Hearn targets big money

Hearn: Million-dollar plan

I believe we can go to where golf is and we can have million-dollar prizes and I think the first million-dollar prize will be at the World Championship.

Barry Hearn
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Barry Hearn has predicted million-dollar pay days for world snooker champions if his plans to radically makeover the sport are given the go-ahead.

The World Snooker supremo made the claim at the launch event for this season's Bedfred.com World Championship, which gets under way on April 17 and offers a top prize of £250,000 to the winner.

Hearn should learn next month, following a vote after the World Championship, whether the players will support his plans for the future of snooker.

Benefits

And the promoter insists players will reap the benefits if they choose to back him.

"In the early 1980s snooker was bigger than European Tour golf so something went wrong," said Hearn. "We've got to take the rest of the game up to the level of the World Championship.

"We've got to throw away the baggage of yesteryear and ignore all the mistakes that have been made - and there have been millions of them over the years. The lunatics have been running the asylum.

"I believe we can go to where golf is and we can have million-dollar prizes and I think the first million-dollar prize will be at the World Championship.

"I don't see any restrictions on us if we work as one instead of what's gone on with niggling, whingeing, moaning, mediocrity. I believe with the right opportunities and the support of the players we can shock the world."