Matchroom Sport Chairman Barry Hearn has been detailing some of the rigorous safety measures which have been put in place at Stadium MK, to ensure next week’s Matchroom.Live Championship League Snooker event is Covid-secure.
From Monday, Marshall Arena at Stadium MK will be play host to 64 of the world’s best snooker players, who will compete over 11 days in a behind-closed-doors tournament - one of the first live sporting events to take place since the Coronavirus lockdown began.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Hearn explained why Stadium MK was the ideal venue and how the safety measures will be implemented.
“We started on this probably six or seven weeks ago,” Hearn told talkSPORT. “We started getting a system in place aimed at making sure the players, my staff, the contractors, the TV guys, everybody involved was going to be safe.
“Getting everyone’s mind at rest was the biggest challenge, and we’ve come up with, without a doubt in my view, the most safe environment that you could possibly create, and I will go further and say the safest environment in sport, per say, across the world.
“We’re at the [Marshall Arena] which has a hotel on site, we have exclusive use of the hotel, we have exclusive use of the venue.
“As you arrive, you are taken straight into isolation and tested. You’re then transferred from there to your hotel room, which has been sanitised and empty for 72 hours to make sure there are no germs.
“You are locked in your room and are not allowed out until the following day when your test results come in. If you’re negative then you’re allowed in the event, if you’re positive, you’re slung out and you’re not allowed back.
“Every single person in the place, from the kitchen staff to the cleaners, have been tested and also are in isolation for the entire 11 days of the event. Every single person in that building has been proven to be negative and they’re isolated and no one is allowed to leave the building for any reason whatsoever. It’s a completely secure bubble.
“We think we’ve gone as far as humanly possible, certainly further than any other sport.”