Costumes and high drama: Darts is now ready to break the United States
By Ben Church, CNN
(CNN) — Combining eye-watering accuracy, high drama and a raucous costume party, darts is quickly positioning itself as one of the most captivating sports on the planet.
Made popular in English pubs during the 19th and 20th centuries, it has since transformed into a sporting spectacle which draws in fans from across the world and offers its top players lucrative careers.
This year’s World Darts Championships concluded on Friday as teenage sensation Luke Littler won his maiden world championship against three-time winner Michael van Gerwen, becoming the youngest ever champion in the process. Yet again, the tournament has proved to be a huge success in several regions around the world, with the 17-year old champion becoming a pop culture icon in the UK.
But while an estimated 17 million Americans currently play the sport, darts has yet to break through the already crowded US sports market, with many people still seeing it as a simple bar game.
Those who run the sport, though, hope this will change and have grand plans for 2025 and beyond.
Eddie Hearn is a name that many Americans might recognize, albeit for another sport. The Englishman is one of the most prominent boxing promoters in the world and regularly helps organize the biggest fights.
But Hearn is also chairman of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), a body which runs the biggest darts tour in the world, involving the best players.
It already has a presence in the US, and it has proven popular. Earlier this year, the US Masters event sold out the Madison Square Garden theater. Hearn expects it to sell out even quicker next year.
“I know the (US) sports audience and I know they would enjoy the experience, the atmosphere and the culture of a live darts event,” Hearn told CNN Sport, adding that darts could be as big, if not bigger, than boxing in America.
“Now, we are starting to look very diligently at the US market, to the point where we are going to create not just more events but an infrastructure, in terms of building the grassroots and participation levels in the professional game.
“The plan would be to have three to four global events in America as part of the global PDC Tour calendar.”
Hearn is fully aware that darts can initially be a hard sell to those who don’t understand its true scale.
For example, critics still question whether it can be considered a true sport given players are not always in the greatest of athletic shapes and would historically drink and smoke during professional matches.
But that tired stereotype stands in stark contrast to the unmatched theater that a pro darts tournament can offer, as players remain ruthlessly precise under the most incredible pressure, resulting in titanic battles which have boosted the sport’s popularity in recent years.
If people still need convincing, Hearn says the best thing to do is get them to watch.
“It’s just a case of getting exposure in America and just breaking through. We can’t believe how quickly these tickets sell in the UK. It’s just the ultimate night out, fancy dress (costumes), a few beers, live sport. It’s such a good product,” he said.
“Once the US starts witnessing the drama and the atmosphere, they’ll be all over it.”
US expansion
While Hearn looks after broader promotion of the sport, it’s left to the likes of PDC’s chief executive Matthew Porter to handle the day-to-day growth.
Porter has been in his role since 2008 and has overseen a huge change in how the game is perceived.
“What we’ve been able to do over the last couple of decades is expand into territories where darts was well-known anyway, but well-known on a different level,” Porter told CNN.
“You can take a dart board anywhere in the world and most people will recognize it. Most people have thrown a dart, whether that be at a fairground, a pub or at home.
“So educating people as to what darts is, isn’t really the challenge. The challenge is reeducating them to take the sport from an amateur, participation sport to a professional, audience-based sport.”
By simple law of averages, Porter says there should be several players in the US that have the potential to play at a world-class level and it’s now about providing a pathway to help them turn professional.
To do so, the PDC supports the Championship Darts Corporation (CDC), a company which runs the darts tour in North America.
Peter Citera is chief executive officer and tournament director of the CDC and insists there is already a large number of passionate darts aficionados across the North American market.
Canada, for example, has already produced a world champion, with John Part winning the PDC World Championships twice (2003 and 2008).
Citera now wants to find the new Part and is confident that darts can position itself as the biggest alternative to the more mainstream leagues in the region, sitting just below the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL.
In his 11 years with the CDC, Citera has seen the quality of play increase and, in partnership with the PDC, is now talking to broadcasters to take the sport to the next level.
“We are coming,” Citera told CNN Sport. “Our goal is to find the next North American world champion.
“We’re really working hard to find that next world champion and it will happen. You’re going to start seeing North Americans making deeper runs on the world stage and all it takes is that one to catch fire.”
Does the US have a Luke Littler?
It’s impossible to analyze the growth of darts and not mention Luke “The Nuke” Littler.
The teenage sensation burst onto the scene at last year’s World Championship, reaching the final when he was just 16 and becoming the youngest ever finalist in the process.
The English teenager has continued his amazing form this season, becoming the youngest ever world champion at age 17 and helping to boost the reputation of the sport even more.
Hearn, Porter and Citera all refer to the “Luke Littler effect” when talking about how much darts has grown in the last year and all agree that an American equivalent would be the golden egg in their pursuit to establish darts in the North American psyche.
Three North American players featured in the first round of this year’s world championships, having qualified through the CDC.
American Stowe Buntz and Canada’s Jim Long both exited in the first round, while the US’ Leonard Gates won his first match before losing in the second round.
Gates notably proved popular with the Alexandra Palace crowd, dancing on stage as he made his walk-up at this year’s tournament.
Speaking to CNN, he admits he never thought he would be making a living from the game, having first picked up a set of darts while hanging out with friends at the bar.
After coming across the sport by accident, Gates fell in love and started playing every day. He now makes most of his living from the game, balancing his sports career with a small part-time job.
When asked why he thinks more Americans aren’t pursuing a career in professional darts, Gates tells CNN that it’s all about changing perceptions, especially in the younger generations – an audience the CDC targets through its junior tour.
“I used to hear all the time when playing darts that you can’t make a living playing darts,” Gates said. “I never imagined I’ll be making a living.”
“You have to have that dedication to say, ‘OK, this is what I want to do,’ and take the proper steps to go towards it. You will benefit from it.
“I see some of the youngsters (in the US) now that have gotten into it and they came over here to England. They can build from that, whether or not they’re going to stick with it is yet to be seen.”
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