Speculation has been rife during the past three months as to how exactly Barry Hearn and his new board would change the snooker calendar for 2010/11 but for the first time we now have something official as World Snooker have unveiled their provisional dates for the new season…
As posted at World Snooker, the provisional calendar for 2010/11 is:
Note that tournaments in red appear to be ranking events in a traditional sense, those in yellow are the Premier League, those in orange are the Championship League and those in white are others. Whether or not there will be ranking points allocated to the other events I do not know at this stage…
DATE TOURNAMENT
2010
MAY
28-30 Seniors World Championship qualifiers (Cue Club, Bradford)
JUNE
2-6 Wuxi Classic (China)
18-20 Player Tour Championship 1 (PTC1) (Academy)
JULY
9-11 Player Tour Championship 2 (PTC2) (Academy)
18-25 6 Red Championship (Thailand)
30 – 1 Aug World Player Tour Championship (WPTC1) (tbc)
AUGUST
3-6 Shanghai Masters Qualifiers (Academy)
13-15 World Player Tour Championship (WPTC2) (tbc)
21-24 World Open Qualifiers (Academy)
26-29 Euro Players Tour Championship (EPTC 1) (Germany)
SEPTEMBER
2 Premier League
6-12 Shanghai Masters (Shanghai)
16 Premier League
18-26 World Open (formerly Grand Prix) (SECC, Glasgow)
30 Premier League
OCTOBER
1-3 Euro Players Tour Championship (EPTC 2) (Europe)
7 Premier League
8-10 Players Tour Championship 3 (PTC3) (Academy)
14 Premier League
15-17 World Player Tour Championship 3 (WPTC3) (tbc)
21 Premier League
22-24 Euro Players Tour Championship (EPTC 3) (Europe)
28 Premier League
NOVEMBER
4 Premier League
5-7 Seniors World Championship (Cedar Court Hotel, Bradford)
5-7 Player Tour Championship 4 (PTC4) (Academy)
11 Premier League
12-14 Euro Players Tour Championship 4 (EPTC 4) (Germany)
13-20 Asian Games (Guangzhou)
18 Premier League
19-21 World Player Tour Championship 4 (WPTC 4) (tbc)
23-30 UK Championship qualifiers (Academy)
27-28 Premier League Finals (Potters)
DECEMBER
4-12 UK Championship (Telford International Centre)
2011
JANUARY
3-6 Championship League
9-16 The Masters (Wembley Arena)
18-21 European Masters qualifiers (Academy)
24-27 Championship League
28-30 Sky Shoot Out (tbc)
FEBRUARY
3-6 European Masters (Berlin, Germany)
8-11 Welsh Open quals (Academy)
14-20 Welsh Open (Wales)
22-25 China Open qualifiers (Academy)
28 – 3 Mar Championship League
MARCH
4-15 Betfred.com World Championship qualifiers (Academy)
17-20 Players Tour Championship Finals (tbc)
21-24 Championship League
28 March–3 Apr China Open (Beijing)
APRIL/MAY
16 April – 2 May Betfred.com World Snooker Championship Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
Initial Thoughts
- While the changes to the calendar are perhaps not as radical as some might have expected, there is no doubt that the calendar is busier than it has been for some time.
- The addition of what appears to be a seventh ranking event, the European Masters in Berlin, is the biggest positive to come out of the calendar because as surely every snooker fan will acknowledge, a ranking event in Germany is long overdue. Having seen the size of the crowds for events such as the Paul Hunter Classic in Furth, it will be interesting to see if these will be replicated at a ranking event.
EDIT: Upon closer inspection I have noticed that the venue stage of the European Masters event last for just four days – how will this work? Is it a ranking event or an invitational event?
- No more Masters qualifiers. Although the snooker calendar is short enough without removing events from it, I can’t help but think that this is not a bad idea as the Wembley Masters should be about the top 16 players in the world and no more. That said I imagine that there will still be a wildcard, particularly given the crowd the Jimmy White was able to bring in this January…
- The spread of events from Christmas onwards is far better this year with both the addition of the European Masters and the decision to move the Welsh Open tournament back to mid-February. The gap between the Welsh event and the upcoming China Open has been one of the most unsatisfactory aspects of this season and it is good to see that it has been addressed.
- That said, it is slightly disappointing to see the length of the gap between September’s World Open and December’s UK Championship in Telford. Although there are the new Players Championship events and the Premier League to keep the players busy, at first glance it seems a little strange to see the Shanghai Masters and the World Open so close together.
- On that subject, World Open? I certainly preferred Grand Prix although in the grand scheme of things I guess that is far from a major issue.
- What we really need to see now is just how exactly the Players Championship events will work. Who will be eligible to play? Will they carry ranking points? Will they be televised on ITV4 or any other station? It is clear to me that the success of this new calendar will depend to a large extent on how well the format is received.
UPDATE: – I now understand that the Players Championship will carry its own separate ranking event structure which does not help the main tour situation particularly…
- Graeme Dott can rejoice as Pontin’s Prestatyn is nowhere to be seen on the calendar, instead being replaced by the ‘Academy’ which presumably refers to the current World Snooker Academy in Sheffield. Having been to the EISS on a few occasions for the qualifiers I have always been quite impressed by the venue but from what I understand the actual World Snooker Academy has been far from proitable up to this point. Hopefully the facility will now be properly utilised and the players will find it to be an improvement on the previous set-up.
- I can’t particularly say that I am looking forward to the new Sky Shootout event scheduled for January but anything that can give the players an opportunity to improve their profiles and gain fans so that they are recognised when the bigger events take place can only be a good thing.
- Although the schedule is a provisional one, I can’t help but wonder if the omission of any World Series events is an ominous sign as to the future of that particular competition. That said, I understand that the Six-Reds World Championship should again be staged in 2010 and this has not yet been pencilled in, so we will have to wait and see…