No, this isn’t about photography… 😉 … I wish it was though. This is about the exposure snooker is getting and why the latest developments got me very concerned.

True, we now have more good statistical sites, podcasts and youtube channels dealing with snooker than ever before but … BUT the next professional event, the Xi’an Grand Prix, is starting on Monday next week and, apparently, for us fans in Europe, the only way to watch it will be via matchroom.live. This means that we will get at most two tables but that’s not the worst of it. Unless Matchroom improves their streaming platform for the occasion, it also means that, if for any reason we can’t watch the action when it’s happening, we won’t see it at all¹. This is a tournament held in China. Some matches, in the early rounds, will be played at ungodly hours – very early in the morning – and MOST matches will be played during what is for us, Europeans, working hours.

Eurosport branded themselves “the home of snooker”. The Eurosport player was fantastic.

Discovery+ , Eurosport alleged replacement, doesn’t seem to be too keen to offer the same service.

The BBC will only show the UK, the Masters and the World. The ITV tournaments will be on ITV … but those platforms are not supposed to be available to the fans in mainland Europe, or in general outside the UK/Ireland².

If WST/WPBSA want their sport to be successful this is an issue that needs to be addressed properly and urgently. As we say in French “Loin des yeux … loin du coeur.”³ For any sport to grow and succeed, exposure is vital, and not just exposure, “quality” exposure. Quality is not just about content, it’s also about availability to all fans, no matter their location, their occupation and their time constraints. Eurosport player was offering that, at a price, but it didn’t cost a fortune. Now that option is gone … without actual alternative.

1. Actually this is not entirely true, you might get some highlights later, but there is no guarantee whatsoever. ↩︎
2. Yes, I know, VPNs exist BUT… that’s a workaround and not available to all. ↩︎
3. “away from the eyes… away from the heart” ↩︎