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 Well, here we are in the spring of 2004 and all is
well with the world of Professional Darts. There are more tournaments for more prize money than ever before, more television hours broadcast to
more countries than ever before. More 180’s and scores over 100 in TV events than ever before and more sponsors involved than, well, ever before.
Great – yes it is. Are we happy? (That’s the royal ‘we’ as in me). Well, no, actually!
Sound sort of ungrateful?
I mean, jeez, seems like it’s what I’ve worked for
like all my life, although I guess it’s only the last ten years since we all (that’s ‘we’ as in all the pro players) got the hell out of ‘Tombstone’ and set
up the PDC. Sure seems like a lifetime, though. The Pro game was one sick puppy back in 1993, and that’s the truth. Way better now.
If anybody had said to me back then, that in 2004, we’d have all this stuff
together, four major TV events in England, and unbelievably, one in America, over 200 broadcast hours annually, over $1.5 million in prize money annually,
I’d have told them not to dream and to be realistic. Probably would have been more basic in my language, truth to tell, but this is a family magazine.
Tell you what, if I was the BDO or ADO or yes, the dear old WDF, would I
look back over the last 10 years with pride, like I do from a PDC perspective? Noooooooo! Would I be able to look back and have trouble counting what I’d
achieved for the sheer number, like I do from the PDC point of view? Yeeeeeesssss, I would. Well, actually, as rose tinted glasses are standard
issue for them, the previous answers may well be reversed, but that’s another story and discussion for another time.
So, I’m blue! Why?
Well, I’m a smidgeon depressed about the whole Dart scene. Well, not my
scene, the pro scene directly, but the scene. How shall I put it? Yes, that’s
once removed from me, more indirect really. See, I’m confused which is not
like me at all. It’s like I can see a far distant storm approaching, see thunder
clouds way in the distance. Although, right here right now, I’m sitting in brilliant, warm sunshine on a wonderful wave swept beach. I look up and
accept that I better make plans to run for cover before I get real wet, but just don’t want to move until the last moment, and maybe the storm will pass
harmlessly by anyway. C’mon, you’ve been there! Work with me on this.
The current Pro Tour is the beach, see, and it’s warm, cozy and we’ve all
worked real hard to make it that way and it’s gonna get way better too. Who
feels like moving, running for cover? Well, of course, nobody. Everyone’s got the shades on, enjoying life and not taking too much attention of what’s on
the horizon. Well, I always was a fidget on the beach, always itching to move on and always ‘heads up’. That way you get to see the storm clouds
early. A lot of times they do pass by, but sometimes they don’t, So, here’s hoping it’s the former.
My unease is the future of the Pro Game, not in its prosperity because I think
that will improve year on year very nicely. It’s more from a player perspective and that’s the particular storm I see ‘a’ brewing.
Oh, I do not see dissention from players, not one bit. The lot of the current
players is getting better. Simple, there’s more prize money around than ever before and rising, so happy bunnies abound. What’s to be unhappy about?
No, it’s more where are tomorrow’s Pro players coming from? And, that’s not a direct PDC problem, yet!
Our remit has always been pretty simple. Put basically, get more TV, get
more sponsorship, and they will come (players). Remit fulfilled. Yet, the
sport as a whole is huge in terms of players. Sixty million was the last estimate worldwide, who play on a regular basis, say once a week. How
many of those want to hit the pro tour? Don’t bother with the percentage, it’s too small. Most have no desire to hit the Pro scene and that’s just fine.
Darts is an enjoyable social past time for the vast majority. It’s played in
convivial surroundings by friends past, present and future. Anyone can play,
young, old, dumb and intellectual, rich and poor, good, bad or indifferent. It’s
the big leveller. But what does the player who fancies his chances do? Where does the player, who wants to be the next Phil Taylor look for help or
even simple good advice? That’s my worry, people.
Most of you will say Glen Remick’s ADA, the dear old ADO, and yes, the
NDA, Medalist, Arachnid and the good brothers of the soft tip world, and you’d be right up to a point. Those good folk, and I’m not being patronizing
here though it may seem like it, run very efficient operations that know who
and where their markets lay. It is not nurturing future professional players! Their’s is a numbers game. The more who play, the better it gets.
Encourage everyone, no limits. They are not in the business of panning for gold in terms of ‘find me the next John Part’.
The best way I can describe it is, for a player, the ladder to the top has got
some rungs missing in the middle. It’s great down low, you can move up and
down with ease as the whim takes you. No big sweat, just nice and relaxed. However, look up to the Pro rungs, where more and more guys are pulling
$100,000 plus in earnings and just for some, the magnetic pull is there. The
thought that they must test themselves at the ultimate level is irresistible. Yet how? Someone has done took some of the rungs away!
In the United Kingdom, it is less of a problem. The PDC is closer to the
amateur player. We run the UK Open, which any player can enter on a regular basis and ranked tournaments abound in a tight geographical area,
way smaller than Texas! Nothing is more than a five-hour drive away. Here in America, you’ve got a problem.
One – geography. Funding to hit any tournament worthy of the cost has
almost become a ‘no brainer’. Two – prize funds have headed south for ten years or more, probably since the demise of the Lucky Lights Series. Three
– costs have headed north! Local events, that five-hour drive again, aren’t sufficient to keep the very good player on his/her game. They’re fine for the
social player, fine for the vast majority – the lower rung players (no offence).
What you all need is a mid-range run of tournaments. No, check that, what
those very skilful players AND the pro game needs is those mid-range, ‘missing rung’ tournaments. If they don’t happen sometime soon, then
tomorrow’s Taylor or specifically John Part is going to be still born and that’s the storm that’s ‘a’ brewing.
You may believe that I think it’s great that the top sixteen players in the world
, with the exception of Mr. Part, are British. I don’t! All it proves is that
British players have more opportunity to be good. Playing well and improving
your game means playing better players regularly. Look at John Part. He
must be Air Canada’s most frequent flyer. As he has played more on the British Tour, the better he has become. If he’d elected to stay home in
Canada, I don’t think he’d ever have become World Champion again.
So, the big question, the major ‘ask’ is, who is going to build these ‘missing
rung’ events across the States? The PDC? Perhaps, but it’s based in the UK and probably looks to Europe for its next ‘push’. An American promoter(s
)? Has to be, providing there is the desire from you, the player. I personally think there is a wealth of untapped serious talent in America. Talent that can
, given the opportunity, step up to the plate and be the best in the world. You rule in most other sports. An American Pro Series is what’s needed where
prize money levels are such that, given a level of success, (not everyone can win), the cost of getting to the Event is covered (and some!). That takes
Professional Promoters who can stir up the funding, the TV, the media and so on.
It also takes a clear run. The PDC, as is well documented, spent fortunes on
lawyers just to be able to trade in the first place; such was the animosity from the amateur game. That’s what I mean about the clear run. Fair
competition is expected, that’s business. Thankfully, you have wonderful antitrust laws here, so I would hope no one would be so foolish as to
contemplate pulling their lawyer from the holster, as happened in England.
The support of US based darts manufacturers and distributors would be nice.
I’ll leave that one hanging!
Now don’t all look around hoping I’m talking to the guy next to you about
being the Pro promoter. They already know who they are and are working on
it. Phew, that’s a relief, eh. Don’t mean it’s going to happen for sure, just
means folk like me have also seen the storm clouds and are doing something
about it. Silver linings anybody? (Ah, foreplay, nothing like it, watch this space!)
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