{"id":296115,"date":"2023-11-03T14:55:12","date_gmt":"2023-11-03T14:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/?p=296115"},"modified":"2023-11-03T14:55:12","modified_gmt":"2023-11-03T14:55:12","slug":"barry-hearn-opposes-new-snooker-minimum-wage-despite-90-of-stars-being-skint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/nba\/barry-hearn-opposes-new-snooker-minimum-wage-despite-90-of-stars-being-skint\/","title":{"rendered":"Barry Hearn opposes new snooker minimum wage despite ‘90% of stars being skint’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Princess Royal watched snooker championship final, Mark Selby says<\/h3>\n

Ex-World Snooker Tour (WST) chairman Barry Hearn has insisted that he would not have brought in the new minimum guaranteed salary for lower-ranked players in the sport. All 130 players on the tour have been promised at least \u00a320,000 for the 2022\/23 season in a trial that amounted to a \u00a32.6million cash injection.<\/p>\n

Several of the top snooker players had been calling for the prize money to be redistributed across the game. If a player collects more than \u00a320,000 over the season, the payment will be deducted from their overall earnings.<\/p>\n

The move has been praised but Hearn has admitted that he would not have made the same call if he was still in charge of the WST. The Matchroom Sport president believes that the drive to earn money in snooker can help produce incredible scenes, but they have now lost a \u201cbrutal\u201d element that he was fond of.<\/p>\n

\u201cI probably would never have brought that in (\u00a320,000 basic expenses for contracted players),\u201d Hearn told BettingSites.co.uk. \u201cBecause I like death and glory. Get in there and win, and make a lot of money. Or you starve, and that\u2019s brutal, but sport is brutal. And I always felt that you need to put that thought in people\u2019s heads. Ruthlessness. This is not a world for losers. We can\u2019t all win, but we can all try to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The WST have faced repeated calls to help lower-ranked players financially. Ali Carter revealed that approximately 90 per cent of players on the tour \u201chave got no money\u201d and even he nearly quit once to become a pilot. “It’s been really tough. Maybe 90 per cent of players on the tour have got no money,” Carter told the BBC’s Framed Podcast earlier this year. “I think the tour should probably be cut, to give a prize that if you do get your tour card, you are guaranteed a living, a good living.<\/p>\n

“They’re earning nothing, 20 grand a year, 30 grand a year after expenses, maybe less than that. You could go and get a job stacking a shelf in a supermarket [for that], no disrespect to anyone who does that. But these boys have put their life into playing snooker from a very young age, so it just seems a little bit unfair to me, that’s all.”<\/p>\n