Snooker is close to crowning its first £1million winner after the sport sealed a deal to keep the World Championships at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield until at least 2045.
Matchroom Sport president Barry Hearn believes the move makes it more likely that snooker will soon emulate darts in handing its champion a seven-figure cheque.
The winner of this year’s prize will still pocket £500,000, in contrast to darts king Luke Littler who clinched double that amount with victory over Gian van Veen in the new year.
“We will definitely see it – but it will take a little while,” said Hearn. “It’s very difficult to compare darts and snooker.
“Darts has been something that in my 50 years I’ve never seen the like. But snooker is on that (curve). And I think this deal inspires me to think, well, we’ve got to get to that.
“We won’t get to to it in one jump. But I think we’ll have some sort of plan in a few weeks’ time to be able to share with you during the Crucible.”
John Spencer pocketed £6,000 for beating Cliff Thorburn in the first Crucible final in 1977, while every winner since 2019 has earned £500,000 from a total prize pool in excess of £2million.
Hearn has spent the best part of the last two years maintaining that snooker’s best hope of paying more lucrative cheques was to cash in on the significant interest shown in China and Saudi Arabia and take the event abroad.
But with a £45million renovation of the Crucible in the pipeline, he is now convinced the sport is best-placed to fulfil its financial goals by staying true to its roots in the Yorkshire city.
“I think if something is not broken, don’t fix it,” added Hearn.
“The only thing that needs to change with this tournament is we need to be better, at World Snooker, in raising more money, getting more dollars for our bang, and making sure the (total) prize money goes as quickly as possible up to a minimum of £5million.”
