Darren Appleton has expressed his aggravation surrounding pool’s prize money and underlined the structure of the payouts to be one of the biggest problems that players face when competing in professional tournaments.
Appleton claimed two years ago that pool promoters were attempting to get their first prize higher than rival companies, accusing them of being ‘obsessed’ with awarding all the prize money to the eventual champion.
The 2012 world champion and two-time US Open winner has doubled down on those frustrations, insisting that players need to earn an income irrespective of whether they reach the business end of tournaments or not.
“The prize money structure for me is the biggest problem in pool right now,” Appleton said on his Stick to Pool podcast. “It has been for a long time but it just seems to have gotten worse and worse for some reason.
“I understand top-heavy prize money if there’s a lot of prize money. For example, if you look at golf or tennis – or any sport really but I’m looking at tennis and golf because they’re sort of similar individual sports – the difference is that there is enough money throughout the field.
“If the winner gets $3million, you don’t really care, do you? If you finish second, you’re getting a million dollars. If you finish third, you might get $500,000. If you finish fifth, you might get $400,000, and then it filters down.
“Let’s say you finish 64th and pick up $50,000, which you do in most golf tournaments, or in tennis. You don’t mind the prize money being top-heavy because everyone is getting paid.”
Appleton compared the structure situation to two extremely similar sports in snooker and darts, where players who are defeated earlier in a tournament still receive a sizeable chunk of the prize fund.
He added: “It’s the same with snooker and darts. This is where pool is getting it wrong for me. If you look at snooker, I think if you win one match, you’re guaranteed two or three thousand pounds.
“If you’re on the professional tour, I’m not too sure how many players there are—maybe 200, 128, whatever—but if you win one match at snooker, you’re pretty much guaranteed a decent amount. I actually think you’re guaranteed about £20,000 or £30,000 for the year just for being a professional. That’s a big help because it sort of covers your expenses for the year.
“If you win one match, I think you’re on two or three thousand pounds. Then there are some tournaments where they get even more. They might be on £5,000 or £10,000, like the World Championships.
“So, obviously, the prize money is pretty good. Again, you don’t really care if the winner gets, let’s say, £200,000, second place gets £80,000, and then it goes £40,000, £20,000, £10,000. You don’t mind that because at least you’re getting paid a decent amount of money for winning one match.
“I would imagine darts is very similar. There’s more prize money in darts than there is in snooker. I think at the moment it’s the second-biggest sport in the UK and it’s just getting bigger and bigger.
“It’s always been popular anyway but since Luke Littler came onto the scene, it just seems to have doubled. It’s doubled in revenue and doubled in viewing figures. More and more people want to go to the darts. It’s all happening in darts. I would imagine that if you win a match at darts, you’re on good money, probably a lot more than you are in snooker.
“You don’t mind someone like Luke Littler getting a million pounds for winning the World Championship because if you get beaten in the final 64, I would imagine you’re picking up £10,000 to £15,000. In the last 32, they’re probably picking up £20,000 to £30,000. It makes a big difference.
“Whereas the problem with pool is that we’re giving all the money to the winner. But there isn’t a lot of money in the game.”
