People
Barry Hearn OBE Steps Aside As Eddie Hearn Becomes Matchroom Sport Group Chairman
Eddie Hearn will become Chairman of the Matchroom Sport Group of Companies as Barry Hearn OBE steps aside after almost 40 years to become President of the Group in an advisory role, dealing primarily with event strategy and global development.
E
ddie will become Chairman of the Group of Companies and Chairman of Matchroom Sport, Professional Darts Corporation, Matchroom Boxing, Matchroom Boxing USA, Matchroom Media and the PGA EuroPro Tour. Also, in the group, Steve Dawson will take over from Barry as Chairman of World Snooker after this year’s World
Barry Hearn OBE
48 | Billiards Buzz • May 2021
Snooker Championship. Matthew Porter will become Chairman of Matchroom Multi Sport and Katie Hearn CEO of Matchroom Media. Hearn founded the sports promotions company back in 1982, enjoying huge success with Snooker before moving into Boxing, Darts, Pool and Tenpin Bowling amongst more than a dozen different sports.
Through the 1990s Hearn turned several niche sports into major TV attractions with a succession of innovative ideas. His acquisition of a majority shareholding in the PDC in 2001 and World Snooker in 2010 saw him appointed Chairman as both companies went from strength to strength. Matchroom supplies a wide range of sports programming to broadcast-
