Witz78 wrote:PRIZE MONEY COMPARISON
SNOOKER WORLD CHAMPION V TENNIS WIMBLEDON WINNER V BRITISH OPEN GOLF WINNER V DARTS CHAMPION
This makes alarming reading, i will comment on this shortly.
1980
Snooker - £15,000 (60% of golf prize, 75% of tennis, 333% of darts prize)
Golf - £25,000
Tennis - £20,000
Darts - £4,500
1985
Snooker - £60,000 (300% increase on 1980) (92% of golf, 46% of tennis, 600% of darts)
Golf - £65,000 (160% increase on 1980)
Tennis - £130,000 (550% increase on 1980)
Darts - £10,000 (122% increase on 1980)
1990
Snooker - £120,000 (100% increase on 1985) (141% of golf, 52% of tennis, 500% of darts)
Golf - £85,000 (31% increase on 1985)
Tennis - £230,000 (77% increase on 1985)
Darts - £24,000 (240% increase on 1985)
1995
Snooker - £190,000 (58% increase on 1990) (152% of golf, 52% of tennis, 559% of darts)
Golf - £125,000 (47% increase on 1990)
Tennis - £365,000 (59% increase on 1990)
Darts - £34,000 (48% increase on 1990)
2000
Snooker - £240,000 (26% increase on 1995) (48% of golf, 50% of tennis, 545% of darts)
Golf - £500,000 (300% increase on 1995)
Tennis - £477,500 (31% increase on 1995)
Darts - £44,000 (29% increase on 1995)
2005
Snooker - £250,000 (4% increase on 2000) (35% of golf, 40% of tennis, 417% of darts)
Golf - £720,000 (44% increase on 2000)
Tennis - £630,000 (33% increase on 2000)
Darts - £60,000 (36% increase on 2000)
2011
Snooker - £250,000 (0% increase on 2005) (28% of golf, 23% of tennis, 125% of darts)
Golf - £900,000 (25% increase on 2005)
Tennis - £1,100,000 (76% increase on 2005)
Darts - £200,000 (233% increase on 2005)
In summary then snooker has stalled badly whilst these other similar single player sports have all progressed with obvious peaks and trends developing.
Darts was included in the comparison mainly to show how its closed the gap suddenly on snooker under Hearn and how snooker under Hearn could see a similar boost now hopefully.
If we mainly compare snooker with tennis and golf, then here goes.
1980 - all 3 sports at similar levels
1985 - Tennis jumps to double level of golf and snooker who have both improved greatly.
1990 - Snooker top prize now bigger than golf, tennis continues to expand
1995 - Snookers peak arguably prize wise and greater increase than golf prize since '90. Tennis rise continues
2000 - Snooker prize rising still, albeit at a slower rate, but in the space of 5 years golf has had a £325,000 swing (pardon the pun) compared to snooker, also moving ahead of tennis. Tiger Woods effect?
2005 - tobacco sponsorship about to end which snooker relies on so no change whilst golf and tennis show significant growth again
2011 - despite new sponsors snooker prize money has stalled for the best part of 10-15 years now whereas golf and tennis have rocketed towards and beyond the million pound mark. And now darts is hot on the heels of snooker too, after years of being miles back.
It just appears snooker rested on its laurels in the late 90s, especially with the inevitable tobacco ban coming round. The era Monique talks about so fondly in the 90s when there was 10 rankers is the era when snooker should have moved towards 20+ rankers and it would have been the ideal time with a total new generation of young players taking over the game. Im sure the sport could have moved on at a similar pace of growth to tennis and golf, albeit probably not quite at their level. 500k top prize should have easily been achievable.
Basically we could have done with Hearn in 1990, not 2011. Snookers stalled for 20 years and not capitalised on the momentum it had in the 80s and it remains to be seen whether it can pick up and make an attempt to grow properly to a level where it belongs.