Iranu wrote:I think the UK’s format change has had a negative impact on how its history is factored in to these discussions.
The UK's format change is certainly one of the reasons why it has been diminished. Now there are a number of ranking events which have Semi-Finals and Finals which are longer than the event which will always be described as the second biggest ranking event after the World Championship.
Changing the format of the UK Championship will always go down as one of Hearn's mistakes - with the changes made latterly to hold half of the first and second rounds in the Sports Hall undermining one of the reasons why the event went to Best of 11 Frames in the first instance.
Upon reflection, would the changes have received such a hostile response had they come later on, with more events having two session semi-finals etc?
The History of an event does say a lot about how its viewed - in the same way that offering a huge prize doesn't automatically make a short-format a major event but you are right that the format changes have had a negative impact on how the event is viewed and could happen with any event - could you imagine if they made the Masters an EFL trophy style event and restricted it to players from outside the 16 - The history wouldn't alleviate the damage done to it.
I watch it the UK, always will but I'll still yearn for the days of the Best of 17 matches when it had something which really did stand it out from the other events.