"We're led by money, let's not kid ourselves": Barry Hearn talks about the future of snooker

The founder of the Matchroom empire, Hearn was a guest on the TalkSPORT Breakfast Show introduced by very experienced sports broadcaster Jeff Stelling and former England footballer Stuart Pearce.

Having initially talked about the recent Jake Paul v Mike Tyson boxing bout and Luke Littler's victory at the Grand Slam of Darts, main presenter Stelling - who has led snooker coverage for Sky Sports in the past - turned attentions to the snooker world.

Having discussed the latest growth boom in darts due to teenager Littler's sensational and rapid rise to success and stardom, Stelling suggested to Hearn that Littler was the equivalent to Ronnie O'Sullivan. He asked Hearn how important O'Sullivan is - despite his age - to snooker in the coming years, questioning him "Snooker still needs Ronnie, doesn't it?"

Hearn said: "There are fewer mavericks these days because sport is about winning.

"The standard today is beyond belief. We don't see the personalities necessarily, which makes us focus more on the Ronnie O'Sullivans, Mark Williams. The Class of 92, the sport needs them, but what the sport also needs is a bit more acceleration from some of the younger players who are great players but don't actually have the full package yet in terms of experience to win on the big stage.

"What we've got to look for is the next generation, and that generation is coming through. To me, is predominantly Chinese. We are going to see more and more Chinese players. There are other great talents out there but they need to step up to the plate and add that little bit of personality."

Presenter Stelling responded by asking whether those Chinese players would put the same number of bums on seats to which Hearn answered "No. They will in China. China represents probably 40%, about to go down to 33% of the turnover of World Snooker. The fall down is because the Middle East has suddenly stepped up and fallen in love with snooker.

"Snooker is bigger than it's ever been, it's having much more eyeballs. We are seeing a lot of young players coming in from around Europe now on the back of Eurosport's coverage which has been extensive over the years, and people will see things on TV and say I'll try it, and some of those people have got a God-given talent that they discover.

"We need more personalities, but firstly they have to get up there and make sure they can compete with the greats."

Matters on the show then turned to the future location of the World Snooker Championship, a debate led to having talked about the selling out of tickets for this year's World Darts Championship at the Alexandra Palace.

Stelling asked: "How realistic is it that you might move the World Snooker Championship away from the Crucible?" Hearn's response was honest, saying "More than realistic because we deal in the money world and I've got to push prize money up and up and up to keep these players happy, and if I don't do it, someone else will do it. I hate competition, I don't like competition, I want to own things that make sense for everybody.

"So if the Crucible holds somewhere around 900 seats for sale, I could sell 3,000, 4,000 seats a session. Work it out over the 17 days at the World Championship - it's a lot of money to put back into the prize money. Both the World Darts and Snooker Championships have over £2.5 million prize money with £500,000 going to the winner - I have got to double that very, very quickly.

"So watch this space, but live on TalkSPORT guys, it's going to be £1 million for the winner very, very soon because it has to be, otherwise people will turn their attention away, or someone else will come along as say 'well I'll put £1 million up'."

Stelling's final question was "I will ask the question, could it go to Saudi?"

"Yes, of course" said Hearn. "We do our events in Saudi now and they're getting bigger. There's still not the crowds and not the atmosphere and I understand all that, but instead of me selling the Crucible out and making £3.5, £3.7 million on gate, I get £20 million site fee from Saudi.

"If I get £20 million site fee from Saudi, I can double, treble the prize money. All the players say 'ooo, we love the Crucible, we don't want to leave'. I'll tell you what I'm going to do, I'm going to treble the prize money - we're gone straight away!

"We're led by money, let's not kid ourselves."