Ronnie O'Sullivan believes that one way to make snooker is a viable career for lower-ranked players is to ensure that those eliminated in the first round of tournaments are paid expenses.
On Tuesday evening at the Scottish Open, the world number three defeated Michael Georgiou 4-0 to reach the last 32.
"I’ll be honest with you, if I had a son [who wanted to be a snooker player] I would not let him play snooker, so maybe there is a good thing there isn’t the opportunity for him to play snooker," O'Sullivan told Eurosport.
"I’d rather he played golf, football, tennis. I’d rather he played curling, I’m only joking! Maybe 20-25 years ago, which I first started playing, it was a sexy sport but it has kind of fell behind to other sports, somewhat.
"If you have a child you’d want them to get into a sport like Emma Raducanu, she’s doing fantastic. You look at the golfers like Rory McIlroy and the footballers, it’s just lovely sports to be in.
"It’s just timing I suppose. Maybe in another 25-30 years snooker might be back on top but at the moment I’d be like, 'Go and get a job mate. Forget playing snooker'. That’s my honest opinion."
Ronnie O'Sullivan suggests change to snooker prize money
O'Sullivan continued: "I’m not talking about the winners [like Zhao Xintong].
"I’m talking about the guys that are ranked 60, 70 in the world that are struggling. It’s not good for them.
"If you compared the 125th golfer and what he earns and the 125th snooker player then he’d make a million dollars on the golf tour. You can afford to miss a few cuts because you can make enough money to offset the losses you might make.
"One way you could maybe remedy it is at least give the first round losers their expenses. A lot of these guys have not got the money. They come and get beat. Michael Georgiou has played me twice now. He's got pumped 4-0, 4-0. He's had to pay his own expenses. He hasn't earned a dollar, and it's actually cost him £300 - £ 400. It’s unfair, really.
"Take it off the top. Winners don’t really need that extra money, give it to the first round losers so at least it doesn’t cost them anything. Then you can call it a job."
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