WST has confirmed the coming World Championship prize money and format:
Here’s the prize money breakdown for the 2021 Betfred World Championship:
Winner: £500,000
Runner-up: £200,000
Semi-finals: £100,000
Quarter-finals: £50,000
Last 16: £30,000
Last 32: £20,000
Last 48: £15,000
Last 80: £10,000
Last 112: £5,000
High break: £15,000
Total: £2,395,000The qualifying rounds will run April 5th to 14th at the English Institute of Sport – Sheffield, followed by the final stages at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield from April 17th to May 3rd.
The draw for the qualifying rounds will be made in the coming days. The format will be:
Players seeded 81-144 contest the opening round.
In round two, those 32 winners will face players seeded 49-80.
In round three, those 32 winners will face players seeded 17-48.
In round four, those 32 winners play each other, with the 16 winners going through to the Crucible.All qualifying matches are best of 11 frames, up until the final round on April 13 and 14 which is best of 19. All ten days of qualifying will be covered on the Eurosport App, with commentary throughout Europe, plus our partners in the People’s Republic of China – Youku, Zhibo.tv, Migu, Kuaishou and Huya – and Matchroom.Live throughout the rest of the world.
I do hope that once the covid crisis is over, this event will revert to best of 19 from start to finish.
The tiered system might look to de doing the highest seeded players a favour because they need to win less matches, but I’m not so sure. Indeed, they come cold into the competition, against opponents who have already won (at least) one match, with the prospect of earning no ranking points at all should they lose. That certainly increases the pressure. This applies to the 80-49 group in particular as for many of those players the first match will be crucial in the context of their tour survival.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
This tiered system for me gives the tournament the feel of being an integrated whole with higher ranks getting some advantage (if playing fewer matches is one), not that there is top 16 and the rest who need to qualify. And yes, best of 19 would be good for all matches, but as Lewis pointed out, who would watch very low ranked and unknown players play that long?
Well, Lewis himself would. I know because I have been with him at the World Qualifiers. And me. And probably quite a few who play themselves at amateur level and have an interest in the future of the sport. But the broadcasters might not see it that way, or the sponsors.
Yeah, I know Lewis would and you and a few, but it is not a large number of people, not just for the lack of interest, but also for the lack of time. Of course, as it would not be on TV, but on some kind of internet application, it might work, but sponsors would obviously cherish he opportunity of showing more players/matches during the same amount of time. But yes, I prefer best of 19 for the whole qualification.