The World Snooker Tour (WST), the organizer of the sport’s global circuit, has relocated next year’s World Grand Prix event from the UK to Hong Kong with ambitions to set the sport’s biggest ever live audience for a ranking tournament.
Hong Kong will hold its first ranking event in 35 years when it welcomes the world’s top players for the tournament from March 4 to 9, 2025.
The event will be held at the brand-new Kai Tak Sports Park, a state-of-the-art facility set to open next year. When completed, the park will be the largest integrated sports and entertainment landmark in Hong Kong.
The Grand Hall, Kai Tak Arena for the World Grand Prix will have a capacity of over 4,000 and is expected to attract a record crowd.
WST will organise the event with F Sports Promotions and the Billiard Sports Council of Hong Kong, China.
The World Grand Prix has been held in the UK since its inception in 2015, with Leicester’s Morningside Arena the setting for this year’s event in January.
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The competition is the opening event in the Players Series, which only features the top 32 players of the season.
Prize money for the tournament will be boosted by 84% compared to last year’s total fund, rising from £380,000 ($496,000) to £700,000. The top prize jumps from £100,000 to £180,000.
In 2022, the Hong Kong Masters saw the world’s best players compete in an invitational event. The tournament, in which Ronnie O’Sullivan defeated Marco Fu in the final, was played in front of a world record crowd of over 9,000 in the Hong Kong Coliseum.
The only previous ranking event in the city was back in 1989 in the Hong Kong Open.
Simon Brownell, WST CEO, said: “We are hugely excited to be taking such a massive event to Hong Kong. This is a move which is in line with our strategy to have a greater distribution of snooker’s biggest tournaments around the world and further globalise the sport. Hong Kong is a territory and market of particular significance for us.
“Having a long-term ranking event in such a prominent global city is fantastic news for the tour. We were impressed by the levels of support at the Hong Kong Masters in 2022.”
WST’s decision to move a major event to Asia will increase the pressure on The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, the UK city that has been home to snooker’s showpiece World Championship since 1977, with the organiser prioritising bigger audiences and higher prize money for its biggest events.
The Crucible only holds 980 spectators and there is a threat that snooker’s flagship event could be moved when the venue’s current contract expires in 2027.
Barry Hearn, the president of WST owners Matchroom Sport, is keen to keep the World Championship in Sheffield but anticipates that doing so would require a change of venue.
Some players have also criticised the conditions inside the Crucible.
Saudi Arabia, a major new player in sports hosting, recently added snooker to its growing portfolio with the launch of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters in Riyadh in August, making it the fourth ‘major’ on the sport’s calendar.
The new snooker tournament in the Kingdom offers prize fund of £2 million as part of a 10-year agreement with the WST.
