The World Snooker Tour (WST) has announced the cancellation of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters tournament just two years into a lucrative 10-year contract.
The decision was taken “following constructive discussions between The Saudi Billiard and Snooker Federation and Matchroom following the conclusion of the 2025 editions.”
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The parties “mutually agreed” not to proceed with future editions of both the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters and the World Pool Championship.
The Masters launched in Riyadh in August 2024 and became the fourth ‘major’ on the sport’s calendar, offering a prize fund of £2.3 million ($3.1 million), the richest outside the UK. With £500,000 for the winner, it was equal to the flagship World Championship.
It sat alongside the World Snooker Championship, the invitational Masters, and the UK Championship – the traditional Triple Crown events – as a major.
In addition, the country also staged the 2024 and 2025 World Pool Championship, the flagship event of the World Nineball Tour, in Jeddah, with a record prize fund of $1 million.
But after only two editions, the tournaments will not be held again.
The termination of the long-term contract has not gone down well with players, with Barry Hawkins publicly slamming the decision.
Speaking after his win on Saturday in the World Championship last 16, Hawkins said: “What a disappointment. Without sounding rude, something's gone wrong for us to lose that tournament. What's happened to the 10-year contract? It's just been blown out of the water.
“We don't get no explanation, nothing, which is very, very annoying. We just get some stupid email saying it's been stopped. No explanation, nothing. Very disappointing, it's a massive tournament to lose. It'd be interesting to see the reason behind it.”
The move comes amid a major strategy shift by Saudi Arabia, as the country seeks to scale back its sports investments.
Earlier this month, there were reports that the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) was set to end its financial support for the breakaway LIV Golf tour, which would jeopardise its future.
PIF recently approved its 2026-2030 investment strategy, with sport not mentioned in investment focus areas.
The sovereign wealth fund is taking stock of a decade-long spending splurge in sports, both nationally and globally. The firm also owns English Premier League soccer club Newcastle United, which it acquired in October 2021.
The five-year plan was drawn up before the US-Israel war against Iran affected the Middle East, but its governor, Yasir al-Rumayyan, said: “Of course, the war would add more pressure to reposition some priorities.”
Earlier this week, Barry Hearn, president of Matchroom Sport, which has owned a controlling stake in World Snooker since 2010, said the ongoing conflict in the Middle East could affect snooker competitions in the area.
Hearn explained: “Saudi is a problem. We don't know where that problem's going to lead to, but we've got good influence there, particularly through the boxing and all the other sports we do.
“We can't interfere with what's going on at the moment. This is a terribly difficult time for the Middle East. Saudi, whether we're talking LIV Golf or other Olympic sports, are looking to cut back, which is fine, providing we've got other places to go, which we do.
“So on the one hand we're looking at Saudi and saying, 'Yes, there will be snooker in Saudi', but in fairness I can't tell you what exactly at the moment until this problem changes.”
