Snooker: Developers Right on Cue With the Sheffield Billiardrome

A new, purpose-built venue, the Billiardrome, is Sheffield's secret weapon in its attempt to retain the world championship. The Crucible theatre has been home to the event since 1977 and would continue to be used while the new arena, whose unique exterior design resembles a cube of green chalk complete with central declivity, is built.

Sir Rodney Walker, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association chairman, has initiated a bidding process in the belief that, where his organisation currently pays The Crucible £120,000 annually in hiring charges, the hosts should themselves pay for the privilege of staging the 79-year-old championship.

A study by Hallam University revealed that the tournament brings more than £3m worth of extra trade to Sheffield during its annual 17 days.

Five other cities, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle/Gateshead and Preston, also submitted bids to the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association by the December 17 deadline and the winner is to be announced in April.

The Crucible's history and ambience is much cherished by snooker fans but its seating capacity of only 970 severely limits box office takings.

The Billiardrome's design, the joint brainchild of an architect, James Burland, and a fellow snooker enthusiast, Peter Bainbridge, provides for 3,000 to 3,500 spectators, all with good views of the action because the seating would be very steeply banked. The venue would also be ideal for other sports with a relatively small "field of play" like table tennis, weight-lifting, or boxing.

"We would like the championship to continue at The Crucible with the possibility of moving to the Billiardrome," said David Fletcher, Sheffield's director of investment and marketing. "Obviously the Billiardrome would need a considerable initial capital injection for which we would be looking to organisations like Yorkshire Forward [a regional development agency], Sport England and the city of Sheffield itself.

"The design side of the Billardrome is very exciting but it would have to be made to work commercially in terms of the events it could attract."

From the point of view of cue sports, the infrastructure of the building would provide office accommodation, a qualifying venue, a coaching centre and a hall of fame interactive museum although, in the short term, Sheffield is also offering the WPBSA space within the existing English Institute of Sport complex for a new academy facility, which could be operational this year.

While the WPBSA is in no financial position to invest in Billiardrome, the year-round facilities it would provide would result in considerable savings, including a move from its rented office accommodation in Bristol. The development might also cushion the blow of losing the sponsorship of Embassy after this spring's championship, through the government's anti-tobacco sponsorship legislation.

Burland and Bainbridge are also negotiating with a private operator who hopes to build a Billiardrome in Dubai's sports city.