The Talking Point
A redevelopment in Sheffield, a venue needed, and a nine-year love affair between Belfast and big-time snooker - the pieces are aligning for the Waterfront Hall's most tantalising rumour yet
Belfast's snooker week just got a storyline nobody saw coming. Overnight reports say the city is being strongly considered to host the 2029 World Snooker Championship while the Crucible Theatre undergoes redevelopment - and the Waterfront Hall, home of the Northern Ireland Open for nine seasons, is at the centre of the speculation just as its 10th Belfast staging begins this Sunday.
Speculation is mounting that Belfast is being strongly considered to host the 2029 World Snooker Championship, according to a report in The Irish News that landed overnight. The tournament's regular home, the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, is due to undergo a redevelopment after next year's event ends in May - and once the builders move in, the championship will need somewhere else to go.
It is the story that has dominated snooker's rumour mill all week. Writing his first column of the season for Sporting Life, former professional Neal Foulds summed up the mood as all eyes on Belfast, with Crucible chat once again at the centre of the sport's conversation just as the Northern Ireland Open returns to the Waterfront Hall this Sunday.
The figures behind Belfast's World Championship rumour
The year Belfast is being strongly considered to host the World Snooker Championship, per The Irish News.
The Crucible's redevelopment is due to begin after next year's championship ends in May, leaving the following year's event needing a temporary venue.
Belfast's first home-nations event was staged at the Titanic Exhibition Centre before the tournament moved to the Waterfront Hall a year later.
Completed Northern Ireland Open stagings at the Waterfront Hall. The 10th begins this Sunday.
Sheffield's famous little theatre has hosted the World Championship every year since 1977 - the longest-standing venue relationship in the sport.
The 10th Northern Ireland Open at the Waterfront Hall begins this Sunday, 18 October.
The obvious candidates to host a displaced championship are the venues that already know how to stage the sport's biggest weeks. The Barbican in York puts on the UK Championship and Alexandra Palace in London hosts the Masters - the other two legs of snooker's Triple Crown.
But that familiarity could count against them. Precisely because those venues already have marquee events of their own, the report suggests World Snooker may prefer to take the World Championship somewhere new - and the success of the Northern Ireland Open at the Waterfront over nine completed seasons strengthens Belfast's case.
Talk of leaving the Crucible is perennial snooker theatre. The venue is adored for its intimacy, and traditionalists will argue the World Championship belongs in Sheffield whatever the building work says. Others have long countered that the sport's biggest occasion has outgrown its most famous small room. The 2029 rumour puts that debate back on the table with a real venue plan attached.
Belfast has the track record. The first Northern Ireland Open, played for the Alex Higgins Trophy, was held at the Titanic Exhibition Centre in 2016 before the tournament moved to the Waterfront Hall the following year. Nine completed stagings later, the venue's operators have spoken publicly about having secured a long-term deal to keep professional snooker coming back.
This Sunday the 10th Waterfront staging begins, the tournament is open for calls in MyiCue, and the Antrim derby between Mark Allen and Jordan Brown is already the story of the draw. A city that fills the Waterfront every October for a ranking event is a city with a genuine claim on the sport's marathon spring championship.
Should the World Championship ever leave the Crucible - even temporarily, even for one year while Sheffield gets its building work done? Is Belfast the right city to take it, or should York or London step in instead? The rumour mill has put the sport's oldest question back on the table, and you can have your say in the poll below.