Alternative proposal by John Davison "Mr Altium"

Sonny wrote:Case don't be blind mate. This is all about Doyle.

John Davison, the former Olympic shooter bidding to take charge of World Snooker, has rejected an invitation to attend Wednesday's crunch players meeting in Sheffield where rival Barry Hearn hopes to be given the go-ahead to run the sport.

Davison claims his bid is not being afforded the same platform as the proposal from Hearn, the chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, has received.

Davison said in a statement: "We do not feel that the board is adopting a fair process or creating a level playing field for all bids.

"I therefore cannot accept their invitation to attend.

"I very much want to address the players directly, something that the WPBSA board has expressly stated that I am not to do.

"I want them to have the chance to ask me the many questions I am sure that they have before making such a massive decision. I am always happy to compete - in sport or business - as long as I know that the rules are fair and being abided by."

Davison is making his second attempt to take control of the professional game, having almost succeeded in 2002, and has support from players including Stephen Hendry, Peter Ebdon and Ding Junhui.

Hearn wants his Matchroom Sport business to take a 51% controlling stake in the WPBSA's business arm, World Snooker. Until Davison came forward last week he looked certain to get his wish.

Hearn has pledged more tournaments for the players and increased prize money, from £3.5million in 2009/10 to £4.5million in 2010/11. He has also promised to return control to the WPBSA if he fails.

Davison's bid would see him take 63% at a price of £315,000, for a fixed 15-year period.

Davison has said the £315,000 would be paid out to the world's top 64 players, and has pledged that prize money will rise to £5million next season, with guaranteed income for players at various levels of the sport.

Tonight's statement from Davison's bid team said: "The inability of snooker's governing body to respond to John Davison's request for clarity and transparency of process ahead of tomorrow's EGM in Sheffield has prevented Davison from accepting an invitation to attend.

"Davison's late bid to lease the commercial rights to snooker in a £16million, 15-year deal, has brought a new focus to the special meeting called by Hearn who hoped to have his own bid to buy the sport rubber-stamped by the players."

Davison himself said: "The WPBSA has failed to respond to my repeated requests for clarity and transparency of process.

"We provided written responses to the clarification questions sent to us by the WPBSA board on Friday evening at 7pm. As of 5pm today these have not been forwarded to WPBSA members. We have not had a single response to our emails and calls during the course of today.

"I'm afraid this only reinforces my view that the sport needs to realign itself very quickly to the modern era if it is to have any future at all.

"When I realised that the players were faced with a 'take it or leave it' bid by Barry Hearn to buy outright 75% of WSL [World Snooker] forever, for £1, leaving the players with 25%; I decided to offer the players a future where they were partners in our plans and held 37% of WSL for 15 years before the rights reverted to them entirely.

"I obviously considered the WPBSA's invitation to attend the EGM very seriously but the meeting has been convened to consider Barry Hearn's ultimatum: it has a fixed agenda and cannot allow a vote on our proposal.

"Unfortunately, we have been told nothing that makes clear how the independent directors of the WPBSA envisage us being involved, and even if this were given to us now ahead of the EGM we would obviously not have enough time to prepare properly for the meeting."

Davison's mention of Hearn taking a 75% stake for £1 would be contested by the veteran sports promoter. Hearn's stated plan is for Matchroom to take 51% for £255,000, with the rest split between commercial partners (24%) and players (25%).

wildJONESEYE wrote:whats scary the political wrangling are the players doing because they own the sport..

if i was a player id want to maximize it potential and having players voting is a bit like asking a turkey do you want stuffing up your ass.

that needs to stop and sharpish.

Witz78 wrote:Ive always been interested in the off table and political side of snooker,

Sonny wrote:That's not as scary as me being onside with the ferret

thetubberlad wrote:

Sonny wrote:That's not as scary as me being onside with the ferret

Next thing me and Moondan will be teaming up as bridge partners

wildJONESEYE wrote:

Witz78 wrote:Ive always been interested in the off table and political side of snooker,

don't i know it

god we had some ding dongs arguments over the years and more about politics than the game itself but on this we united like Siamese twins and that scares the poo out of me lol

Future of snooker to be decided


The future of snooker will be decided tomorrow at an emergency general meeting of the World Professional Snooker and Billiards Association (WPBSA).


The meeting comes after the emergence of a rival bid to Barry Hearn’s proposal for the future governance of the sport and players will vote for who will have the power to run professional snooker.


Hearn was elected WPBSA chairman last year, and has put plans in place to transform snooker. He has already put in place a provisional calendar for next season, which is planned to include 11 televised tournaments and a new Pro Tour consisting of 12 events, which would be open to all 96 players on the circuit. Prize money will increase to a minimum of £4.5million with that figure potentially rising every year.


The counter proposal comes from John Davison. A former Great Britain Olympian in clay target shooting and retired businessman from private equity firm Bridgepoint, Davison plans to introduce 10 ranking tournaments, two invitational events, six Players Tour Events and prize money for next season at £5million, with an increase of £200,000 over the next three years.


As a businessman, Davison boasts strong financial resources and contacts, but no association with snooker in the past. Hearn, however, has a long association with snooker. In 1974 he became chairman of Lucana Snooker Clubs. In 1976, he became the manager of six-time world champion Steve Davis, and in 1982 formed Matchroom Sport, dealing with top players such as Davis, Cliff Thorburn, Dennis Taylor and Terry Griffiths. With the help of these players Hearn promoted snooker in the Far East.


Hearn’s proposals involve him taking a 51% controlling stake in World Snooker and make it its own independent business, with players and other stakeholders owning the other 49%. World Snooker is the commercial arm of the WPBSA, and is responsible for running and administrating snooker’s professional circuit.


Davison’s bid involves him taking a 63% stake, and after an initial 15 years, the rights would go back to the WPBSA to be made available again. It is Hearn’s controlling stake of 51% that has lost the support of some of the players, most notably Peter Ebdon. Now with Davison lodging a rival bid, Ebdon, along with Stephen Hendry and recently Ding Junhui, have backed the new bid.


“For a sport which many would like to write off, to have two bids on the table to take the game forward shows that there is plenty of life in snooker. He has stipulated the time scale he will work within, which for me is more appealing than just handing all of our assets over,” said Hendry.


Davison was part of the Altium bid in 2002 which tried to take over snooker in a similar fashion.


“Having been both a successful athlete and a successful businessman I also really understand the balance that all sports need to achieve between commercial success of a sport and the fact that at the heart of each sport you always have a game that people - grown-ups and children alike - love to play. But what I see in snooker is a game that has a huge heritage, is loved by many people but is in decline. It has failed to overcome the loss of tobacco sponsorship, has declining broadcast and sponsorship revenues and limited international presence,” said Davison.


Three-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan is on Hearn’s side. “It's great to see new ideas for the game. Barry is already delivering on his promises and I'm positive that there will be more to come.”


The players have a choice between someone who has had a long association in snooker, and someone with a lot of money but with no involvement in snooker. The other choice could be that neither of the bids will be accepted, and then snooker will be back to square one, but that is unlikely to happen. If Hearn loses this battle, he has said he will resign as chairman and walk away from snooker.


This is one game where the winner takes all.

THE battle to run snooker reached boiling point yesterday ahead of today's player vote in Sheffield.

WPBSA chairman Barry Hearn is furious rival John Davison has promised the 64 voting players £5,000 each should he get the reins.

But former Olympic shooter Davison, 44, has hit back, claiming it would be 'absurd' to see the payment as 'cash for votes'.

The latest political war to split the game has seen Ronnie O'Sullivan among those backing Hearn, while Stephen Hendry heads up the Davison supporters.

Promoter Hearn, 61, said: "I have a problem with the £5,000 a man to the top 64 players offer, especially when the integrity of the game has never been more important. I believe it could be against the Association's rules.

"Also, why wouldn't the whole player membership benefit and not just the 64 voting?

"The tactics being employed are not subtle and it brings into question the rest of what they are proposing.

"If I didn't feel so strongly about snooker, I would not be putting myself through 15-hour days for the last six months.

"My message to the players is: If in doubt, go with the man who has the track record."

Davison, who will not attend today's vote, plans to step in with his proposal - which includes 10 ranking events next season - if Hearn is defeated.

He said: "It's absurd for anyone to try and portray the £315,000 we want to pay for our proposed 63 per cent stake as a financial inducement.

"If I am getting something of value, I should pay for it - in this case to the Association.

"Barry did discuss the possibility of joining forces but, ultimately, we were too far apart on vision and style.

"I see our bid as international, stable and corporate.

"Barry's is populist, colourful, loud and about shorter formats and razzmatazz."