14.9.11

BRAZIL HERE WE COME

The new Brazilian Masters has been a long time coming.

It was Barry Hearn’s Matchroom that first took 15-red snooker to Brazil in 1985 when Steve Davis played a televised exhibition against the national champion, Rui Chapeu.

Brazil has a history of playing on smaller tables with ten reds so this was something of a novelty.

In the 1990s, it was rumoured that Brazil would stage the World Cup but this all fell through.

At the Wembley Masters in 2004 I attended a press conference in which two Brazilian promoters, as well as the then WPBSA chairman, Sir Rodney Walker, announced a new tournament in Recife.

Very exciting it sounded, too, the only snag being it never happened (leading to cruel pressroom wags to call it a Recife for disaster).

This time around, things have been done properly. The problem, though, has been securing a date in the increasingly over-crowded calendar.

Players just back from Shanghai are having to jet out again almost immediately, although the overriding reason for no-shows is financial. Snooker Scene knows of leading players who have asked for more money to go.

But it’s an invitation tournament. Players are free to either accept the invitation or not. It’s not as if they don’t have plenty of snooker to play elsewhere throughout the season.

Davis is going, indeed was requested by the Brazilians who remember his exhibition a quarter of a century ago.

Stephen Hendry will also be on the trip, as will Mark Selby, who has just won the Shanghai Masters.

Former world champions Peter Ebdon, Shaun Murphy and Graeme Dott have accepted their invitations.

The tournament also represents a good chance for players a little outside the elite to win a TV title.

It is being played in Florianopolis at an exclusive resort, the choice of the Brazilian promoters.

In this month’s issue of Snooker Scene we publish a letter of concern from a British ex-pat who lives in Brazil.

He believes the venue is too secluded and the ticket prices too high. Coupled with the lack of so many star names and the fear is the audience attendance will be low.

I hope not. This is a new market and an exciting step for snooker, albeit into the unknown.

It’s one of those events where the identity of the eventual winner is less important than the spectacle the players jointly put on.

Good luck to those involved.

19 comments:

wild said...

totally agree its about flair and the show rather than the winner thats why not having Judd Trump there has been my biggest bone of contention.

we all know about the Flair Judd plays with. Brazil Loves Flair as has been shown with their Footballers and the Late Great Ayrton Senna.

not disrespecting the Great Legends like Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry but for want of a better word they are past it in a tournament where showcasing is inportant.

Even if Jimmy White was there he is also past it at this Level.

I Hope Brazil will Turn out in force to watch it and wont be to Disapointed with What they see.

There are 6 players that are playing Well the others have been in very bad form Ebdon not even Won a match in 6 Tournaments.

Anonymous said...

Dave - how much are the tickets? My portuguese isn't up to much but if the prices quoted on the website are in Reals then they are eye-wateringly high: Brazil Masters - Tickets

Rob said...

Eye watering indeed! 120 Reals (price of a first or second round session, cheapest seats) is about £44.

That'd be expensive in the UK but from what I can google (I don't claim any knowledge of Brazil), that's about half a typical Brazilian's weekly wage.

VIP tickets for the final cost more than most working Brazilians earn in a month.

Hope someone turns up!

DGP said...

If those prices are quoted in Reals, it would make first-round matches around the £45 mark for the general public, and from around £470 to watch the final. That is incredibly steep. For VIPs to watch the final, it equates to £1500!!

Anonymous said...

good on those that bother going...

looking forward to it.

Anonymous said...

As I think this subject is very relevant, I copy here the exact text I wrote in another forum:

"I’m brazilian and I’m gonna travel next thursday to Florianópolis just to watch the tournament (I live in São Paulo). Despite that, I am very concerned about the emptyness of the arenas. The tickets prices are completly non-sense, even when compared to the whole Europe! For instance, take a ticket price for a single quarter-final match: R$ 200,00 (about U$ 130,00) or R$ 400,00 (about U$ 260,00) on a VIP Area. In the semi-finals and final these prices are even more expensive. For instance, to watch the final, the ticket price is R$ 300,00 (about U$ 200,00) and R$ 1.000,00 (about U$ 600,00) on a VIP Area. Prohibitive, huh? I wish I am wrong but this, surely, will be reflected on the arenas.

Thie first goal of the sponsors to make the sport popular (not just for rich people) should have been decrease the greed and make the tickets more accessible for the fans to achieve full arenas.. Beginning this way, we can see a total failure of an event that could have been a total success. A “natimorto” event."

Anonymous said...

The problem with this event as I see it is that it didn't give enough i incentive to the main players to get off their back sides. It should have carried ranking points and then they may have gone...

If you are creating an invitational event in Brazil, it is little wonder players refuse to turn up. A shame.. but not unexpected.

Anonymous said...

all players and officials should get brazilians for this event.

Anonymous said...

Disgusting really that such prices are been charged, snooker owes its success to the working man and should be attracting them not holding events in super rich locations for a cabal of elites.

Anonymous said...

Going by Stuart Bingham's tweets they don't even have a table yet... and might play on a hastily refurbished club table if nothing else turns up. This event is a sad farce and a complete waste of resources that WSA could have used much better elsewhere.

Colin M said...

The resort looks fantastic, if they hold a tourney there next year, I will organise my summer holidays accordingly! The ticket prices appear extremely high though. Better value to be had at the Crucible!

hegeland said...

First round, cheapest seats, one session: £44!!!

This in a poor country with no previous history of the sport.

In terms of audience, I fear we are in for another Bahrain disaster. I hope not the boys have traveled around the globe to play for 2 rich Brazillians and an ex-pat!

John F said...

Has World Snooker learned absolutely NOTHING from their Chinese experience?

The Brazilian economy might be growing steadily, but mass wages are still very low. How will snooker ever grow in Brazil if It's not marketed to the mass audience.

I can see a very sad scenario where attendances are poor, but the WSA blames the "lack of interest" from Brazilian fans, rather than their own idiotic pricing.

Dave H said...

Actually the promotion of the event is down to the Brazilians, including ticket prices

147 said...

That may be true Dave,but world snooker have given its backing to the event and they should have ensured an ethos of fairness when it comes to ticket prices.Any fair minded individual would have to agree the costs are scandalous in comparison to what an ordinary brazilian can afford.As my fellow country man put it "the prawn sandwich brigade" should have no difficulties coughing up the price of the tickets.

Anonymous said...

I know it's really getting off topic now, but in response to 147 (whose point about the tournament is spot on), Roy Keane never actually said "prawn sandwich brigade."

It's one of these quotes which keeps getting bandied about, despite never actually having been said, a bit like Ronnie O'Sullivan allegedly saying he was going to "send Stephen Hendry back to his sad little life."

Anonymous said...

what exactly did ROS say then 1216 (in full please)?

Anonymous said...

are the snooker session prices dearer than a lady of the night and an 8 pack of beer?

Anonymous said...

He said he was going to "send him back to Scotland".

There was a reference later on to his "sad little life" but it was a seperate comment.