Barry Hearn reveals four major changes that would transform World Darts Championship

BARRY HEARN has revealed his vision for the future of the World Darts Championship  — a bigger field, a bumper pay cheque and maybe moving away from Ally Pally.

Britain’s leading sports promoter sees one of his top achievements as the growth of darts since he “smelt the money” and then became PDC chairman in 2001.

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Barry Hearn is making major changes to darts[/caption]

Hearn, 76, sees complacency in business as the enemy and wants the sport to get bigger and bigger.

The oche action has attracted more viewers than ever this year — boosted by the 2023 world final’s Greatest Leg of Darts, then the Luke Littler effect.

Now Hearn has told SunSport:

• The event will increase next year from 96 to 128 players.
• Sky Sports’ TV deal is up for renewal and he could switch to a platform like Discovery+ or DAZN.
• Other London venues are an option.
• The winner’s prize will soon go up from £500,000 to £1million.

A record audience of 4.8million people watched the 2024 world final as Luke Humphries beat  Littler 7-4, and Hearn says TV figures have been significantly high throughout the year.

Sky Sports show five majors — including the Worlds and Premier League — while the other top events are covered by ITV4.

Hearn said: “Darts, as a business, is far bigger than my boxing business, that includes Saudi money.

“I’m so happy with the demand for tickets but also frightened by it because if you constantly don’t deliver, eventually the public go, ‘Oh f*** this, I cannot get a ticket’. We’re at that stage now.

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“I’ve got to massively increase the prize money. Would I make it £1million to the winner? I’d like to do it next year, depending on how the TV negotiations work.

“The problem is our success as darts, globally, is exploding. We’ve countries saying, ‘Can we have one or two spots in the Worlds?’

“We’re talking to Sky. We’ll go to market if we don’t do a deal in January after the Worlds. Obviously, Sky wants subscribers, and they want to keep their subscribers.

“The audiences this year have pretty much doubled and maintained on the back of Luke Littler.

“We’re under pressure to increase prize money. It started at £300,000 for the year. Now it’s up to £20m.

“It’s still light years behind golf yet we do far bigger numbers around the world. Is it impossible to get it to £20-40m in the next three to four years? I don’t think so.”

Increasing the Worlds field to 128  would mean eight more sessions and four extra days in what is already a  16-day event.

Hearn favours a Wimbledon-style flat draw with everyone appearing in the first round rather than seeds coming in at a later stage and is not concerned about the overall quality of the overseas contingent.

He said: “People have upped the ante and taken it seriously. They have had a few years of realising their shortfalls and don’t want to embarrass themselves.

“The standard of the qualifying rounds for the past few  years has been much higher than ever before.”

Ally Pally staged the Worlds for the first time in 2008 when it moved from the smoke-filled Circus Tavern, which doubles up as a strip joint.

Sessions in the 3,300-capacity hall sell out every Christmas but Hearn wants more through the door.

He said: “I probably wouldn’t take it out of London but I’d be looking at something like Olympia or the ExCeL.

“We go to a hall and put in a seating configuration. It is a question of how much you spend.

“The beauty of darts is I have 3,000 seats for the punters and about 500 hospitality and guests.

“At Ally Pally, I’ve 3,000 for 28 sessions. I can get 7,000 or 8,000 comfortably at ExCeL or Olympia but it’s a more expensive venue.”

The Barry Hearn Show is available on all podcast platforms – with exclusive video episodes on Spotify.