Matchroom Sport announces new format for 2011 Premier League Snooker – Snooker News
The Matchroom Sport is likely to announce a new exciting 10-man format for the 2011 PartCasino.com Premier League Snooker before the event starts on Thursday, August 18. The idea is to make the tournament more thrilling and attractive for spectators of all
age groups.
The Matchroom Sport body has made drastic changes in the play format of the event following the recent rise in the viewership and fame of the game. The league was composed of a seven-man round robin play format that has been changed now into a ten-man format
in which all the players will participate in four events and points will be awarded for each frame-win.
In the two semi-finals and final match every evening, each match will be a best-of-five frames competition without any dead frame to be played. In case of a match reaching to a decider frame, the particular frame will be played by the rules of the famous
snooker tournament of ‘Shoot-Out’ which means that the players will have only ten minutes to finish the deciding frame.
In the given time of ten minutes for the frame, each player will have to meet a 20-second shot-clock in the first five-minute time span and a 15-second shot-clock in the second to make each move. Additionally, the foul made in the decider frame will result
in a ‘ball-in-hand’ anywhere on the table and after the shot, the ball must strike a cushion.
The ‘miss rule’ will also be modified in which the players will be given three chances to make a legal contact and if they could not do so, the award of ‘ball-in-hand’ anywhere on the table will be give to the opponent.
One point will be awarded on each frame win which means a player can earn maximum six points in one evening and 24 in the overall qualifying session of the Premier League Snooker.
The Matchroom Sport’s Chairman, Barry Hearn, said, “Snooker has moved on rapidly in the last 12 months and with the success of events like the World Snooker Shoot-Out, we felt that the Premier League was ready for a major overhaul. We took our inspiration
initially from our hugely successful Prizefighter boxing events, whereby a number of boxers compete in a tournament which starts and concludes all in one evening. For Premier League Snooker fans in the arena and watching on Sky Sports, the emphasis will be
firmly on excitement and entertainment and I believe the new format will go a long way to achieving that goal.”
The total prize-money for the 2011 PartyCasino.com Premier League Snooker is £210,000 while the prize-fund of £1,000 for each frame win-has been removed.
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