NewsBeat
‘That is the biggest criticism’
DARTS CHIEF Matt Porter has hinted that the PDC will change the Premier League Darts format in the future.
The tournament kicked off on Thursday with Michael van Gerwen winning the opening night in Newcastle.
The format of the Premier League Darts sees the eight players take each other on in a weekly knockout competition.
Each player faces each other at least once in the opening round, before it is then repeated in Weeks 9 to 15.
The format has faced criticism from fans who claim to be bored with repeated match-ups in the later stages of each night.
Porter has admitted that the format will change at some point, but presently, there is still enough interest as it is.
He told the Metro: “We will change it at some point, but at the moment you can only look at the numbers that are in front of you.
“The live crowd and the TV audience, the numbers are telling us that the format is working.
“If people stop buying tickets or start changing the channel then it wouldn’t be working, but every metric is improving.
Porter did then reaffirmed that the format will be changed in the future.
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He added: “It’s not a format that will keep forever because we never keep any format forever in the Premier League.
“The format must have changed half a dozen times in the 20 years of the event.
“But at the moment, it’s still the right format, we believe, for what we’ve got.”
Porter is aware of the criticism the current format is facing and also admitted that sometimes fans will not get what they want at the oche.
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He said: “I would accept that that is the biggest criticism of it. There is a lot of repetition.
“But you’re looking at it through the eyes of somebody who’s perhaps watching it on TV every week.
“If you’re in Nottingham, you want to see [Luke] Littler vs [Luke] Humphries.
“If you’re in Aberdeen, you might want to see the same, and if you’re in Brighton, you might want to see the same.
“It’s very difficult to turn around to people and say, ‘oh, sorry, you can’t see the biggest matchup in your city.’”