The 2024 Snooker Championship is approaching quickly, and those who are interested in the game will be looking for a guide to this year’s tournament. Who is taking part this year and who will likely win the tournament? Plus, there are other logistical details, like ticketing!
Snooker belongs in that category of games that started as a pastime and evolved into something that is huge around the world. Like darts and other pub games such as slot games and table games, the slots UK companies offer have changed completely.
Slot games are an example of a game that has mainly gone online, and people commonly play at a casino online rather than in person. Snooker has become a lot more straightforward to follow online but still can’t be played online (fortunately, it is a game that people attend at tournaments just like this one!)
The UK Snooker Championship
The UK Snooker Championship is back again. 2024 will be the 48th consecutive year of the tournament and will take place at the Barbican in York.
The championship is referred to as one of the Triple Crown events in the world of snooker. The Triple Crown Grand Slam is a big deal but there have only been three players in history to have achieved this: Steve Davis (1987/88), Stephen Hendry (1989/90 and 1995/96) and Mark Williams (2002/03). For Hendry to do it twice is an incredible feat.
The tournament was first held at the Barbican in 2001 and there have been a lot of big-name winners. Of course, Ronnie O’Sullivan, the greatest to have played snooker, has won the event (and who would bet against him doing so this year once again?). He won in 2023, as he beat Ding Junhui in a thrilling final.
Other names to have lifted the trophy at the tournament in York recently include Neil Robertson and Judd Trump. This is always a chance to see the greats in action.
The great Ronnie O’Sullivan has predicted that Zhao Xintong could have snooker at his mercy and perhaps it will be the case that there will be a changing of the guard and a young player winning the tournament, too.
Prize money
The prize money is bound to be discussed when the tournament rolls around in November. This is not the biggest-earning tournament on the circuit but the reward is certainly not to be sniffed at. Last year, more than a million pounds was handed out in prize money. This is naturally an increasing figure as players go through the rounds of the tournament.
The 2024 UK Championship prize money is distributed as follows:
Winner £250,000
Runner-up £100,000
Semi-finalist £50,000
Quarter-finalist £25,000
Last 16 £15,000
Last 32 £10,000
Last 48 £7,500
Last 80 £5,000
Last 112 £2,500
High Break £15,000
That means that in total, there will be £1,205,000 distributed, and as you can see, there are very few finishes that won’t see the players take home some decent money. It is impressive to think that Ronnie O’Sullivan has been earning money at this event since early in the 1990s.
The event promises to have a lot on this year and aims to be a day out rather than just being a chance to watch the pros. A spokesperson for the World Snooker Tour explained: “This has become the hottest ticket in town, particularly since we changed the format last year, which enhanced the atmosphere in the arena. Plus there is so much to do aside from watching the action on the tables, including the chance to try snooker yourself in CueZone, enjoy interactive games and watch the pros practising.”
The event has proved to be very popular and the already tourist-beloved location of York makes a great and historic setting for the tournament!
Before the main event gets under way, there will be a qualifying round. The 2024 UK Championship Qualifiers take place in Leicester from Saturday 16 November to Thursday 21 November 2024. Some tickets will be available for this. However, the main event is most definitely the championship itself, which runs from Saturday 23 November to Sunday 1 December 2024.
Tickets for the championship
As you might expect, there has been a lot of demand for the tickets for the later stages, and it is not easy to get tickets for these rounds of the tournament. It will be a televised tournament and this means people can continue to follow it – BBC, Eurosport and CCTV5 will all have coverage of the event. On top of this, there are plenty of ways to follow online.
But the hunt for tickets is not totally pointless! There are still tickets available for some of the sessions, as well as over 1,000 hospitality packages that have been released for the public to buy if they want. It is definitely possible to watch some of the earlier rounds in person, and tickets are on sale now, though a draw for the tournament hasn’t yet been made and many will wait for this before deciding.