With the exception of two events played at the
Celtic Manor Resort in
Newport, Wales (the
Welsh Open and the
Tour Championship) and the
World Championship at the
Crucible Theatre in
Sheffield; all snooker tournaments were played at the
Marshall Arena in
Milton Keynes. The venue was used to cooperate with restrictions caused by the
COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom. Towards the end of October, World Snooker Tour had announced that the
UK Championship would have the first round played at the same arena, but all televised stages would then be played at the
York Barbican: on 4 November, days after the
UK Government announced a lockdown for all of England, this was then revised to include the entire tournament. Despite space being allocated for back-to-back events in China during March, WST later confirmed on 3 December 2020 that all China-based tournaments were cancelled, due to continuing travel restrictions, making it the first season in more than a decade where no tournaments would be staged in Asia. In its place, a new
WST Pro Series was added, taking place between January and March 2021. On 4 January 2021, the week prior to the event, WST announced that the Masters would be moved to the Marshall Arena, as a result of logistical challenges associated with
Alexandra Palace having no on-site facilities and lengthy travel requirements from a hotel, preventing a secure 'bubble' from being formed to host the event. On 26 January 2021, World Snooker Tour announced that the
Welsh Open would become the first event that season to be played outside the Marshall Arena, at the
Celtic Manor Resort in
Newport. This was made possible due to a Covid-bubble being able to be created with similar on-site accommodation facilities, meaning players were able to stay within the bubble while playing in the event. Later in the season, World Snooker confirmed that the
2021 Tour Championship event would be played at Celtic Manor as the final event of the season prior to the
World Championship at the
Crucible Theatre. On 13 March 2021, World Snooker announced that the World Snooker Championship would welcome a limited number of fans, as part of an Events Research Programme run by the government. The programme intends to test a variety of settings to generate evidence on how fans may be safely welcomed into sporting events in future, with the Crucible Theatre providing evidence of a "theatre setting". On 20 April 2021, towards the start of the World Championship, it was announced that
Barry Hearn would step down as Chairman of the World Snooker Tour and as President of Matchroom Sport. Steve Dawson will replace Hearn as the Chairman of the World Snooker Tour after the conclusion of the season, although Hearn will remain in an advisory position on tour. == Players ==