Barry Hearn has promised to delight Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen and their darts rivals with a mega announcement next month. The Matchroom Sport chief refused to give too much away but hinted that stars could be set to see their prize money soar.
The PDC has basked in darts’ booming popularity and landed a bumper new deal with Sky Sports for the World Championship. The broadcaster will pay £125million to remain the home of UK and Irish darts for the next five years.
Littler and Humphries, in particular, have been key to darts’ success. The duo have both earned more than £1million in prize money over the last two years and could see their earnings soar. Hearn expects to make an exciting announcement in March.
“We’re on fire, there’s no other way to describe it,” the 76-year-old sports promotion supremo told talkSPORT. “We’ve announced a new five-year deal with Sky which I’m very pleased with and we’re going away now for four or five weeks with a pile of money in the bank and thinking about what to do with it.
“In March we’ll be making an announcement that will put a lot of smiles on a lot of darts players’ faces. We’re investing a lot all over the world, Southeast Asia, in China, in the Chinese Premier League.
“What people don’t see is the hundreds and hundreds of tournaments that we’re supporting one way or another to make sure this game becomes truly global.
“And as it sifts through, it goes to the TV companies and they say, ‘Well, we’ve got to have that’.
“So you’re boosting your income all the time. And as I say, we’re going to make a massive increase in prize money coming up, which we’ll announce soon. And I think that’s just the first stage of us overtaking a lot of other sports.”
The first night of the Premier League saw Humphries ease to victory, beating Chris Dobey 6-1 in the final. Van Gerwen finally earned revenge over Littler for his World Championship final defeat, beating the 18-year-old in the quarter-final.
Van Gerwen had been upset with Littler’s punctuality the previous day. The Nuke arrived 45 minutes late for a media event, later revealing that he had overslept by 25 minutes. Van Gerwen urged the PDC to treat Littler as an adult.
