WST has shared some interesting news over the last couple of days:

RIYADH SEASON SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP RETURNS TO SAUDI ARABIA

Riyadh Season will once again welcome the best snooker players on the planet from December 18th to 20th when the 2024 Riyadh Season Snooker Championship takes place in Boulevard City. 

The tournament was staged for the first time in March 2024 following a historic agreement between His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA), and the World Snooker Tour. 

Famously, the tournament included a unique Gold Ball, which was worth 20 points and could only be potted at the end of a maximum 147, creating the possibility for a player to score a break of 167 which would have been the highest in the history of snooker. 

The Riyadh Season Snooker Championship invitation event will welcome the top ten players on snooker’s official ranking list at the end of the 2024 UK Championship on December 1st. There are still three counting events to go, so the chasing pack still have time to climb into the top ten of the Race to Riyadh and earn a place in this exciting tournament. 

In March, snooker’s all-time greatest player Ronnie O’Sullivan lifted the trophy after beating John Higgins and Judd Trump to reach the final before a 5-2 victory over Luca Brecel. “It has been a fantastic tournament at a brilliant venue and the crowd have been amazing,” said O’Sullivan at the end of the final. “All the players have enjoyed the culture and hospitality. These are the tournaments I really want to play in, with a great atmosphere. Riyadh Season has a lot of the best sport – everyone needs to get to Saudi!” 

His Excellency Turki Alalshikh said: “We are looking forward to hosting the next Riyadh Season Snooker Championship, after the great success of our first event earlier this year. The interest in snooker is only getting bigger in Saudi Arabia. The fans love to have the best players around the world here and we are excited to have them return in December.” 

WST Chairman Steve Dawson added: “We are thrilled to continue our partnership with HE Turki Alalshikh and to stage this event as part of the fabulous Riyadh Season for the second time in 2024. This year we have made huge strides forward in our development in Saudi Arabia and it is exciting to see snooker growing so fast in this region and attracting a new audience. There is huge motivation for the players over the next few weeks to climb into the top ten and guarantee a place in the field at what will be a fantastic three days of the highest quality action. We would love to see one of them pot the Gold Ball and make history!” 

Details of the venue and how fans can buy tickets or watch the event on television or online will be announced soon

Well that’s an event that Ronnie will not want to miss… maybe a little incentive to improve his ranking, which means playing, to make sure he’s in the draw.

PRIZE MONEY JUMP FOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP AS WORLD SNOOKER TOUR CONTINUES TO GROW

Prize money for the 2025 Players Championship will jump to £500,000, an increase of 30% compared to the 2024 figure of £385,000.
 
The 2025 Players Championship will run from March 17-23 at the Telford International Centre. It’s the second of three events in the 2025 Players Series, with only the top 16 players on the one-year ranking list to earn a place in Telford. The winner’s prize will leap from £125,000 to £150,000.
 
The increase follows this week’s announcement that the World Grand Prix will be staged in Hong Kong, with prize money jumping from £380,000 to £700,000. The top 32 on the one-year list will be heading to the spectacular Kai Tak Sports Park in Hong Kong.
 
The prize money for the 2025 Tour Championship will remain at £500,000, with only the top 12 on the one-year list qualifying for the third and final event in the series, to be staged at Manchester Central from March 31 to April 6.
 
The total prize money across the three Players Series events will be £1.7 million, compared to £1.265 million in 2024.
 
WST Chief Executive Officer Simon Brownell said: “This is an exciting time for our tour as we expand across the globe with new and exciting events. We are delighted to increase prize money significantly for the World Grand Prix and the Players Championship, enhancing the prestige of these events. The Players Series rewards those in form and there is massive incentive for all players to earn a lucrative place firstly in the World Grand Prix and then the next two in the series.
 
“We continue to work on opportunities for the current season with the ambition to hit £19 million in total prize money which would be comfortably our highest ever, and an increase of 35% compared to last season. 
 
“The opportunities available to players now have never been better, and we have ambitious plans for further growth in years to come.”

This was to be expected after the World Grand Prix announcement but I’m not convinced it’s a good thing. I will likely create a “cluster” of players at the top of the rankings that will reap most of the benefits of this “growth” whilst the ones at the bottom will continue to struggle. I know it’s the one year list, so, theoretically, at the start of a new season, everyone on tour has the same chances to get in there. But in reality, it doesn’t work that way. It takes time to settle and grow on the tour and I would be surprised if any of the rookies made it in that series. None of them is currently in the one year list top 32. The closest to that threshold is Gong Chenzi, currently ranked 41st in the season list and over 10000 points behind Xu Si currently ranked 32d in that same list.