World Open

Last year the World Open was deemed a success and it was penciled in for 2011/2012 but as the time passes the Tournament is slowly vanishing from the calender at the moment its a 4 Day Event with no Qualifying Dates.

could it be a extra PTC Event when the time comes ??

First the qualifiers for the event have not disappeared. They are still present under tournaments/qualifiers : it's October ranking event. However the dates are August 13-16, which clearly clashes with PTC3, now that those PTCs require at least one full day of prequalying rounds. So, IMO, it's only gone from the general calendar because they have to find new dates, or maybe another venue (as pros won't play in pre-qualifs that would still be OK, provided the new venue isn't too far away from Sheffield). My opinion is reinforced by the fact that the October event is still marked red, which is the code colour for rankers.
I certainly hope it's not another PTC. To me replacing ranking events with PTCs would be far worse than shortening the UK early rounds to best of 11. PTCs have their rationale and are there to fulfill an objective: get the players to play more. But frankly, making them play possibly 7 matches, with a punishing schedule, with no audience, for the winner to go away with a pittance, both in money and ranking points, that's devaluating the sport.

SnookerFan wrote:Was it as successful as we thought? I hated the concept, as I've said many times on this forum, but is it possible that amongst the casual fans a lot of them felt this way? I know the World Open was very popular on this forum, and other snooker forums. But if it was only hardcore snooker fans that were watching, maybe it wasn't the success we thought.

Especially as the objective was to make it seem more appealing to said casual fans so the BBC wouldn't can it.

I think that it was probably one of the most popular events over the last years, with the Shoot-out. Casual fans are not too enthused by long drawn affairs. They want immediate action and drama and there was plenty of it. The Shoot-out is the ONE tournament I've seen where many players brought their families with them. It wasn't for purists, but it was excellent entertainment played in good spirit and our sport needs this type of events badly to rebuild its audience. As it needs exhibition tours like the Snooker Legends. People have to start somewhere. You don't learn to drive by being put in a formula one first thing, do you?

it was the biggest success of last year

simple fan doubting this should be confirmation to all knowledgable snooker fans like myself that it was a big success as to be honest he is simple

the bbc are cutting back its nothnig to do with the world open event for years they wanted rid of grand prix snooker and it was a quality event

next

as monique said qualies for it havnt been dropped

I think the qualifying process involving amateurs was a bit of a logistic nightmare, and required a lot of time and money. It was all done in the hope that the BBC would revert its decision to drop one out of four of the events they were sponsoring. That decision had already been made before the World Open was staged. I doubt that the decision had anything to do with the quality of the event, more with the perceptions of those who decide that maybe snooker isn't trendy enough as a sport and money being short supply for everyone, it had to be cut.
Now that BBC has made it clear it won't be broadcasted by them, nevermind sponsored, WSA has to go for something less ambitious. BBC sponsoring is a huge share of the snooker incomes. Shame really but it can't be helped.

Monique wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:Was it as successful as we thought? I hated the concept, as I've said many times on this forum, but is it possible that amongst the casual fans a lot of them felt this way? I know the World Open was very popular on this forum, and other snooker forums. But if it was only hardcore snooker fans that were watching, maybe it wasn't the success we thought.

Especially as the objective was to make it seem more appealing to said casual fans so the BBC wouldn't can it.

I think that it was probably one of the most popular events over the last years, with the Shoot-out. Casual fans are not too enthused by long drawn affairs. They want immediate action and drama and there was plenty of it. The Shoot-out is the ONE tournament I've seen where many players brought their families with them. It wasn't for purists, but it was excellent entertainment played in good spirit and our sport needs this type of events badly to rebuild its audience. As it needs exhibition tours like the Snooker Legends. People have to start somewhere. You don't learn to drive by being put in a formula one first thing, do you?

Is that why the World Championships always have the highest tv ratings?

The WC gets the highest TV ratings just because it's the biggest event and the best advertised, and somehow you can't escape it. Like Wimbledon for sure has the highest TV ratings. I'm not sure neither is followed seriously by casual fans. Yes they will tune in for the odd session, probably for the final session of the final, but I very much doubt they follow the matches from start to finish. For most other events chances are that they don't even know it's on...

It's a complete nonsense to claim that casual fans prefer long formats. To really appreciate long formats you need to be educated in the game and able to understand what's going on, on the table and in the players minds, and to sustain your attention for hours.

Monique wrote:First the qualifiers for the event have not disappeared. They are still present under tournaments/qualifiers : it's October ranking event. However the dates are August 13-16, which clearly clashes with PTC3, now that those PTCs require at least one full day of prequalying rounds. So, IMO, it's only gone from the general calendar because they have to find new dates, or maybe another venue (as pros won't play in pre-qualifs that would still be OK, provided the new venue isn't too far away from Sheffield). My opinion is reinforced by the fact that the October event is still marked red, which is the code colour for rankers.
I certainly hope it's not another PTC. To me replacing ranking events with PTCs would be far worse than shortening the UK early rounds to best of 11. PTCs have their rationale and are there to fulfill an objective: get the players to play more. But frankly, making them play possibly 7 matches, with a punishing schedule, with no audience, for the winner to go away with a pittance, both in money and ranking points, that's devaluating the sport.

monique with all due respect who ever operates the website is not up to the job anyway so having the qualifiers section still with the qualifiers for a ranking event there is no real surprise.

its gone from the calender thats all that matters.

Monique wrote:The WC gets the highest TV ratings just because it's the biggest event and the best advertised, and somehow you can't escape it. Like Wimbledon for sure has the highest TV ratings. I'm not sure neither is followed seriously by casual fans. Yes they will tune in for the odd session, probably for the final session of the final, but I very much doubt they follow the matches from start to finish. For most other events chances are that they don't even know it's on...

It's a complete nonsense to claim that casual fans prefer long formats. To really appreciate long formats you need to be educated in the game and able to understand what's going on, on the table and in the players minds, and to sustain your attention for hours.

monique admit it there is absolutely ZERO Evidence regarding short matches fans want.....

it does not matter at all how big a event is if its long drawn its long drawn and your right it is best advertised so what does that tell us if you advertise long matches it will be supported.

Wild wrote:

Monique wrote:First the qualifiers for the event have not disappeared. They are still present under tournaments/qualifiers : it's October ranking event. However the dates are August 13-16, which clearly clashes with PTC3, now that those PTCs require at least one full day of prequalying rounds. So, IMO, it's only gone from the general calendar because they have to find new dates, or maybe another venue (as pros won't play in pre-qualifs that would still be OK, provided the new venue isn't too far away from Sheffield). My opinion is reinforced by the fact that the October event is still marked red, which is the code colour for rankers.
I certainly hope it's not another PTC. To me replacing ranking events with PTCs would be far worse than shortening the UK early rounds to best of 11. PTCs have their rationale and are there to fulfill an objective: get the players to play more. But frankly, making them play possibly 7 matches, with a punishing schedule, with no audience, for the winner to go away with a pittance, both in money and ranking points, that's devaluating the sport.

monique with all due respect who ever operates the website is not up to the job anyway so having the qualifiers section still with the qualifiers for a ranking event there is no real surprise.

its gone from the calender thats all that matters.

No Wild, it's not all that matters. The main event is still there and still marked red, so still ranking. Let's wait and see what happens ok? I'm pretty confident that it's a matter of finding new dates rather than scrapping the event. And if scrapped, I doubt that it will become a PTC.

I know that you would love it to go, but that's something different entirely.

Monique wrote:

Wild wrote:

Monique wrote:First the qualifiers for the event have not disappeared. They are still present under tournaments/qualifiers : it's October ranking event. However the dates are August 13-16, which clearly clashes with PTC3, now that those PTCs require at least one full day of prequalying rounds. So, IMO, it's only gone from the general calendar because they have to find new dates, or maybe another venue (as pros won't play in pre-qualifs that would still be OK, provided the new venue isn't too far away from Sheffield). My opinion is reinforced by the fact that the October event is still marked red, which is the code colour for rankers.
I certainly hope it's not another PTC. To me replacing ranking events with PTCs would be far worse than shortening the UK early rounds to best of 11. PTCs have their rationale and are there to fulfill an objective: get the players to play more. But frankly, making them play possibly 7 matches, with a punishing schedule, with no audience, for the winner to go away with a pittance, both in money and ranking points, that's devaluating the sport.

monique with all due respect who ever operates the website is not up to the job anyway so having the qualifiers section still with the qualifiers for a ranking event there is no real surprise.

its gone from the calender thats all that matters.

No Wild, it's not all that matters. The main event is still there and still marked red, so still ranking. Let's wait and see what happens ok? I'm pretty confident that it's a matter of finding new dates rather than scrapping the event. And if scrapped, I doubt that it will become a PTC.

I know that you would love it to go, but that's something different entirely.

why remove the qualifiers from the date then not only that in recent days its name been changed from "OctoberRanking Event" to "Event" and duration shortened.

Wild wrote:

Monique wrote:The WC gets the highest TV ratings just because it's the biggest event and the best advertised, and somehow you can't escape it. Like Wimbledon for sure has the highest TV ratings. I'm not sure neither is followed seriously by casual fans. Yes they will tune in for the odd session, probably for the final session of the final, but I very much doubt they follow the matches from start to finish. For most other events chances are that they don't even know it's on...

It's a complete nonsense to claim that casual fans prefer long formats. To really appreciate long formats you need to be educated in the game and able to understand what's going on, on the table and in the players minds, and to sustain your attention for hours.

monique admit it there is absolutely ZERO Evidence regarding short matches fans want.....

it does not matter at all how big a event is if its long drawn its long drawn and your right it is best advertised so what does that tell us if you advertise long matches it will be supported.

If short matches were advertised properly they would get even bigger support from casual fans. Anything will be supported and sold if advertised properly ... even Justin Bieber!
It's not that difficult to understand is it? If you don't know about the game, if you're a young kid, it's easier to tune in when the match is short and self-contained. It's a no-brainer. That does not mean that there shouldn't be events for the serious fans, the connoisseurs. Of course there should be. That's where we want the casual fans to evolve into. But that's not where they should start because it won't work for most of them. And don't forget that most of you in UK have been introduced to it within your families, with fathers, grand-fathers watching it, explaining it, playing it even a low level. For most of us out of UK it's a self learning process and that's totally different.
If you want the game to go global you really should move away from your UK centric point of view.

SnookerFan wrote:

GJ wrote:it was the biggest success of last year

simple fan doubting this should be confirmation to all knowledgable snooker fans like myself that it was a big success as to be honest he is simple

In what sense are we talking successful?

You've obviously forgotten who won

Monique wrote:

Wild wrote:

Monique wrote:The WC gets the highest TV ratings just because it's the biggest event and the best advertised, and somehow you can't escape it. Like Wimbledon for sure has the highest TV ratings. I'm not sure neither is followed seriously by casual fans. Yes they will tune in for the odd session, probably for the final session of the final, but I very much doubt they follow the matches from start to finish. For most other events chances are that they don't even know it's on...

It's a complete nonsense to claim that casual fans prefer long formats. To really appreciate long formats you need to be educated in the game and able to understand what's going on, on the table and in the players minds, and to sustain your attention for hours.

monique admit it there is absolutely ZERO Evidence regarding short matches fans want.....

it does not matter at all how big a event is if its long drawn its long drawn and your right it is best advertised so what does that tell us if you advertise long matches it will be supported.

If short matches were advertised properly they would get even bigger support from casual fans. Anything will be supported and sold if advertised properly ... even Justin Bieber!
It's not that difficult to understand is it? If you don't know about the game, if you're a young kid, it's easier to tune in when the match is short and self-contained. It's a no-brainer. That does not mean that there shouldn't be events for the serious fans, the connoisseurs. Of course there should be. That's where we want the casual fans to evolve into. But that's not where they should start because it won't work for most of them. And don't forget that most of you in UK have been introduced to it within your families, with fathers, grand-fathers watching it, explaining it, playing it even a low level. For most of us out of UK it's a self learning process and that's totally different.
If you want the game to go global you really should move away from your UK centric point of view.

monique

on what evidence the World Open was advertised during the World Championship last year so give me proof ??

there is none and with respect you can look for it for a eternity and you will NEVER Find it because its non existents.

Look the definition of a casual fan is someone that watches occasional and never goes to a venue.

those type of people are Turned on to snooker during 2 weeks of Long Matches in April......now i know this for a fact theres my proof.

Wild, if you were traveling just a bit out of Wales and your own little British world, you would know what I'm talking about.
There is no point to debate as you won't even read properly.
Do you have kids? Would they sit and watch something they are new to for 4 sessions, each lasting a good 3 hours, over 2 days? No kid has such attention span. Maybe if they do it, with their parents or relatives and are guided through what's happening, they will. But never on their own. They are kids ffs.
To some extend it will be the same for the casual fans and those who discover the game for the first time. I remember perfectly how I was raking my brain to try and figure out the rules while sitting in front of the telly watching Eurosport in Greek in Athens. It required a huge concentration effort and I'm not stupid.
Once again I'm not asking for everything to be shortened. But short matches have their place and they are more likely to appeal to the novice than longer ones for obvious reasons. It's like every learning process, you have to start with the easy, basic things for people to be able to enjoy it and progress.

And the casual fans will tune in during the 2 weeks of the WC, for the odd match or session, they hardly can escape it, it's everywhere, but they certainly don't stay glued on the telly for 2 weeks... except in your dreams.

monique as a kid i had to go to sunday school sit through songs of praise it bored the rubbish out of me you either like something or you don't.

no amount of sitting with family will change what a kid likes you get hooked Short matches will do rubbish all to change that its about watching 2 men with sticks potting balls if you like 1 frame you will like 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15, etc etc etc.

most people gets hooked by watching the World Championship if they did not like it 5 frames would be too long.

Wild wrote:monique as a kid i had to go to sunday school sit through songs of praise it bored the donkey doo out of me you either like something or you don't.

no amount of sitting with family will change what a kid likes you get hooked Short matches will do donkey doo all to change that its about watching 2 men with sticks potting balls if you like 1 frame you will like 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15, etc etc etc.

most people gets hooked by watching the World Championship if they did not like it 5 frames would be too long.

I give up trying to explain the obvious to you ... sitting with family will not automatically make you like something, but sitting with people who are fond of a sport and explain it to you makes the learning process a lot easier. Is that so difficult to understand?
And they won't force the kid to sit and watch for hours, it will come and go. No young kid has the attention span to sit for hours watching and concentrating. However the kid will find it easier to sustain it's attention when the action is dynamic and self-contained.
That's one basic fact that all teachers have to deal with whatever they teach, because it's the natural way the kids brains work and learn.
And to a large extend, adults don't function any differently when tackling new skills ...

I liked the World Open, it was fast and furious and the matches came thick and fast and it was proper snooker, but it was a bit like a parade of players. It's good to get the faces known but you didn't have time to get into any matches. The thing which made me sick about it was listening to someone I've always respected in Steve Davis gush about how the future of snooker was shorter formats.

So yes, the World Open type events get the heads turned and get the kids interested, but the World Championships is the one that does the serious damage. With so much snooker going on it's like Wimbledon in that once you watch a couple of matches or catch a couple of frames you then check up later on or read the score in the paper and over the course you end up getting sucked in so by the time you're down to the one table situation you have a favourite you want to cheer on and you become hooked. If you shortened the Worlds then you would lose a high percentage of new blood.