THE 2024 World Snooker Championship begins in Sheffield this weekend in its familiar setting at the Crucible Theatre, but there are murmurs once again about the tournament being moved from its historic, prestigious spiritual home.

The World Snooker Championship turns 100 years old in 2027. That edition will also mark the Crucible’s 50th anniversary as host. Until 1976, it was played at various venues throughout the UK, and occasionally in Australia and South Africa.

That milestone edition three years from now also happens to be the last of the venue’s current contract with the World Championship and is one of the reasons the perennial discussion around moving the tournament is being discussed more seriously this year.

The reasons given for moving it are not unexpected given the direction in which top-level sports and high-profile sporting events are going.

And it has been no surprise to hear Saudi Arabia mooted as a possible host for future championships after the country hosted its first World Snooker Tour event, the World Masters of Snooker, earlier this season.

This is not to say other parts of the world should not get to host top-level professional sports. China is a hotbed of snooker and should get to host meaningful tournaments, as it increasingly does on the tour throughout the season.

Efforts should be made to encourage this growth in China and other parts of the world where the game is popular, but the World Championship should remain at the Crucible.

Reigning world champion Luca Brecel summed this up well when speaking to the Metro newspaper last week.

“It’s a difficult one because normally I love change,” said the Belgian.

“I love different formats, different locations, but I think the Crucible — it has to stay. I love change, new waves, but the Crucible is different. It’s special, I think it should stay. It’s magic to everyone, everyone knows about the Crucible.”

The push to move the sport from the venue is a familiar tale of the erosion of a sport’s place, setting, history and spirit in the pursuit of more money — the abandoning of things that make a sporting event special amid the chase for additional profit.

The unique qualities that attracted the TV money, the paying punters, sponsorship etc in the first place are being discarded in the hunt for yet more of that commercial income.

Some of the other arguments for moving the World Championship away from the Crucible are worth considering, though.

Moving to a bigger venue would allow more fans to attend and could potentially lower ticket prices.

The price of attending just one session at the Crucible is considerable but reasonable compared to the flagship events in some other sports.

The cheapest general ticket price for a session in the early rounds is £40, rising to a cheapest seat for the final session costing £130.

This is where the BBC coverage comes in. It allows millions to watch the tournament for no additional cost beyond the licence fee.

It maintains the sport’s relationship with everyone from diehard fans to casual TV viewers who watch the sport once a year on this great occasion in spring.

The broadcaster has covered the tournament in some form since it first moved to the Crucible in 1977.

It began with highlight packages and grew into the full coverage of every match and every frame we see today via the BBC’s TV channels and its online iPlayer.

The World Snooker Championship, the Crucible Theatre, and the BBC go hand in hand. The iconic moments from the tournament over the years are remembered as TV moments as much as sporting ones, and part of that TV magic is the setting — the Crucible itself.

It is as much a TV studio as a sporting venue. The cameras work in harmony with the players, referee and live studio audience as best they can in the confined space that adds to the atmosphere and brings the tension and suspense to the viewer.

Moving the championship from the Crucible would remove much of this unique connection it has with the audience. And moving to a bigger venue is not a practical solution for watching live snooker.

It is a sport best enjoyed at close quarters, not sat in the gods where the tension can’t be felt and the intricacies of a game where the smallest margins and finest details make all the difference cannot be seen.

For such an intimate experience, in the biggest tournament of the season and the one most valued by the players, the Crucible is the perfect theatre. It provides the greatest test for the greatest prize.

There are plenty of events throughout the snooker season that provide opportunities for change, innovation and international involvement, but the World Championship, the tournament that attracted global interest and sparked a dream for players from across the world in the first place, should remain where it is, in its home at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.