Time running out on Crucible judgement as snooker boss refuses to be drawn on prediction

The iconic venue in Sheffield has been the home of snooker’s annual, blue riband event since 1977. A contract is in place for the Crucible to hold the next two editions in 2026 and 2027, but beyond that it still remains a mystery as to where the future home of the World Championship will be.

The end of this existing 10-year contract renewal with the Crucible and Sheffield City Council coincides with the 100-year anniversary of Joe Davis winning the inaugural world title in 1927 at Camkin’s Hall in Birmingham.

It appears that the general consensus amongst snooker chiefs is that they want the 17-day extravaganza to remain at the hallowed arena. When Totally Snookered spoke with World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association Chairman Jason Ferguson last year, the former top 32 star and three-time Crucible qualifier passionately spoke of his desire for the event to remain there.

But in a world where professional sport has become more commercial and capitalistic than ever before with organisers wanting to maximise their revenue potential, serious doubts have been raised as to whether the cauldron-like 980-seat Crucible is now a suitable arena to hold snooker’s crown jewel and provide those earning opportunities.

General prize money for the World Snooker Championship hasn’t risen since 2020, with the champion currently receiving £500,000 (the same amount in 2019, too)

In comparison, the winner of next year’s PDC World Darts Championship - often seen as a sporting cousin to snooker - held at the Alexandra Palace in London will receive £1 million for the first time.

Snooker Chairman unwilling to provide Crucible clues: "I wouldn't like to be drawn on that"

Talk of the impending end-of-contract has lingered in the background during the last two editions of the World Championship, with sports promotion supremo and Matchroom founder Barry Hearn at times getting quite animated about the situation.

In a recent interview published by the World Snooker Tour - essentially snooker’s commercial arm that puts on professional events - Chairman Steve Dawson was asked about the Crucible’s future by top snooker journalist and commentator David Hendon.

Hendon asked: “We were told by Barry Hearn at the Crucible this year that by the end of this year, we would know pretty much know what was happening. So, we're into October now, do you have any update for us”?

Dawson smiled as he replied with: “I've got no update for you at all at the moment. We're talking with Sheffield and we're having constructive conversations, and hopefully we'll have something to share in December, but these things take a long time”.

An answer we’ve heard before from chiefs, Hendon tried to nudge Dawson into forecasting a likely outcome, but he was unwilling to oblige.

“I wouldn’t like to be drawn on that” Dawson said. “I think we may have more information at the end of the year, but again, it's a very complex issue”.

Elsewhere during the interview, the general topic of competition venues was brought up to which Dawson responded with: “We're constantly looking to upgrade all our venues. It's not as easy as it sounds. Snooker is quite a complex event to stage, long period of time that the events last, so it's unusual.

“Clearly some of the venues are too small for us, some of them are too big, and again, every event needs to be sustainable. So we will continue to search for the perfect venue in the perfect region”.

Will the World Snooker Championship stay at the Crucible? Could China or Saudi Arabia host the event?

Earlier this year, China’s Zhao Xintong created history in becoming the first world professional snooker champion from Asia.

China has been a huge player in professional snooker for over 20 years, ever since a teenage Ding Junhui’s big breakthrough when he defeated seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry in the final of the 2005 China Open in Beijing, instantly becoming a national hero.

That was a red letter day for snooker. China has, and continues to host a plethora of tournaments on the professional tour each season with big prize funds, and the country carries on producing a conveyor belt of talent that emerges onto the sport’s top tier. In between Ding and Zhao’s memorable achievements, several Chinese players have won professional events and been part of the world’s elite top 16 rankings.

With the huge investment they have put into snooker and their attraction to the sport, naturally, there have been rumours down the years that China wants to host the World Snooker Championship, but seemingly nothing has seriously, credibly or suitably materialised, as yet.

Mainland China already hosts five events per season, and during the WST interview, Dawson teased that the China Open (that hasn’t been held since 2019) could return bigger than ever before, so organisers over there may want to concentrate their efforts on these existing spectacles.

The latest big player on snooker’s top flight is Saudi Arabia. Before 2024, the Kingdom had never hosted a professional snooker event, but now already has two huge ones - the Riyadh Season Championship invitational (the one with a gold ball and $1 million jackpot for a 167 ‘super maximum’) and the Saudi Arabia Masters.

The latter tournament is a ranking event with a £500,000 first prize, the same amount that the winner of the Crucible gets.

Some fans are also suspicious about Saudi Arabia’s intentions when it comes to hosting snooker’s premier show. But like China, they’ll likely want to focus on building their existing events - the Saudi Arabia Masters has a contract for the next eight years.

The Kingdom does also have a similar contract in place for the World 9-Ball Pool Championship that moved there in 2023, although that event has moved around a fair bit.

Saudi does not want bad publicity when it comes to the sporting events they are putting on; them taking the World Snooker Championship in the near future would cause ill-feeling. Yes, they are set to host the FIFA World Cup and WWE Wrestlemania - the biggest showcases in those sports - but those are one-offs they won’t be hosting on an annual basis.

You can never say never in this industry, but the chances of either China or Saudi Arabia holding the World Snooker Championship in the near future are very low, and the biggest indicator for this is the World Snooker Tour’s new TV deal with the BBC.

The national broadcaster has stuck with professional snooker through thick and thin ever since the 1970s, showing the sport’s ‘Triple Crown’ of the UK Championship, Masters, and World Champion.

And the station will continue to be the host broadcaster for all three of those prestigious competitions until at least 2032 following a contract agreement announced earlier this year.

With the BBC tightening its belt in areas, it seems very likely that the organisation would have wanted assurances that the Triple Crown events will remain within the UK during the spell of this new deal. Having a three-week World Championship in the Middle or Far East could prove prohibitive for the BBC in terms of production costs.

However, the new agreement wouldn’t stop authorities moving the World Championship to elsewhere in the UK.