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The multi-award winning Scotch Whisky brand have signed a three-year contract to join forces with the fastest growing event in UK sport, which starts its 2008 season in Whyte & Mackay’s home city of Glasgow on January 31.

The Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts will feature the eight best darts players in the world, and boasts a £340,000 prize fund, with £100,000 to the winner – the joint highest prize in darts.

The confirmed players so far are the top six money earners from the PDC’s Order of Merit, with two wildcards to be announced following the conclusion of the World Championship on January 1.

Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor has won all three previous Premier League Darts, but faces his toughest defence yet as the sport’s other elite players battle it out to steal his title.

Dutchman Raymond van Barneveld, the current World Champion, will be Taylor’s closest challenger, with rising star James Wade, winner of the World Matchplay and World Grand Prix in 2007, also highly fancied.

Terry Jenkins, who has reached five televised finals in the last two years, including the 2007 Premier League Darts, has also retained his place, as have the 2003 Las Vegas Desert Classic champion Peter Manley and another up-and-coming player, Stoke’s Adrian Lewis, who reached his first televised final in May 2006 at the World Series of Darts.

The Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts will run for 14 consecutive Thursday evenings across the UK, from Aberdeen in the north to Plymouth in the south, with stop-offs in major cities including Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and Belfast, as well as, for the first time, Wembley Arena in London.

Players will play each other twice in the group stage, with the top four progressing to the play-offs, to be held in Cardiff on May 26.

Sky Sports will televise every dart live, in both Standard and High Definition, and millions of viewers around the world will also tune in, both live and delayed, in darts hotbeds like Holland and Germany, and emerging nations such as America, Australia and other countries across Europe, the Far East and Africa.

Over 60,000 tickets were put on sale on October 15, with 55 percent snapped up in the first 24 hours, making it one of the hottest tickets in sport. All remaining tickets are expected to go well in advance of the opening night in Glasgow, which sold out its near-4,000 capacity within three days.

The PDC’s Chairman Barry Hearn said: “We are delighted to welcome Whyte & Mackay in to the world of professional darts and are as excited as they are about their affiliation with the Premier League Darts.

“It’s a massive event, growing phenomenally year-on-year and the reaction we get wherever we take it is exceptional – people can’t wait to get their hands on tickets and watch the stars of darts in action.

“It’s what Thursday nights were made for!”

Nick Gaskin, Whyte & Mackay’s UK Marketing Director added: “We are extremely proud to be the headline sponsor of the Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts and excited to be associated with such a versatile sport.

“Much like our whisky, the players are full of character and as the audiences are full of fun and sociable people, this year’s League is shaping up to be an entertainment extravaganza!

“Since the formation of the League in 2005 the audiences have more than trebled and with the continued efforts of the PDC and the exciting initiatives we have planned, I am sure this growth will continue.”