World Champion John Higgins feels snooker boss Barry Hearn should end PTCs in Sheffield
Last month, England’s Ronnie O’Sullivan criticised the structure of Players Tour Championship (PTC) saying that he felt ‘raped’ and ‘blackmailed’ after participating in these events. Scotland’s Stephen Maguire also disliked PTC events and stated that they
made him feel like a ‘prostitute’.
Now, the world champion, John Higgins, has joined the club and urged World Snooker chairman, Barry Hearn, to free snooker stars from the misery of empty venues in events like PTC. The champ believes that spectators do not come to watch these events and players
have to spend their money on such paltry prize pots.
The Wizard of Wishaw suggested that World Snooker should cancel PTC tournaments from the calendar that are scheduled to be played at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, which only has tables but no spectators at the time of these events.
Speaking to local media about their stance, Higgins said, “They've certainly got a point. The Sheffield PTCs, playing in front of no-one, definitely need to be scrapped because nobody enjoys playing in those events. We've got a PTC at Sheffield starting
on Monday at nine o'clock, in front of no man and his dog.”
The defending UK champion added, “A lot of the younger kids are having problems paying their expenses. You're basically doubling all the players' expenses now because of all these new PTC events and they've all got to play them, because if they don't the
young kids won't climb the rankings.”
One of the factors Higgins is worried about is the expense of a player does not meet at the end of these events because there is no crowd to watch the game. In a PTC event at Antwerp earlier this month, only 1,500 people flocked the arena. Thus, players
could not even cover their travel and accommodation costs, as just €200 are paid to first-round losers.
The Magician insists Hearn to invest more in overseas snooker shows and try to pull in crowds there, because the game has emerged as a spectacular event outside England and people love to come and watch top players play in their country.
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