Record viewing figures for World Darts final show sport’s growth

In the aftermath of his sensational victory over Phil Taylor in the PDC World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace on Sunday, Gary Anderson announced his plans to celebrate by doing some DIY. "I'll be getting some sleep and then I'll get my tool belt on at home," he said, as he sipped from a celebratory

cup of coffee.

“There’s always something that needs doing around the house.” How darts has changed.

While the sport in which this former builder currently plies his trade has never been in ruder health its promoter, Barry Hearn, has also made renovation and redesign a priority. More than 20 years after the acrimonious split from which the PDC emerged to eclipse its ailing counterpart the BDO, a sell-out crowd of 2,500 attended this year's thrilling final, but Hearn insists that demand for tickets means more than 10 times that number could have been sold. This year's decider also attracted record viewing figures on Sky.

Tokyo tournament

A plan to increase the capacity for next year’s finals by moving the tournament to one of Ally Pally’s bigger halls has already been mooted, while a new tournament in Tokyo will showcase the sport’s finest before a country with a population of more than 127 million potential fans. Whether or not they are more reserved than their raucous, beer-sodden and imaginatively-attired British and Irish counterparts remains to be seen.

With the dominance of the 16-times world champion Phil Taylor having waned in recent years, the field has never been more open for professional darts players.

The nine major PDC events of the past calender year produced six different winners, while total prize money for all their tournaments is closing in on almost £10m. It is a figure Hearn believes he can “smash” sooner rather than later.

“Now I am looking at £20m,” he said. “The perception of the game is changing globally. I believe darts is only just beginning and there is another level to go.” Having already revamped snooker and taken it to China, it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out which market the PDC chairman sees as a source of potentially huge extra revenue.

Despite no shortage of evidence to the contrary, the world of darts is no longer the exclusive domain of the lager-fuelled working-class banter boy, bellowing at equally hard-drinking fat men as they did battle for a first prize of around £10,000 in a smoke-filled Lakeside Country Club in the BDO World Championships, the first darts tournament to sear the public consciousness during the 1980s.

World Cup winner

In the wake of Anderson’s victory against Taylor, the World Cup winner and Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos was among those to tweet his congratulations to the Scot.

Spectators are not the only people present who are fond of a drink, although competitors are no longer allowed to consume alcohol on stage and must adjourn to the players’ lounge to down any liveners they might require to keep a steady hand.

The impenetrable fog of cigarette smoke that used to envelop the Lakeside stage has now been replaced by dry ice, while glamorous cheerleaders and walk-on girls are among the many bells and whistles Sky Sports have added to the gaiety of an evening at the arrows.

Meanwhile, having joined the Ashes series and Ryder Cup in being given an exclusive Sky Sports channel for the duration of its blue riband event, professional darts is a multimillion pound TV industry that is here to stay.

It’s appeal is growing. Germany, Gibraltar, Holland, Austria, Japan and Ireland are among the countries where the PDC will be staging tournaments in 2015. Guardian Service