2022 Snooker: Professional Payouts, Are They Fair?…

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The World Snooker Tour has announced key changes to the 2022/23 season, but one thing still remains the same.

First-round losers will still not get a penny – not even expenses – despite being called a “professional” or having earned the right to play on the main tour.

Barry Hearn, the former Chairman of World Snooker Tour and President of Matchroom Sport makes it clear in this tweet…

No. If you’re not capable of winning matches then surely it’s time to try something else. Sport’s about winners, not making losers lives better financially.

— Barry Hearn (@BarryHearn) May 12, 2022

Changes…

The tweet comes as the news was announced of the 2023 Cazoo World Championship qualifying rounds being ALL played over the best of 19s next year.

Plus, significant gains to prize money from the last 64 to the winner in many key ranking events.

But, some players, clearly rattled by the lack of empathy from WST – especially when there is a potentially damaging cost of living crisis in the UK, some are still unhappy that they cannot be awarded at least expenses for their efforts when they get knocked out in the first round of events.

However, there are some in Hearn’s corner.

One tweeted;

I agree. We shouldn’t have a mentality that rewards losing. Either do whatever it takes to improve your game and win or find an alternative career. For those with the ambition, playing Top 16 players regularly should be relished to develop and test your game and not feared.

— Shahan Mir (@LegalPharmacist) May 12, 2022

Another tweeted, however:

They’ve already won matches enough to become professionals.

If someone (let’s say Barry Hearn) calls you a ‘professional’ player and gives you a ‘professional’ card then should pay you as the professional you are. It’s quite simple.

— Damisela Snooker (@DamiselaSnooker) May 13, 2022

However, just because you can call yourself a professional, doesn’t mean you will get paid as a professional. In other fields of life, there are “so-called professionals” who don’t earn a bean or earn very little.

There are talented artists for example, whose work could be construed as “professional works of art” but they hardly ever sell.

The tag professional can be ambiguous and confusing in many fields of industry.

In sport, there are lots of “amateurs” who you would easily call professionals, but they again, don’t earn much.

Another Tweeter makes a valid point:

You don’t have to reward losing, but change the draw, make it so the rank outsiders aren’t regularly playing top 16 players so regularly, have 64-128 play in a first round match then the rest come in the second round

— Sam Alexander (@SamAlexander18) May 12, 2022

According to a Tennis website, for example, a first-round loser in the Australian Open in 2020 still got paid £90,000 dollars for their “efforts.” Although sport is predominantly about paying out winners for ” top performance” in other sports, clearly, first-round losers are still awarded payouts. However, tennis is a much “bigger” sport than snooker.

The website reads: A player will make money even if losing in the first round, but it is significantly less than if he wins the tournament. For instance, a first-round loser in the 2020 Australian open received a check for 90,000 Australian dollars, while the champion made $4,120,000.

Snooker needs to think bigger going forward. As the sport grows bigger, there may be “wriggle room” to do something.

But by the looks, under Hearn, that day is not nigh just yet.

Hearn tweeted: