PDC World Darts Championship

History

In 1992, some high-profile players, including all previous winners of the BDO World Darts Championship still active in the game, formed the WDC (now PDC), and in 1994, held their first World Championship. Dennis Priestley won the inaugural competition.

The players who broke away were taking a significant gamble - the tournament was broadcast on satellite television rather than terrestrial, and from 1994 to 2001, the prize fund for the players in the WDC/PDC World Championship was lower than the prize fund in the BDO version, although the 1997 PDC World Champion received £45,000 compared to that year's BDO World Champion receiving £38,000. In 2002, the PDC prize fund overtook that of the BDO for the first time, and the PDC event now boasts the largest prize fund of any darts competition. In 2010, the prize fund reached £1 million for the first time, with the World Champion collecting £200,000.

The 2014 and 2015 PDC World Champions collected £250,000 for their respective wins. In 2016, the prize fund was increased to £1.5 million, with the World Champion receiving £300,000.

Venue

The PDC World Darts Championship has been held at Alexandra Palace in London since 2008, having previously been held at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet, Essex, from 1994 to 2007.

Nine-dart finishes

Nine nine-darters have been thrown at the World Championship. The first one in 2009.

Averages

Since the breakaway of the PDC players, there has been much debate about the relative merits of the players within each organisation. The debate often focuses on the three-dart averages of players in matches.

An average over 100 in a match in the PDC World Championship has since been achieved 150 times. compared to about 20 times in the BDO World Championship. In 2010 Phil Taylor became the first player to average over 100 in all six rounds of the tournament. He repeated this feat (though lost the final) in 2015 and Michael van Gerwen achieved it in 2017.

An average of over 105 in a match in the PDC World Championship has been achieved 22 times. The highest match average ever in the BDO World Championship is 103.83 by Raymond van Barneveld in his Quarter final victory over John Walton in 2004.

Records

Most titles: 14, Phil Taylor. Taylor's two BDO titles take his total to 16, a record across both organisations. John Part, Adrian Lewis, Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson share the second place with two PDC titles.Most finals: 18, Phil Taylor, 1994-2007, 2009-2010, 2013 and 2015.Most match wins: 105, Phil Taylor, 1994-2017. Taylor has only lost 10 matches at the tournament and reached every final from 1994 until 2008, when he was beaten in the quarter-finals by Wayne Mardle.Longest unbeaten run: 44 matches, Phil Taylor, 1995-2003, between his defeats in the 1994 and 2003 finals.Most 180s in a tournament (total): 704 in 2017. This beat the previous record of 654, set in 2016.Most 180s in a tournament (individual): 71, Gary Anderson (2017)Most 180s in a match: 22, Gary Anderson (2017)Most 180s in a match (both players): 42, Gary Anderson (22) and Michael van Gerwen (20) (2017)Most appearances: 24, Phil Taylor. Taylor is the only player to have appeared in all 24 editions of the championship.Youngest player: Mitchell Clegg, 16 years and 37 days. Clegg qualified as a 15-year-old in 2007. He was younger than Michael van Gerwen, who set the BDO World Championship youngest player record a few weeks later.Youngest finalist: Kirk Shepherd, 21 years and 88 days In the 2008 final, Shepherd was two days younger than Jelle Klaasen, who won the BDO title in 2006.Record TV audience: 1,500,000 (2015 Final). The 2007 final was the first time that Sky Television achieved a viewing figure of over 1 million for a darts match. The 2013 final had a 1.2 million average, with 10 million viewers over the course of the tournament.Won both World Championships: Four players. Dennis Priestley was the first player to win both versions of the World Championship, winning the 1991 BDO Championship and the 1994 PDC Championship. Phil Taylor, John Part and Raymond van Barneveld have since matched the feat.Overseas World Champions: Three players. John Part was the first player from outside the UK to win the PDC World Championship with his 2003 title, followed by Raymond van Barneveld in 2007 and Michael van Gerwen in 2014. Part was also the first overseas player to win the BDO title, doing so in 1994.

Domestic broadcaster

The PDC World Championship has been broadcast live and in its entirety by Sky Sports in the UK since its inception. Since 2009 the tournament has been shot in High Definition (HD). Their coverage is currently presented from a studio overlooking the interior of the Alexandra Palace venue.

The current presenting team is as follows:

Presenters

Dave Clark: (2001–present)

David Croft: (2013–present, previously worked for BBC Sport Darts Coverage 2003–2012)

Co-presenters

Wayne Mardle: (2010–present)

Rod Harrington: (2005–present)

John Part: (2013–present, previously worked for BBC Sport Darts Coverage 1995–2007)

Commentators:

Stuart Pyke: (2003–present, also works for ITV Sport Darts Coverage 2007–present)

Rod Studd: (2009–present)

Nigel Pearson: (2005–present)

(David Croft, Wayne Mardle, Rod Harrington & John Part also commentate)

Former presenters and commentators have been:

Dave Lanning: (1993–2010 & 2013, Previously worked for ITV Sport Darts Coverage 1972–1988)

John Gwynne: (1993–2013, 2016, Now with Eurosport BDO Darts Coverage 2014–present)

Sid Waddell: (1994–2012, Previously worked for BBC Sport Darts Coverage 1978–1994)

Jeff Stelling: (1993–2002, 2005)

David Bobin: (1994, 2002–2003)

Helen Chamberlain: (2003–2009)

Jonathan Green: (2000)

Eric Bristow: (1993–2016)

Overseas broadcasters

Dutch broadcaster SBS6, having covered the BDO World Darts Championship for many years, also covered the event until RTL7 took over broadcasting. ESPN3 (USA), TSN (Canada), Fox Sports (Australia), SuperSport (South Africa), Ten Sports (India), CCTV (China), Showtime (Middle East), Ukraine TV, Sky New Zealand, IKO (Poland), Starhub (Singapore), NOVA Sport (Czech Republic and Slovakia), Sport1 (Hungary), Meersat (Malaysia), 7TV (Russia), Measat (Indonesia), J Sports (Japan), Fox Sports (Italy) now also broadcast the event.

Viewing figures

Television viewing figures for the final are as follows:

Webcasting

The PDC world championship events are now broadcast on www.livepdc.tv which shows the events live, highlights and also classic matches. This website is a subscription only viewing and is limited to certain territorial restrictions.

Sponsor

The tournament has been sponsored by bookmaker William Hill since 2015. Previous sponsors have been:

Skol (1994)

Proton Cars (1995)

Vernon's Pools (1996)

Red Band (1997)

Skol (1998–2002)

Ladbrokes (2003–2014)

Trophy

Following popular darts commentator Sid Waddell's death on 11 August 2012, the decision was made to rename the champion's trophy to the Sid Waddell trophy from the 2013 tournament onwards.