Snooker boss suggests ‘outside of the box’ World Championship venue during Crucible refurbishment

After speculation over its modern-day suitability, it was announced earlier this year that the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield will remain as the host venue for snooker’s blue riband event up until at least 2045.

Home of the annual World Snooker Championship every year since 1977, the Crucible will undergo major upgrades later this decade to modernise facilities and increase capacity in the arena by approximately 500 seats.

However, in order for this building work to be done, the venue will be unable to host the 2029 edition (and possibly 2030), therefore a temporary venue will be required to stage the prestigious 17-day sporting spectacular.

Speaking to esteemed sports journalist Nick Metcalfe on Radio Snooker at the 2026 Northern Ireland Open, the Chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), Jason Ferguson - who played three times at the Crucible when he was a professional player - told of his delight that investment has been put in place for the Crucible glow-up.

“There's a lot of work being done on what the future of the World Championship looks like with expansion of the Crucible Theatre which we're absolutely delighted with” said the former world number 28.

“It's a big moment for the sport, it's kind of where snooker is now. It's proved that it's right for investment and growth and we're very excited about that.”

‘Very important to move quickly’ on World Snooker Championship temporary venue

Whilst hubbub around the Crucible’s future has now stopped, a new discussion has taken its place - where will the 2029 World Snooker Championship be held? A number of venues have been suggested amongst the snooker community.

It appears likely, though, that it would stay in the UK, as staging it abroad could make it prohibitive cost-wise for longstanding contracted host broadcaster the BBC. The Corporation has made big budget cuts this year, and the vast majority of its studio coverage of last summer’s FIFA World Cup was done remotely in the UK.

First to consider - despite the replacement edition still being over two-and-a-half years away - is the availability of venues. Popular venues can be booked years in advance, and the televised stages of the World Snooker Championship are not a sprint; including all the set-up around the tournament, you are talking at least three consecutive weeks being required.

An announcement on the stand-in venue doesn’t seem to be imminent, but Ferguson did tell Metcalfe that the cogs are moving at pace: “I'll look forward to seeing the results on the feasibility of everything.

“We do need to plan ahead, of course. It's very important that we do move quickly on it. There's a great team in place at World Snooker; fantastic operations team, fantastic commercial team working really hard on putting all the options together - let's see.”

Ferguson not ruling anything out for interim Crucible snooker venue

In terms of those options, fans have put forward established venues that the World Snooker Tour already use - such as the Alexandra Palace in London or the Manchester Central.

However, the authorities also have the opportunity to do something left field, which could include keeping the Championship in or around Sheffield, but at a site that hasn’t hosted the sport before. With the time and investment they have put in, Sheffield City Council may have already demanded that the event stays elsewhere within its boundaries.

Either way, Ferguson is not ruling out anything at this point: “I guess there's two ways of thinking. You either do a safe option and create something that you know works, or you do something a bit outside of the box.

“All options are on the table, and I think it's a really exciting time to look at snooker and say what can we do with this in that one year...let's not rule anything out at this stage.”

The recently completed Northern Ireland Open was again staged by its popular home the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, and the venue has been under the spotlight in terms of the World Championship discussion, thrust forward as a very credible candidate by several players.

Ferguson said he is a huge fan of the venue earlier in the interview: “It is absolutely one of the best venues we play at. Not only that, it's one of the best cities.”

Later on when he was asked specifically about the Waterfront hosting the 2029 World Championship he said: “It is beautiful, it's a wonderful venue snooker. There isn't a bad seat in the house.

“Who knows what the future holds for that one-year stop gap.”