2 weeks Ago By Josh Salisbury
The PDC World Darts Championships could leave its iconic Alexandra Palace venue due to increased demand. The major sporting competition has been held in the north London venue for 17 years, but it could now move to increase capacity. The potential plans, starting from the 2025-26 edition, were revealed by veteran promoter and Matchroom president Barry Hearn.
He said he was open to the idea after selling out 90,000 WDC tickets in just 15 minutes this year. There will also be an increase in competitors for the 16-day event, with a total of 96 - up from 72 in December 2018. Another 32 will also compete for darts’ most prestigious trophy next year, with 128 attempting to be declared world champion.
The changes mean more sessions will be played and increased demand for tickets. He told Jeff Stelling's talkSPORT breakfast show: “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.’” Last year's championships saw then 16-year-old Luke Littler storm his way into the grand final, securing a spot as one of the sport's most acclaimed figures.
His performance has been credited with sparking a surge in popularity for darts, particularly among younger audiences . The possible move comes after Hearn warned Sheffield City Council it may no longer host the World Snooker Championship in the city unless its venue, the Crucible, is replaced with a bigger capacity venue. It is not yet clear where the PDC World Darts Championships could move to, if the proposal goes ahead, and whether this would also be in London.
The Standard has contacted Matchroom for further information..
