With the conclusion of the latest event of the 2009/10 Pro Challenge Series today, now is as good a time as any to take stock and look at whether the competition has been a success or whether or not it could – and should – have been more…
When it was first announced back in June 2009 (yes it really was that long ago), the stated intention of the governing body was to provide further opportunities for the professional players to ply their trade and gain important match practice. With there being just six ranking events staged this season it was more important than ever for World Snooker to act and do something to try and appease the increasingly discontented professional players.
So how successful has the series been so far? On the plus side the four events staged so far have seen around 40-50 players participate at Pontin’s, Leeds, Leicester and Liverpool, gaining that match practice and in the case of the winners giving them an opportunity to earn some extra cash which in the current climate is always useful.
As a fan who attended the first event of the series at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds (see my report here), it was also good to be able to see the professionals in such a relaxed environment. Having often been amongst the scrum of fans clamouring for a photo at Stage Door at the Crucible, it was a refreshing change to be able to chat to the players and get to know them a little at a smaller venue.
However, that is not to say that the Pro Challenge Series has been without its faults. While the events were clearly envisaged to be an opportunity for the lower ranked players to gain some match practice, the lack of involvement of the top 16 players has nevertheless been slightly disappointing I feel. The two obvious reasons for this are the relatively low prize funds and the lack of ranking points on offer, the latter in particular being something that Dave Hendon at Snooker Scene Blog picked up on immediately. Perhaps if even a low amount of points could have been made available then more players might have been tempted to participate in the events.
From reading the thoughts of other snooker fans around the world it is also clear that the lack of a live TV stream is something that makes the events hard to follow, indeed even a livescoring service would be better than nothing. The events might be low budget but surely it would not be too costly to stream the matches from one ‘main’ table over the internet. Rightly or wrongly it is a reality that in 2010 sports fans expect to be able to watch their chosen sport live and that if this were possible it could only help the profile of the Pro Challenge Series.
So will the series be back next season?
I do not have any inside information on this ahead of the upcoming announcement of the 2010/11 calendar but I have my doubts following the arrival of Barry Hearn who will presumably not want to promote events that he does not see as profitable. Given that spectators were allowed to watch free of charge this week it is difficult to see where such a profit would come from…
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Eric says:
February 18, 2010 at 8:28 pm (UTC 0 )
Good review and I agree with most of the points you’ve made.
It’s obvious that World Snooker does not take the Pro Challenge Series (PCS) too seriously from a competitive point op view. You mentioned the low price money and the lack of ranking points. But what do you think of how the PSC draw’s been made? Take a look at this week’s event: Jamie Cope and Liang Wenbo had to play each other in a first-round match while some lower-ranked players like Craig Steadman or Rod Lawler got a bye into the second round. Very unusual! Similar happened in previous events so obviously world rankings don’t count for much by making the draw for a PCS event…
matt2745 says:
February 18, 2010 at 8:32 pm (UTC 0 )
I don’t have any objections to an open draw with no seedings really, I mean in a ranking event I think that the top players have earned the right to avoid their fellow top players until the later stages, but I think it’s ok here.
What I would like to see with the draws (not just in the Pro Challenge but for all of the tournaments), is some sort of regular time for their publication. Like in tennis you know that the draws will be released on a certain date, but in snooker they just seem to trickle out almost un-noticed at random times. Might build some more anticipation if people knew when the draws were going to come out.
Armbrust
Twitter: ArmbrustOnWiki
says:
February 19, 2010 at 4:56 am (UTC 0 )
You’re right, but in tennis the players don’t participate in all events. So it is not known which players will compete in a certain event (as there is often more than 1 in a week).
Folding Snooker Table says:
February 19, 2010 at 2:16 pm (UTC 0 )
Hit – love this…
mike says:
February 19, 2010 at 5:51 pm (UTC 0 )
i think its good that the lower ranked players have the chance to earn some well needed extra cash and match practise, the game isnt just about the top ranked players, and as shown from the results and breaks made the standard has been very high, i hope these events continue next season as well as more ranking events added……….. i think were all agreed that the more events the better.
matt2745 says:
February 19, 2010 at 7:05 pm (UTC 0 )
It’s a fair point, it is good to see the likes of Hawkins and Milkins being able to win tournaments.
snookerbacker says:
February 20, 2010 at 5:02 am (UTC 0 )
I think it could be a hit but you have hit on two of the things it needs, ranking points and a live stream. Another down side to the latest event in Liverpool was the failure of any bookmakers to proce the matches up following the Stephen Lee story last week. Before this a couple of firms had offered odds on the other events.
snookerbacker.com
anon says:
February 22, 2010 at 11:59 am (UTC 0 )
If these tournaments had ranking points a proportion of the top 16 would enter IMO . Even if it were 10-20% of the points that were on offer for a ranking event. Even though they are played on bigger pockets the players who play the best snooker will still win the tournament.
Pro Challenge Series: попадание или промах? — Снукер блог — всё о снукере на SnookerBlog.ru says:
February 19, 2010 at 2:21 pm (UTC 0 )
[...] Увидим ли мы продолжение Pro Challenge Series в следующем сезоне? Официальной информации на этот счет нет, но если вспомнить планы Бэрри Хирна, который не видит смысла в проведении неприбыльных турниров, вряд ли серия Pro Challenge продолжит свое существование. «Откуда взяться прибыли, если на пятом турнире серии, который проходил на этой неделе, плата со зрителей не взималась?» — пишет автор ProSnookerBlog. [...]
Pro Challenge Series Scrapped « Pro Snooker Blog says:
March 2, 2010 at 10:16 pm (UTC 0 )
[...] thoughts on the merits of the Pro Challenge Series can be found here on my article last week but to summarise I think it is fairly clear that the lack of ranking [...]