If you charted the great titans of sporting revolution — the moguls, the empire-builders, the men who transformed pub hobbies into global juggernauts — Barry Hearn would sit somewhere above Olympus polishing his spectacles and smiling knowingly.
Yet even he, a man who has hauled snooker out of obscurity, electrified boxing arenas, and built Matchroom into a colossus, admits that nothing — nothing — has detonated quite like darts.
In a fascinating recent conversation with talkSPORT, Hearn practically vibrated with the thrill of a sport that refuses to slow down, refuses to apologise for its ridiculous ascent, and refuses to stop breaking the very boundaries he once assumed were immovable.
The gospel according to Hearn begins with a simple truth: darts succeeds because darts belongs to the people.
“Just like football is great because all you need is a ball, for darts you need a board and three darts. No club dues, no expensive facilities. Hang it up in your bedroom and you can start.”
In that one sentence lies the entire secret of the modern tungsten revolution — accessibility. The open door. The leveller. The great equaliser that doesn’t care about your postcode, your bank balance, your surname or your school.
And that simplicity births prodigies in places no scouting network could ever predict.
“There’s a new kid from Mongolia now, 14 or 15 years old, absolutely sensational,” Hearn said, eyes blazing. “We are all impressed with Luke Littler, but believe me: there are more to come.”
The notion that darts is a British-European novelty? Utterly ancient history. Hearn bats that idea aside with the same disdain MVG reserves for a sloppy double 16.
“We have Premier League Darts in China, for the Chinese. We just finished Premier League Darts Australia,” he notes, before revealing the next frontier: America. Next year we are launching something big in the USA. Darts and pool. A new office in New York. Time to show Americans how to really promote sports.”
Globalisation has consequences — and one of them is that the once-gentle climb to the top of darts is now a vicious, elbow-sharp scramble.
“Eric Bristow won the World Championship, what will it be, 106 years ago?” Hearn laughs. “His average was somewhere high in the 80s. Today? If you don’t throw 110, you have zero chance.”
And the rising tide? It’s coming faster than anyone expected.
“I see 10-year-olds throwing 100+ average. 11- and 12-year-olds throwing nine-darters.”
Pause. Let that settle. Twelve-year-olds. Nine-dart finishes. But Hearn sees beauty in the chaos — because in darts, the only currency that matters is excellence.
“Darts is a completely level playing field. It doesn’t matter who your father is, how much money you have. All that matters is your average and whether you can throw.”
Then comes the temple of temples — Alexandra Palace — and a problem every promoter on Earth would kill to have.
“I sold 125,000 tickets in 10 minutes. The demand is almost comparable to Glastonbury.”
He beams… then grimaces. Because success, too, carries consequences.
“I don’t want people to say they spent five years trying to get tickets and never got in. If you can’t serve the demand, the demand goes somewhere else.”
So the PDC is already eyeing something seismic.
“There is a bigger venue at Ally Pally. We might go there. Then you’re talking about thousands of extra seats per day.”
Editors note: Within days this was announced as part of a new deal to remain at The Alexandra palce and move to the venue’s Great Hall from 2027
Bigger crowds. Bigger stakes. Bigger nights. And Barry Hearn — the man who has seen it all — stands at the centre of the storm, smiling, because:
“The sport is growing … and we are growing with it.”
——ENDS—–
Images: PDC
