they aren't yet that competent. saudis don't care.

[@Kat-zj5kd]

@@JamesSnookerNation Most suitable place wd not be China - that wd be herculean pressure on the Chinese players to win and they aren't quite there as yet. Saudi is better - they take it easy they don't care. Britain is the best place - the attitude is perfect

[@stevendonohoe2150]

It's a business & a competitive one. Traditions & history are great and should be given preference but money trumps all. That's the reality of the world so no place for morals. If someone wants morals join the church. This is buisness.

[@JamesSnookerNation]

Agreed - I just do think it would be a shame to leave such heritage behind. But I do agree that things must move on and like you say, money does trump all in this world.

[@AD-kv9kj]

Sorry, but what a disgusting attitude. "Weeell, it's utterly corrupt and immoral, but hey, that's life eh so I support it!" Wow. Spoken like a true modern-day morally bankrupt bootlicker. Morality is for everyday life, separating it as something only for "the church" is absolutely messed up thinking and the real root of all evil. The way you're thinking is the very foundations of all the problems in this world, and it's been conditioned into people by a deeply immoral and corrupt society that's causing untold harm. Maybe you should sell your family to some oil Sheikhs for lots of money if that's the way you think?

[@TheGamesEmporium]

Greed is the word you're looking for.

[@abdulshohid162]

Long story short its all about the money

[@JamesSnookerNation]

Pretty much! 🤷‍♂️