Barry Hearn stands by his decision of changing UK Championship format – Snooker News
Last year in December, many snooker guns were shocked when they came to know that some changes have been made in the playing format of the sport’s second most prestigious tournament after World Snooker Championship, the UK Championship. To make it more exciting,
the World Snooker Chairman, Barry Hearn shortened the number of frames per match.
The snooker chief believed that shorter format will attract more spectators to the arena and the TV viewership will also increase. However, he faced a lot of criticism from many potters but he stood by his decision and implemented it in the 2011 UK Championship.
Despite facing a harsh resistance from many critics and players, Hearn still believes that he made the right decision because at that time it was necessary.
Speaking to the BBC Sport, Hearn said, “I made the changes because I listened to my customers and to what the BBC wanted. On all the other events we have to have the flexibility to be innovative, to be more exciting. Most importantly, we must make every
event look different, otherwise people get bored.”
The chief added, “I listen to my paying customers the most because if I get it right with them, I know my ratings are going to be great. We're in a changing market and we want to make sure we watch those trends and make sure we move with them. We've got
to integrate with young people, we've got to give them the product they want to see.”
After Hearn made changes to the championship, Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen, who reached the final of the event against Judd Trump, started criticising him. He even used offensive language against Hearn which started verbal brawl between both of them. Nevertheless,
the issue was sorted out after the event.
Due to the changes that Hearn made, the game has progressed well. Hearn’s drastic steps to promote the sport across the world have brought good results. Now snooker has reached Australia, Brazil and many other countries. The overall image of the sport as
a boring and slow game has been changed and many youngsters are inclined towards the game.
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