World Snooker Championships · UK public procurement notice

Single supplier - intellectual property or exclusive rights

The Authority relies upon section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023 (the "Act") and paragraph 5 to Schedule 5 of the Act in respect of a direct award justification.

World Snooker Limited ("WSL") is the exclusive commercial owner, organiser, promoter and operator of the World Snooker Tour ("WST"), which includes the World Snooker Championship (the "Championship").

WSL exclusively controls and/or administers the sporting, commercial, operational and media exploitation rights connected with the Championship. WSL maintains these rights either directly or pursuant to rights granted by and/or arrangements with the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association Limited.

WSL exclusively controls the following rights and functions relating to the Championship. WSL has the exclusive right to:

• organise, stage and promote the official Championship as part of the official WST calendar;
• sanction the Championship as an official professional ranking tournament forming part of the WST structure;
• determine and administer the sporting format, qualification structure, player participation criteria and competition rules relating to the Championship;
• contract with participating professional players and regulate player participation in the Championship;
• negotiate, grant and exploit all domestic and international media, broadcast, streaming and related rights connected with the Championship;
• negotiate, grant and exploit sponsorship, hospitality, licensing and other commercial rights connected with the Championship;
• appoint official partners, suppliers and stakeholders connected with the Event;
• determine the venues and host cities at which the Event may be staged; and
• grant host city and hosting rights relating to the Event.

The Authority has undertaken comprehensive, independent analysis on the extent to which there are / are not reasonable alternatives to the arrangement that WSL can deliver. The Authority has concluded that there are no reasonable alternatives capable of delivering the Championship (or an equivalent rights package to the Authority).

The estimated contract value includes the £45,000,000 planned investment in the Crucible that will be made in order to expand, modernise and upgrade the theatre, the venue at which the Championship will be held under the proposed Agreement. The redevelopment is expected to be funded from a combination of public grant funding and private philanthropic donations. Although the redevelopment funding is included in the estimated contract value, it is a wider capital investment serving cultural, regeneration and community objectives for Sheffield and the wider city region. It is not being undertaken solely for the benefit of WSL or solely to secure the World Snooker Championship.

The contract value is a gross figure that does not reflect any income generated for the benefit of the Council and the city region as a result of the Championship being held in Sheffield. The contract creates a route for the Council to generate significant revenues via a range of commercial initiatives which will reduce the net investment made by the Council. The contract will also generate significant wider economic benefits for the City of Sheffield and the surrounding region.