Higgins is keen the game finds new audiences
Scottish snooker star John Higgins would love to see an influx of new fans in the new sport before he hangs up his cue.
Last week’s Masters at the raucous Ally Pally proved a huge hit with players.
Pop music was played between frames to keep fans entertained as well as a corporate box and plush hospitality sofas which hosted the likes of Ronnie Wood.
It’s left the powers that be questioning what can be done at other events to modernise the green-baize game.
Former world champion Judd Trump has been vocal about his disdain at the formal dress code and need to drag the sport into the 21st Century.
And Masters winner Neil Robertson wants the World Championship to be revamped to replicate the incredible atmosphere at the famous London venue.
“I’m all for bringing new audiences into the game,” said four-time world champion Higgins.
“They have tried different variations of the game which are quicker and things to improve crowd participation.
“Who knows what could happen in the future if new fans can get on board and there’s a new generation?”
World No. 2 Trump believes snooker’s “stuck in the past” with constant references to the game’s British peak in the 1980s.
Dennis Taylor beating Steve Davis 18-17 in the famous “black-ball” 1985 world final being watched by a record 18.5 million people is the most-told story in the sport’s history.
And Higgins feels “times have changed” due to the smoking ban in the early noughties which saw snooker’s popularity dwindle as clubs across Britain shut for good.
“When people talk about the popularity of the game they always go back to Dennis Taylor beating Steve Davis, they were unbelievable viewing figures,” stressed Higgins.
“But there were maybe only two or three TV channels back then.
“There’s no comparison. Because we’re from Britain people think of the heady days back in the ’80s, but it’s a different life.
“The drinking culture is different from back in the day. My dad would come down and have five or six pints and watch his boys playing snooker.
“I don’t think people these days go and do that now. I wouldn’t go to the pub and do that, you’d probably go for a meal with the kids nowadays.”