THE Professional Darts Corporation are to withdraw their support for the International Darts League and World Darts Trophy tournaments from 2008 onwards. The two Dutch-based events have involved PDC players for the past two years and seen Raymond van Barneveld and Phil Taylor pick up tournament wins in the IDL and WDT respectively.
However, the PDC are to press ahead with their plans to create their own tournaments in Holland over the coming years to benefit all PDC players and PDPA members.
"We have stated our ambition for some time to expand the PDC on the European continent and, in particular, in Holland," said PDC Chairman Barry Hearn.
"We feel that the IDL and WDT have become tired events and the crowd levels and television audiences do not reflect what we want for our elite players.
"Therefore, we will now look to create new, vibrant tournaments and with the backing of our broadcasting partner in Holland, SBS6, create new opportunities for the best players in the sport, as well as chances for fans to see the biggest names in darts in action either live or on live television."
Hearn added: “We also plan to invest in the future of darts in Holland and around the world and creating our own new tournaments is a step to enable us to do that.”
The PDC’s have become the biggest investor in the future of darts through its financial support of events in Germany , America, Australia and South Africa in recent years, and PDC prize money for 2008 looks set to exceed ?5 million.
The PDC saw the five-event North American Circuit develop successfully in 2007, and the sport is growing at an impressive rate in Australia and South Africa – where the entries for the Emperors Palace PDC SA Open last weekend were double the number from last year.
The PDC will stage it’s first major televised competition in Germany later this year, the German Darts Championship, which will be shown on DSF television and follows the two Players Championship tournaments and the GDC’s own circuit of events.
At least 17 countries will be represented later this year in the televised stages of the 2008 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship, with prize money set at £605,000 in 2007/2008, £735,000 in 2008/2009 and £1 million in 2009/2010.
