Super6 the trick?

In an attempt to broaden the global appeal of snooker, governing body World Snooker is planning to introduce a new Super6 tournament in which there will only be six red balls (in addition to the normal colours) and shorter games, thus making snooker a shorter, faster game. While changes to competition structure in sport are essential if the 'core product' (i.e. the uncertainty of outcome) is to retain its appeal, the growing emphasis for sports to be 'short and sharp' raises some interesting issues: is this the way sport is going to be from now on? Are we so time impoverished that many of us are unable watch sport for any length of time? Is sport effectively being dumbed down through the use of short-format sports? May be it is simply about money, with all sports keen to respond to some of the increasingly commercial influences evident across the sporting landscape? And what are we supposed to think about market-led sport, particularly when many of us engage in sports that have developed socio-culturally? Or were sports in their previous incarnations unnecessarily long and over-burdening? Are market signals a more effective way of planning and organising sport? Perhaps the process of change implied in moves towards short-format sports indicates that sport is becoming more outwardly focused and thinking more about fans and customers? Could it actually be that we are witnessing the splintering or segmentation of sport where 'old school' and 'new school' exist side-by-side, but appeal to different people for different reasons?