2020 World Champs to run from July 31 to August 16

confirmation

https://wst.tv/new-dates-for-betfred-wo ... mpionship/

The Betfred World Snooker Championship has been rescheduled, subject to government policy, to run from July 31st to August 16th at the Crucible Theatre.

Snooker’s biggest tournament was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic but following discussions with key stakeholders including Sheffield City Council, the BBC, Eurosport and Sheffield Theatres, new dates for the World Snooker Championship have been agreed.

The dates for the qualifying rounds have yet to be confirmed.

WST’s preference is to stage the event with a full crowd inside the iconic Crucible Theatre, which seats an audience of just under 1,000 spectators. If that is not possible, based on government advice at the time, WST will consider the following options:

Playing the event with a reduced crowd.

Playing the event behind closed doors.

Postponing the event to a later date again.

WST Chairman Barry Hearn said: “We are delighted to confirm new dates for this huge global sporting event which has an international television audience of 500 million people. The world is going through a very challenging period but live sport can be a massive inspiration for the public and can boost morale. This gives fans of top class sport something on their calendar to look ahead to and enjoy for 17 days.

Judd Trump congratulated by Barry Hearn after winning the world title for the first time in 2019

“It is crucial for our 128 tour players to know that we are doing everything we can to get our circuit going again as soon as it is considered safe to do so by the government. The players are self-employed and they need opportunities to earn, while we keep the health and safety of everyone involved in an event of this scale as a priority.

“In recent weeks we have had intricate negotiations with our key broadcasters including the BBC and Eurosport as well as the Crucible itself and Sheffield City Council. I would like to express my gratitude to all of them as we have progressed to a solution.

“Our sincere hope is that we are able to play the tournament with a full crowd as usual. This event means so much to the fans who have a golden ticket for the Crucible experience, and to the people of Sheffield. The players will desperately want to compete in the atmosphere that only a packed Crucible can generate.

“However if that is not possible then we will give careful consideration to each scenario.”

Councillor Mary Lea, Cabinet Member for Culture Parks and Leisure at Sheffield City Council, added: “The World Snooker Championship is one of Sheffield’s annual highlights, something the city looks forward to and is immensely proud of. Although it is disappointing that so many of our events have been cancelled or postponed it is also essential while we meet the current challenges.

“I’m pleased that the Championship has been rescheduled and I really hope that it can be celebrated at the Crucible Theatre in true Sheffield style, when it is safe to do so. We will continue to work with WST and support all decisions taken, to help them deliver the competition whilst keeping everyone safe.”

The top 16 seeds earn an automatic place at the Crucible, and they will be joined by the 16 players who come through the qualifying rounds.

Tickets for the final stages will be automatically transferred to the new dates. The policy for refunds will be announced separately. All ticket holders will be contacted directly by the Box Office in due course.

The Rokit World Seniors Snooker Championship, originally planned for the August 12th to 15th, will now be played between the 19th and 22nd August. All tickets will be transferred to that same corresponding session already booked for.

So, basically they've arranged some new dates which the BBC and Eurosport are happy to televise and Sheffield council agree to.

The downside is that they don't have government permission yet. And might have to postpone it again.

SnookerFan wrote:So, basically they've arranged some new dates which the BBC and Eurosport are happy to televise and Sheffield council agree to.

The downside is that they don't have government permission yet. And might have to postpone it again.

Is that not better than nothing?

Good chance it will go ahead with a full crowd IMO

SnookerFan wrote:So, basically they've arranged some new dates which the BBC and Eurosport are happy to televise and Sheffield council agree to.

The downside is that they don't have government permission yet. And might have to postpone it again.

I think it’s very unlikely they haven’t sounded this out.

Badsnookerplayer wrote:Good chance it will go ahead with a full crowd IMO

I think that’s unlikely to be honest, but I think it probably will go ahead on the new dates.

I reallly hope sooooo!

Iranu wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:So, basically they've arranged some new dates which the BBC and Eurosport are happy to televise and Sheffield council agree to.

The downside is that they don't have government permission yet. And might have to postpone it again.

Is that not better than nothing?

Not much better.

They're saying they'd like to do it, but they probably won't get permission.

Hopefully it does go ahead though.

I hope so just to have something to look forward to

I think it will go ahead, but The Crucible won't be full of spectators that much I'm certain.

For instance, they might do it with 2 or 3 spaces in between chairs, so the crowds would be less, plus it would respect the health concerns.

I dont know how they will do with the others that bought a ticket though... because not everybody might get a chance to watch it.

SnookerFan wrote:

Iranu wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:So, basically they've arranged some new dates which the BBC and Eurosport are happy to televise and Sheffield council agree to.

The downside is that they don't have government permission yet. And might have to postpone it again.

Is that not better than nothing?

Not much better.

They're saying they'd like to do it, but they probably won't get permission.

Hopefully it does go ahead though.

It’s a lot more than saying they’d like to do it.

They have broadcasters agreed, the theatre booked, and local council acquiescence. This is a lot more than just saying, “We’d like to do it on these dates.”

Yes they’ll need government approval but at least they have all these things sorted so that if they ARE able to go ahead, they have everything in place, as it’s likely they’ll get little advance notice as the climate changes.

They’ve acted in the hope that they are able to go ahead, I doubt they’re dismissing the likelihood that they can’t.

Fair points.

I wasn't suggesting that they dismissed the likelihood they can't. If anything, they're explaining that it possibly won't to us. Which is why I thought it seemed a bit pointless.

Well, let's see. I hope it happens.

Crucible with no audience would be ridiculous.

On chat he had with Hendry the other day, ROS said imagine a final frame decider with no audience! And we thought the Gibraltar Open Final was bad, so you can get a picture of how bad it would be in the biggest stage of all.

Crucible with no audience would be ridiculous.

On chat he had with Hendry the other day, ROS said imagine a final frame decider with no audience! And we thought the Gibraltar Open Final was bad, so you can get a picture of how bad it would be in the biggest stage of all.

Andre147 wrote:Crucible with no audience would be ridiculous.

On chat he had with Hendry the other day, ROS said imagine a final frame decider with no audience! And we thought the Gibraltar Open Final was bad, so you can get a picture of how bad it would be in the biggest stage of all.

I agree.

For me no tournament is better than no audience.

Hearn is dreaming. This will coincide with a second full lockdown.

Andre147 wrote:Crucible with no audience would be ridiculous.

On chat he had with Hendry the other day, ROS said imagine a final frame decider with no audience! And we thought the Gibraltar Open Final was bad, so you can get a picture of how bad it would be in the biggest stage of all.

Well if we'd thought in January that there would be such a lockdown as we have now, that would have seemed ridiculous. We are living in unprecedented times which call for imagination.


I didn't think Gibraltar looked so bad on television, and the players do play with hardly any audience in some other events. Being 'strange' isn't a good enough reason to bankrupt the game by cancelling altogether.

lhpirnie wrote:

Andre147 wrote:Crucible with no audience would be ridiculous.

On chat he had with Hendry the other day, ROS said imagine a final frame decider with no audience! And we thought the Gibraltar Open Final was bad, so you can get a picture of how bad it would be in the biggest stage of all.

Well if we'd thought in January that there would be such a lockdown as we have now, that would have seemed ridiculous. We are living in unprecedented times which call for imagination.


I didn't think Gibraltar looked so bad on television, and the players do play with hardly any audience in some other events. Being 'strange' isn't a good enough reason to bankrupt the game by cancelling altogether.

Agree. At least stage the event and get the TV money in, can't see them getting ticket revenues for the new dates as doubt sports events with audiences in an enclosed space and large gatherings will be allowed even then.

lhpirnie wrote:

Andre147 wrote:Crucible with no audience would be ridiculous.

On chat he had with Hendry the other day, ROS said imagine a final frame decider with no audience! And we thought the Gibraltar Open Final was bad, so you can get a picture of how bad it would be in the biggest stage of all.

Well if we'd thought in January that there would be such a lockdown as we have now, that would have seemed ridiculous. We are living in unprecedented times which call for imagination.


I didn't think Gibraltar looked so bad on television, and the players do play with hardly any audience in some other events. Being 'strange' isn't a good enough reason to bankrupt the game by cancelling altogether.

What makes you think it’ll bankrupt the game? Is it really worth that much more than the other 18 or so major tournaments that they’re essentially worthless now?

That would seem to suggest monumental mismanagement of the sport if that’s the case.

Ck147 wrote:Agree. At least stage the event and get the TV money in, can't see them getting ticket revenues for the new dates as doubt sports events with audiences in an enclosed space and large gatherings will be allowed even then.

I originally thought a September date would be suitable. Any time before the English Open would enable some kind of 2020-21 season to start.


I still have reservations about whether the regulations will allow it, but nobody knows. It's a good effort by WST to give it a go. If any other sport starts again and snooker doesn't, it will look pretty incompetent - snooker should be one of the first to resume.

To be honest I think this 2 metres social distancing is a fudge. Just because we do that for going to supermarkets doesn't make it safe. It's just the best chance we've got when we have to go out and buy food. In July we might be in a situation where 'large gatherings' are not permitted. Any more than about 50 would be deemed too large, which is when police and paramedics need to be available. So that would imply closed doors.

Iranu wrote:What makes you think it’ll bankrupt the game? Is it really worth that much more than the other 18 or so major tournaments that they’re essentially worthless now?

That would seem to suggest monumental mismanagement of the sport if that’s the case.

Yes, it really is worth that much. They don't keep hundreds of thousands in reserve 'just in case'.


Many businesses will go bankrupt this year due to coronavirus. It's not true that they were all 'monumentally mismanaged'. I lost over £500 on my Sheffield hotel bill - I just simply couldn't imagine what has happened this year.

lhpirnie wrote:

Iranu wrote:What makes you think it’ll bankrupt the game? Is it really worth that much more than the other 18 or so major tournaments that they’re essentially worthless now?

That would seem to suggest monumental mismanagement of the sport if that’s the case.

Yes, it really is worth that much. They don't keep hundreds of thousands in reserve 'just in case'.


Many businesses will go bankrupt this year due to coronavirus. It's not true that they were all 'monumentally mismanaged'. I lost over £500 on my Sheffield hotel bill - I just simply couldn't imagine what has happened this year.

buck - that's rubbish about the hotel Lewis.

Sorry to hear that

lhpirnie wrote:

Ck147 wrote:Agree. At least stage the event and get the TV money in, can't see them getting ticket revenues for the new dates as doubt sports events with audiences in an enclosed space and large gatherings will be allowed even then.

I originally thought a September date would be suitable. Any time before the English Open would enable some kind of 2020-21 season to start.


I still have reservations about whether the regulations will allow it, but nobody knows. It's a good effort by WST to give it a go. If any other sport starts again and snooker doesn't, it will look pretty incompetent - snooker should be one of the first to resume.

To be honest I think this 2 metres social distancing is a fudge. Just because we do that for going to supermarkets doesn't make it safe. It's just the best chance we've got when we have to go out and buy food. In July we might be in a situation where 'large gatherings' are not permitted. Any more than about 50 would be deemed too large, which is when police and paramedics need to be available. So that would imply closed doors.

Snooker is probably one of the sports that could make a success of being TV only during this situation, no audiences and maintain the social distancing currently required for the participants. Other sports aren't so lucky, look at F1, they're in trouble, no audience and no TV because the teams need to be in close proximity so won't be allowed. Football, Rugby in the same boat. Tennis and Darts could probably work too.

lhpirnie wrote:

Iranu wrote:What makes you think it’ll bankrupt the game? Is it really worth that much more than the other 18 or so major tournaments that they’re essentially worthless now?

That would seem to suggest monumental mismanagement of the sport if that’s the case.

Yes, it really is worth that much. They don't keep hundreds of thousands in reserve 'just in case'.


Many businesses will go bankrupt this year due to coronavirus. It's not true that they were all 'monumentally mismanaged'. I lost over £500 on my Sheffield hotel bill - I just simply couldn't imagine what has happened this year.

It seems very strange to me that an organisation as large as the WPBSA and WST wouldn’t be able to weather the storm of missing the World Championships. It’s an immensely important tournament, yes. But it is only one tournament. I’ve seen no suggestion from anyone other than you that this could bankrupt them; do you know something we don’t?

In fact, World Snooker Ltd’s profit for the last financial year was £1.4million. How much of that do you think came from the World Championship?

That’s awful about your hotel bill, and yes this was (relatively) unforeseeable.

Ck147 wrote:Snooker is probably one of the sports that could make a success of being TV only during this situation, no audiences and maintain the social distancing currently required for the participants. Other sports aren't so lucky, look at F1, they're in trouble, no audience and no TV because the teams need to be in close proximity so won't be allowed. Football, Rugby in the same boat. Tennis and Darts could probably work too.

Yes, snooker ought to be at the head of the queue. Indeed, other sports would be keen to see if snooker can stage an event, to see how close they might be to reopening themselves.


A big problem for tennis, football, etc. is the number of international players having to fly between countries to compete. If there are any quarantine restrictions this makes it almost impossible for a global sport to operate until a vaccine is available. How do they plan to hold the US Open and French Open tennis within a few weeks of each other? Will Donald Trump just let them in without quarantine??

Snooker does have international players, but not so many that events can't be held. It's really only Ding Junhui that would be a major miss.

Ding lives in Sheffield now anyway, so I don't know if he'll be affected.

Yes, I know he has family in China. Do we know if he's flown over to see them? What with social distancing and restrictions on international travel, it's quite possible he hasn't.

lhpirnie wrote:

Ck147 wrote:

Snooker does have international players, but not so many that events can't be held. It's really only Ding Junhui that would be a major miss.

Bit of a kick in the teeth to former WC Neil Robertson that!

SnookerEd25 wrote:

lhpirnie wrote:

Ck147 wrote:

Snooker does have international players, but not so many that events can't be held. It's really only Ding Junhui that would be a major miss.

Bit of a kick in the teeth to former WC Neil Robertson that!

He lives in Cambridge so all good :)