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Re: Barry Hearn comments about Ronnie

Postby Holden Chinaski

buck Hearn, he's a hammer.

Snooker will survive after Ronnie, but Ronnie retiring will hurt snooker. You can pretend it won't hurt snooker, but we all know it will. There is only one superstar in snooker these days who puts bums in seats, it's just a fact. Nobody has the attraction Ronnie has. Snooker will survive but it really needs new superstars after Ronnie, and I haven't seen one yet.

Re: Barry Hearn comments about Ronnie

Postby Holden Chinaski

Pink Ball wrote:I think you'd be surprised how quickly people will move on.

People will move on. But selling tickets and getting people to watch the snooker on tele will be harder. Ronnie is a big attraction. Like I said, snooker will survive. But it will hurt and Hearn knows it. The sponsors love it when Ronnie plays a tournament.

Re: Barry Hearn comments about Ronnie

Postby SnookerFan

What did Hearn say that was so wrong?

Jason asked him whether Ronnie would enter The Crucible. Hearn said he hoped so, but ultimately it was Ronnie's decision to make.

What was he supposed to do? Start crying at the thought of a Ronnie no show?

I don't understand the fuss.

Re: Barry Hearn comments about Ronnie

Postby vodkadiet

Alex Higgins was a far bigger draw than O'Sullivan, and snooker easily survived.

O'Sullivan is knocked out of many events early on and the venues are still packed out.

His presence in events is irrelevant.

Re: Barry Hearn comments about Ronnie

Postby Andre147

vodkadiet wrote:Alex Higgins was a far bigger draw than O'Sullivan, and snooker easily survived.

O'Sullivan is knocked out of many events early on and the venues are still packed out.

His presence in events is irrelevant.


Then his presence is as irrelevant as Selby's or Higgins presense for instance.

Of Snooker will survive, but such a big household name retiring wont do the sport any good, just like it didnt when Alex Higgins retired. Time will move on, but for a while Ronnie's presense will be missed. Even for people who hate him, because then they wont have Ronnie to shoot at. I feel some of these very same people spend more time talking about him than the rest, so that tells us something...

Re: Barry Hearn comments about Ronnie

Postby Iranu

Barry Hearn is an bottom but nothing he said was wrong. If Ronnie did listen to his comments maybe he'd recognise that.

Re: Barry Hearn comments about Ronnie

Postby LeonD123

vodkadiet wrote:Alex Higgins was a far bigger draw than O'Sullivan, and snooker easily survived.

O'Sullivan is knocked out of many events early on and the venues are still packed out.

His presence in events is irrelevant.



Not that hard to fill a few seats.

But the TV audiences probably drop when Ronnie is away.

I know so many people who don't bother watching when Ronnie isn't playing.

Re: Barry Hearn comments about Ronnie

Postby Johnny Bravo

vodkadiet wrote:Alex Higgins was a far bigger draw than O'Sullivan, and snooker easily survived.

O'Sullivan is knocked out of many events early on and the venues are still packed out.

His presence in events is irrelevant.


You must be joking right ?!? :hmmm: :shock: :hmmm:
When Alex Higgins retired, he was by no means a top player anymore. Had he still been at the top of the game, the ratings would have dropped bigtime, the same way the will if Ronnie retires.

I remember when Ronnie first came to do an exhibition in my town. It was 2015 and he was joined by Stu, who was the world champion at that time.
People were literally fighting for tickets and most of them only knew one thing: Ronnie was gonna come to play and he'll be joined by some other player.
Nobody gave a buck who the other guy was, they just wanted to see Ronnie (that's a shame in a way cause Stu is a nice guy and a very good player).

Go to any country in the world and he's the main attraction when it comes to snooker. Take the reigning wc champ - Selbo and any other top player and put them to do an exhibition.
Then take Ronnie and any other guy and I guarantee you u'll get double the bums on seats, and/or in the audience.

Hearn likes to pretend all players are equal. Truth be told, they're not. Ronnie should receive special treatment in the same way Real Madrid and Barcelona get paid 10 times the amount of money from TV rights compared to a low ranked team, it's the natural order of things.

Snooker will survive even without him, but it won't be the same and anybody with an ounce of brain can see that.
When you take a major force out of the equation, unless you replace it with a force of similar magnitude, you can't maintain the same balance. Like Andre said, there are no new stars to take his place atm. Judd was the most likely to do so, but his failure to convert the natural talent he's got, plus his arrogance, have prevented him from doing so.

I know that some players feel that Ronnie shouldn't receive special treatment. but if he were to suddenly retire and the prize money would drop as a direct consequence, they'd reconsider in a heartbeat. That is a FACT !!!

Ronnie's the reason I fell in love with snooker. I also enjoy watching other top players, but it's not quite the same thing. I get that special tingling feeling inside when he plays, it's like I'm a kid inside a candy store. I know that people older than me have felt the same way about Alex Higgins and about Jimmy White.

Re: Barry Hearn comments about Ronnie

Postby Alex0paul

How is it a "FACT" that prize money would drop? A tournament that O'Sullivan hardly plays in has just boosted its prize money to over a million with £225,000 to first place

Re: Barry Hearn comments about Ronnie

Postby Wildey

Pink Ball wrote:I think you'd be surprised how quickly people will move on.

Sport is fickle always has been People move on and as time goes by achievements fade as new Stars emerge.

Re: Barry Hearn comments about Ronnie

Postby Johnny Bravo

Alex0paul wrote:How is it a "FACT" that prize money would drop? A tournament that O'Sullivan hardly plays in has just boosted its prize money to over a million with £225,000 to first place


What tourney are u talking about ??!??

Re: Barry Hearn comments about Ronnie

Postby Alex0paul

Johnny Bravo wrote:
Alex0paul wrote:How is it a "FACT" that prize money would drop? A tournament that O'Sullivan hardly plays in has just boosted its prize money to over a million with £225,000 to first place


What tourney are u talking about ??!??


China Open

Re: Barry Hearn comments about Ronnie

Postby vodkadiet

Johnny Bravo wrote:
vodkadiet wrote:Alex Higgins was a far bigger draw than O'Sullivan, and snooker easily survived.

O'Sullivan is knocked out of many events early on and the venues are still packed out.

His presence in events is irrelevant.


You must be joking right ?!? :hmmm: :shock: :hmmm:
When Alex Higgins retired, he was by no means a top player anymore. Had he still been at the top of the game, the ratings would have dropped bigtime, the same way the will if Ronnie retires.

I remember when Ronnie first came to do an exhibition in my town. It was 2015 and he was joined by Stu, who was the world champion at that time.
People were literally fighting for tickets and most of them only knew one thing: Ronnie was gonna come to play and he'll be joined by some other player.
Nobody gave a buck who the other guy was, they just wanted to see Ronnie (that's a shame in a way cause Stu is a nice guy and a very good player).

Go to any country in the world and he's the main attraction when it comes to snooker. Take the reigning wc champ - Selbo and any other top player and put them to do an exhibition.
Then take Ronnie and any other guy and I guarantee you u'll get double the bums on seats, and/or in the audience.

Hearn likes to pretend all players are equal. Truth be told, they're not. Ronnie should receive special treatment in the same way Real Madrid and Barcelona get paid 10 times the amount of money from TV rights compared to a low ranked team, it's the natural order of things.

Snooker will survive even without him, but it won't be the same and anybody with an ounce of brain can see that.
When you take a major force out of the equation, unless you replace it with a force of similar magnitude, you can't maintain the same balance. Like Andre said, there are no new stars to take his place atm. Judd was the most likely to do so, but his failure to convert the natural talent he's got, plus his arrogance, have prevented him from doing so.

I know that some players feel that Ronnie shouldn't receive special treatment. but if he were to suddenly retire and the prize money would drop as a direct consequence, they'd reconsider in a heartbeat. That is a FACT !!!

Ronnie's the reason I fell in love with snooker. I also enjoy watching other top players, but it's not quite the same thing. I get that special tingling feeling inside when he plays, it's like I'm a kid inside a candy store. I know that people older than me have felt the same way about Alex Higgins and about Jimmy White.


The point is Alex Higgins was a top player and whether his form went or he just plain retired at the top, the game carried on without him.

There are stars in all sports that retire and sports carry on. O'Sullivan could retire tomorrow and he would only be missed by a few fanboys who don't really like snooker anyway.

Re: Barry Hearn comments about Ronnie

Postby Johnny Bravo

Pink Ball wrote:Under Hearn, Snooker will survive. He is far more important than Sullivan. And I say that as someone who loves watching Sullivan.


Of course it will survive, but his departure will leave a huge gap and I'm not sure it will be filled that quickly.

Re: Barry Hearn comments about Ronnie

Postby vodkadiet

The other side of the coin is 'How many fans have switched off snooker because of O'Sullivan?' I know of a few who stopped watching snooker about a decade ago because they found his attitude very grating.

Re: Barry Hearn comments about Ronnie

Postby Pink Ball

vodkadiet wrote:The other side of the coin is 'How many fans have switched off snooker because of O'Sullivan?' I know of a few who stopped watching snooker about a decade ago because they found his attitude very grating.

There are, but they are no doubt greatly outnumbered by those who started watching because of him

Re: Barry Hearn comments about Ronnie

Postby Cloud Strife

Pink Ball wrote:People asked the very same about Alex Higgins and Jimmy White.


As Alex declined Jimmy replaced him. Same thing happened again as Jimmy's declined Ronnie has replaced him. Who will replace Ronnie when's he's gone? I don't see anyone coming up on the horizon that will have the same impact on Snooker as those three legends did.

Re: Barry Hearn comments about Ronnie

Postby Pink Ball

Cloud Strife wrote:
Pink Ball wrote:People asked the very same about Alex Higgins and Jimmy White.


As Alex declined Jimmy replaced him. Same thing happened again as Jimmy's declined Ronnie has replaced him. Who will replace Ronnie when's he's gone? I don't see anyone coming up on the horizon that will have the same impact on Snooker as those three legends did.

Good question. But do we really need a 'replacement'? When Sullivan left in 2013, I don't recall there being any major downturn. The world kept turning.