Chu Bingjie.
Image source: 2022 Joe Cup Chinese Pool Masters Organizing Committee
Chinanews client, Beijing, April 21 (Wang Hao) Hainan in April gradually has a summer atmosphere, and the 2022 Joe Cup Chinese Billiards Masters will be unveiled here.
With his stable performance, Chu Bingjie won the championship of Haikou Bomeng Station and won the championship bonus of 300,000 yuan.
In 2022, when the epidemic still seriously affects the revenue of sports events, the bonuses of many Chinese billiards events have risen sharply, and even the championship bonus of individual events exceeds the snooker world championship.
According to Chu Bingjie, 300,000 yuan is a very high bonus for the Chinese billiards competition.
In the past, the prize money for the champion of the same level of competition was 100,000 to 150,000 yuan. "This year, the overall prize money has been rising, which is a lot higher than the previous level."
For him, this season is not only about winning the championships, but also winning the global finals is the ultimate goal. million.
When the two figures were first announced, they surprised many inside and outside the industry.
Data map: In the final of the 2018 World Snooker Championships, Welsh player Mark Williams won the championship.
In the field of billiards, the most influential single event is the Snooker World Championships, with a champion prize of £500,000.
According to the current exchange rate, about 4.1 million yuan.
"The prize money of 5 million is already higher than that of the World Snooker Championship. This is a kind of motivation for all Chinese billiards fans and professional players. Everyone is working hard for the final championship." Chu Bingjie said.
Don't look at the high prize money in Chinese billiards competitions. More than ten years ago, the top players in this industry could only play the "10,000 yuan competition".
"About 2008 and 2009, the prize money was 5,000 to 10,000 yuan. At that time, the prize money for the 10,000 yuan competition was already relatively high." Chu Bingjie recalled that the rapid increase in the prize money of Chinese billiards began in 2014. After the appearance of the World Billiards Championships, Joe Cup Finals and other events, the prize money of the competition gradually increased, "including the prize money for the sub-stations, which increased from 40,000 to 100,000, and then to 150,000."
Data map: Ding Junhui is playing in the main game of the 2nd Chinese Billiards World Championship.
Photo by Jiang Tao
He introduced that in the "10,000 yuan competition" stage that year, only the champion and the runner-up can use the bonus to pay for room and board, and the third place can "save and save money", and the rest have to lose money to play the game.
Qiao Bing, chairman of Joe's Billiards Promotion Co., Ltd., described it as "sad" when he recalled the past Chinese billiards games.
"Those players came to play games, some won the prize money, and there was no travel expenses to go back. My father started playing games in 2006, and an old player told my father that we came to play games, not for the prize money, but just to prove the sport. It can exist." Qiao Bing said.
The idea of setting up a 5 million championship bonus, he already had a few years ago, and finally chose to put it into practice this year.
Tang Chunxiao in a Chinese billiards game.
Image source: 2022 Joe Cup Chinese Pool Masters Organizing Committee
"We have never considered the return of the event. Although the revenue from event investment increases every year, our investment is far greater than the revenue. This industry needs someone to take the lead in investing. Of course, the industry has given us a lot, which makes us more willing to persist. ."
Qiao Bing hopes to learn from the experience of mature events such as basketball and tennis, and attract more people to participate in the sport of Chinese billiards with high prize money, so as to drive the development of the event, produce star players, win high attention, and then improve the entire industrial chain of Chinese billiards events. .
At the same time, when the sports industry is affected by the epidemic and the overall situation is relatively depressed, high bonuses can be used to achieve the effect of "outstanding".
Chu Bingjie.
Image source: 2022 Joe Cup Chinese Pool Masters Organizing Committee
Qiao Bing introduced that the prize money of some other events is also rising.
"Not only Qiao's investment of more than 20 million, maybe 5 million here, 10 million there, and the industry's bonus pool is 40 to 50 million. This number can be said in many industries."
Qiao Bing hopes that the high prize money can reverse some people's stereotype that Chinese billiards are "unpopular".
He laughed and said: "If you play a game of golf with a championship bonus of 5,000 yuan, it is no different from hoeing the earth, right?" (End)