World Champion and world No 1, Mark Williams, seven-times former world champion and world No 3, Stephen Hendry MBE and world No 4, Ronnie O'Sullivan, are amongst a 40-strong group of players who have pledged their support for a new world tour.
And, in a first for the sport, none of the TSN World Tour events will be sponsored by tobacco companies.
George Smith, chief executive of TSN, sees the move as fundamental to the sport's long-term survival.
"While tobacco companies have been strong and valued sponsors of snooker in the past, it is clear that public perceptions have changed radically, and it is simply no longer appropriate for this family sport to be associated with the industry,? Mr Smith said.
?Indeed, snooker's almost total reliance on support from the tobacco companies is a key factor in its recent decline, and it seems certain that continued reliance on the industry will mean a bleak future for the sport."
Events are planned at a range of locations in Europe and Asia, including Dubai, Thailand, Malta and China, and prize money is set to increase by 40 percent.
TSN's strategies for developing world snooker found firm backing earlier this year with venture capitalist Warburg Pincus, which has already committed a #10 million investment to the project.
Many of snooker?s top stars look set to join a breakaway tour which threatens to split the sport and end the domination of the game by its governing body, the WSA, following plans announced by The Sportsmasters Network (TSN).
