Well there has been a lot of speculation as to whether the World Championships might move from the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield to somewhere else in the UK, or even further afield to China. As it is though it would appear that the tournament will remain at the home of snooker for a while yet!
The news is not official yet but according to the BBC article here, the Crucible Theatre which has staged the tournament since 1977 will continue to host the tournament for the next five years until 2014, a welcome relief to those of us who have made attending the tournament something of an annual holiday!
Personal feelings aside though it is the home of snooker and as a venue is just absolutely unique. Nowhere else can you get so close to the action and for anyone who has not been before, I would encourage you to try and get there at some point during the next few seasons.
I remember the first time I attended the tournament in 2005 well because as well as being the last year of Embassy, it looked likely that it would be the final year that it would be held at the Crucible. As it was though they announced a new five-year deal during the tournament and now it seems that history has repeated itself.
It is interesting to see that the BBC article mentions the possible expansion of the English Institute for Sport in Sheffield, could this mean more qualifiers being held over here? Or perhaps some of the ‘minor’ ranking event tournaments that have recently been touted? It could even be just as simple as an expansion of the Academy but it will be interesting to see how this one unfolds.
A 147 and an extended contract, for the Crucible, what a day this is turning out to be!
EDIT: There is now an official story on this on the World Snooker website here.