Unmatched

With 46 years of experience, Riches (left) and Tokley have helped shape Matchroom's relationship with pool. (Photo by JP Parmentier)

It's not difficult to understand why every player on the planet would want Matchroom to simply take over pool. Unfortunately for players and fans, that's not going to happen. Pool represents a small part of a much larger portfolio of sports Matchroom produces and promotes. The company also promotes fishing, bowls, poker, darts, snooker, bowling, boxing and golf. Matchroom books 435 events a year and annually produces more than 1,000 hours of televised sports programming. The company is one of the largest producers of televised sports and sells its packaged programming around the world.

"Pool is small, but it's an important part of Matchroom's programming," Riches says. "If doing televised pool were a license to print money, then everyone would be doing it. Well, you probably noticed that hardly anyone does it."

"Pool's not a huge percentage of our business," says Sharon Tokley, who for 30 years has served as Matchroom's events director. "But it's very important to Matchroom. We are very passionate about pool."

Passion is a good description for the intangible that Hearn brings to every event he gets behind. Over the past 30 years, Hearn has built a unique reputation for picking up wayward sports that have been struggling for an identity and profitability, and turning them into money-making spectacles. Hearn has recently taken over World Snooker after years of decline.

"I think [Hearn] can just see something," says Tokley, "especially if it's not promoted properly and he can see someone is ruining a game, like snooker. Snooker was ruined. And now he's gotten a hold of it by the scruff of the neck and he's bringing it into the next century and hopefully making it more attractive for the fans and the broadcasters.

"That's what he does. That's what gets him up in the morning. That's what makes him tick."

While undoubtedly a shrewd businessman, Hearn is adept at injecting fun into his events. He only promotes sports he himself likes. The former accountant, who got his start in sports by managing snooker players in the 1970s, says he took to pool some three decades ago while on business trips to the U.S. "I enjoyed playing the game myself when I would go there," he says. "Pool seemed to me a game that lent itself to more raucous behavior. Snooker was more like a cathedral atmosphere."

That fit perfectly with Hearn's fun-loving and impulsive personality. Hearn also believes in staying it for the long haul, even if it means having to pour his own money into an event the first few years. "We try to build a business and build brands in the sport," Riches says. "You don't do that with one-hit wonders."

"For many years, a lot of our events haven't made a lot of money or they've just broken even," says Tokley, "but Barry is quite amazing. If he believes in something, he'll just stick with it because he'll know it is right and one day it will work." He then combines that passion and commitment with the promoter's eye for what his customers want.

"People buy a ticket because they are excited to see quality sport," Hearn says. "It has to be competitive sport. But the fans also want to be entertained. You have to have a reason to want to go. You have to give the fans value for money. Young people want to be entertained by top-level sport that's filled with characters."

Perhaps the most important component in the Matchroom formula is television. All of Matchroom's events are made for TV. Hearn has forged a strong relationship with Britain's Sky Sports, whose cutting-edge production values enhance Matchroom events.

With a multitude of sports and accompanying business matters to attend to, including owning the Leyent Orient football team in East London, Hearn doesn't fuss over the nuts and bolts, leaving his team to implement the details.

The 47-year-old Riches especially is the face of Matchroom pool. He's been handling the details of all Matchroom's pool for the last 16 years. He deals directly with the players and the governing bodies, while also negotiating agreements with broadcasters and sponsors worldwide. His insights into the sport are essential reading for anyone wanting to know the state of the game.

"Luke shares the passion," Hearn says. "He loves pool, and he's one of the reasons why it's so successful. I'd be lost without him."

Perhaps most importantly, Riches holds a genuine affinity for the hardy souls who play the sport for a living.

"What I admire most about professional pool players," Riches says, "is that they are plying their trade in probably the hardest game there is. Being a full-time professional pool player is not like being a PGA golf professional, believe me. ... You're traveling around the world earning a living doing this, and it's a dog-eat-dog world."

It is why Riches is proud of Matchroom's stellar record over the years. The company has paid out over $7 million in prize money in pool, and always on time. That's not exactly something that has been the standard throughout the years in the sport, especially lately.

"We have decent prize funds for the industry," Riches says. "And we pay people straight away. In the last five or six years in pool, that's been a massive problem. For some reason it's almost acceptable in the sport. It's unbelievable that it's acceptable that certain promoters don't pay players on the nail. And people say, 'Yeah, well, it's pool and that's what it's like.' That kind of disgusts me to a degree because it's completely wrong. The governing body of the sport (the World Pool-Billiard Association) will sanction an event where people don't even get paid."

Riches was there at the beginning of Hearn's fascination with American pool, when there were no poolhalls or pool players in the U.K. The company took its first leap in 1993 with an event entitled, "The European Pool Masters."

The next year, Hearn created the Mosconi Cup, basing the format on golf's Ryder Cup. Hearn knew that in order to grab the interest of as wide an audience as possible, he needed to present a basic story line that anyone could understand.

"The key to the Mosconi is that it appeals to pool fans and non-pool fans alike," Hearn says. "The Mosconi Cup is a totally unique atmosphere. What pleases me is how much each team wants to win. The money is secondary to the players."

The company continued to explore new and innovative ways to produce profitable pool events. It came up with the 16-player World Pool Masters, then the six-man World Pool League. Like the Mosconi, these were made-for-TV tournaments.

"You've got to understand that pool may not be the most exciting televised sport," says Riches. "But it's not always like that. You're taking what is a niche sport and trying to market it to the mainstream. In order to do that, you've got to adapt it accordingly. If you did 10-ball races to 15, no one would watch it. Believe me, you wouldn't get an audience for it."

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