Luke Humphries, Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen deliver verdict on radical World Championship format change
Darts’ leading players Luke Humphries, Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen have given their verdict on the planned World Championship changes. A whole host of tungsten talent will flock to north London to jostle for the £500,000 prize money at the 2025 instalments of the hallmark World Championships next month. The World Championship will undergo a big overhaul in 2025/26 The tournament is growing to seismic levels year-on-year, with record viewing figures seeing last year’s incredible final play out between Littler and Humphries. Since the rise of teenage sensation Littler, who reached the final at the age of 16 in his debut tournament, the sport is reaching unprecedented new eyes globally. The current Ally Pally format will see 2,500 fans flock in per session, with the tickets being snapped up in record time. Naturally it has led to groups of calls for the event to be expanded, and moved away from Ally Pally 16 years on from when it first took over from Circus Tavern and hosted the event in 2008. Matchroom Sport kingpin Barry Hearn, former chairman of the PDC, recently confirmed the tournament will have its biggest overhaul yet, with the pool of talent to increase from 96 to 128 players from next year. He has even hinted at a venue switch on the back of that with Saudi Arabia even mooted as a distant option, but it will immediately create more tickets as a stop-gap solution to the issue. At the PDC World Championship media day, talkSPORT.com had a chance to put the changes to three of the leading names on tour to get their big verdict. Luke Humphries Humphries told talkSPORT.com: “Darts fans can’t buy tickets now, it’s so elite and we have to adapt to that. “Obviously we need more sessions, more darts, and more tickets for the fans to get hold of. “Maybe one day they may even have to move it to a bigger venue. That’s the way it is going. “But that’s good for the sport because the bigger crowds, better atmosphere, people watching it on the TV and they go ‘wow’. “Everything that is happening it is good. The likes of me and Luke Littler we are at the helm at the moment. “But we are all trying to get there and make it as anticipated as possible, and it’s certainly getting there.” Luke Littler “It wouldn’t really affect me too much directly,” the teenager said. “But it would certainly be better for the sport if the numbers do go up next year. “More players should mean more prize money really and that can only be a good thing.” Michael Van Gerwen Van Gerwen agreed with his rivals. “It’s great, more people and more players at this tournament. “The bigger the tournament is getting, the bigger that darts is getting and I think everything is very positive right now. “It’s brilliant that the PDC are even talking about it to be honest. “But I’m looking forward to it all, the important thing for me is to perform regardless of the number of players.” What’s next? Darts as a whole is becoming a mainstream sport, and an extremely marketable and profitable opportunity for the players. Prize money will likely continue to rise year-on-year with a total of £2.5 million up for grabs across all of the awards this year. Hearn sees the tournament just continuing to captivate fans as a highlight on the sporting calendar, more so than it has become already. In terms of his outlook on the future, he told talkSPORT: “For the world championship this year, 90,000 tickets sold out in 15 minutes. “I asked my people in head office, ‘tell me, how many could I have sold? “They said, somewhere over 300,000. Now that puts a different emphasis on it. “Same as when we moved from the Circus Tavern all those years ago, now I’m looking at Alexandra Palace. “And I’m saying, well, it only holds 3,500. I have to grow all the time. If you ever get complacent you go backwards. “So, next year we will go from 96 to 128 players. We will add four more days, which is eight sessions, which is another 25,000 tickets. “Sooner or later, I should be looking and saying: ‘Do you know, like with snooker, I need a bigger venue.’
Darts’ leading players Luke Humphries, Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen have given their verdict on the planned World Championship changes.
A whole host of tungsten talent will flock to north London to jostle for the £500,000 prize money at the 2025 instalments of the hallmark World Championships next month.
The tournament is growing to seismic levels year-on-year, with record viewing figures seeing last year’s incredible final play out between Littler and Humphries.
Since the rise of teenage sensation Littler, who reached the final at the age of 16 in his debut tournament, the sport is reaching unprecedented new eyes globally.
The current Ally Pally format will see 2,500 fans flock in per session, with the tickets being snapped up in record time.
Naturally it has led to groups of calls for the event to be expanded, and moved away from Ally Pally 16 years on from when it first took over from Circus Tavern and hosted the event in 2008.
Matchroom Sport kingpin Barry Hearn, former chairman of the PDC, recently confirmed the tournament will have its biggest overhaul yet, with the pool of talent to increase from 96 to 128 players from next year.
He has even hinted at a venue switch on the back of that with Saudi Arabia even mooted as a distant option, but it will immediately create more tickets as a stop-gap solution to the issue.
At the PDC World Championship media day, talkSPORT.com had a chance to put the changes to three of the leading names on tour to get their big verdict.
Luke Humphries
Humphries told talkSPORT.com: “Darts fans can’t buy tickets now, it’s so elite and we have to adapt to that.
“Obviously we need more sessions, more darts, and more tickets for the fans to get hold of.
“Maybe one day they may even have to move it to a bigger venue. That’s the way it is going.
“But that’s good for the sport because the bigger crowds, better atmosphere, people watching it on the TV and they go ‘wow’.
“Everything that is happening it is good. The likes of me and Luke Littler we are at the helm at the moment.
“But we are all trying to get there and make it as anticipated as possible, and it’s certainly getting there.”
Luke Littler
“It wouldn’t really affect me too much directly,” the teenager said.
“But it would certainly be better for the sport if the numbers do go up next year.
“More players should mean more prize money really and that can only be a good thing.”
Michael Van Gerwen
Van Gerwen agreed with his rivals. “It’s great, more people and more players at this tournament.
“The bigger the tournament is getting, the bigger that darts is getting and I think everything is very positive right now.
“It’s brilliant that the PDC are even talking about it to be honest.
“But I’m looking forward to it all, the important thing for me is to perform regardless of the number of players.”
What’s next?
Darts as a whole is becoming a mainstream sport, and an extremely marketable and profitable opportunity for the players.
Prize money will likely continue to rise year-on-year with a total of £2.5 million up for grabs across all of the awards this year.
Hearn sees the tournament just continuing to captivate fans as a highlight on the sporting calendar, more so than it has become already.
In terms of his outlook on the future, he told talkSPORT: “For the world championship this year, 90,000 tickets sold out in 15 minutes.
“I asked my people in head office, ‘tell me, how many could I have sold?
“They said, somewhere over 300,000. Now that puts a different emphasis on it.
“Same as when we moved from the Circus Tavern all those years ago, now I’m looking at Alexandra Palace.
“And I’m saying, well, it only holds 3,500. I have to grow all the time. If you ever get complacent you go backwards.
“So, next year we will go from 96 to 128 players. We will add four more days, which is eight sessions, which is another 25,000 tickets.
“Sooner or later, I should be looking and saying: ‘Do you know, like with snooker, I need a bigger venue.’
