The Greatest Show on Mighty Mike's Green Earth 2019 (Dec 13 - Jan 1)

[Randall]

Given Barry's previously stated opinions on the women's game, you can't help but think this is just another way to destabilise the bdo.
Mind you, fair play to him

[tungsten tossers]

Also why don't they have 4 First Round games on Day 1, then no-one has to play twice.

The defending champ traditionally plays on Night 1.

But the greater principle is to make sure that every session involves a seed.

Fair enough, not like the unseeded player would have much chance against Cross anyway.

However I really don't think every session needs a seed.

Personally I don't need that but Baz says on the twatterz: "still need a top player in every session for the punters."

Agreed, but I suppose you are forking out for only 4 matches, so at least Barry is trying to get a "known"
Player for the not so hard core punters.
For us, we would rather see a JdZ , Dimitri or Noppie than West, Norris or Pipe, but fair play to Barry, he is trying to cover all angles for the fans.
Ally Pally has always been luck of the draw when buying tickets, most people will go regardless who is playing but having a seed every session is the best way for Barry to say that he balanced it out I suppose

[tungsten tossers]

Fantastic..
Both Canada and the USA will be represented after two years of one or the other absent from this tournament.
Finally, A real and meaningful World Championship again!

L D Irete @DartpromoterLDI 11h
@MattPorter_PDC Thank you and the entire PDC for your belief, trust and opportunity you've giving to the Championship Darts Circuit @champdarts. All of North America's darting communities are celebrating today. #letthejourneycontinue


Now the PDC should keep a place on their site linking to all the various tours and tables that feed players into this phenomenon. They are all over the web man. I've lost the German Superleague table hundreds of times. Is it James Wade?

Dartsdatabase has started it, but not so sure on the limited numbers they have put on the European qualifiers but I am sure it will get more informed nearer the event

http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/Qualifyi ... ntKey=8809

And of course we always have Burton!!

[cannibal]

Big leap for the PDC on this one. Expansion of the international qualifiers isn't as big as I thought it was going to be but that is probably a good thing as some of the far flung international qualifiers are shit. The real risk here is a large devaluation of Ally Pally first round matches via increasing the amount as well as decreasing the quality. The additional international qualifiers probably will increase value for the far flung TV markets as they have a few more rooting reasons to tune in that first week. And yet again just another reason to turn the GSOD into an international event for promoting the regional tours and give those players more experience and value for those regional tours. Come on Hearn pull your finger out and get rid of the BDO qualifiers, give the opportunity to those interested in playing a PDC system.

Great news for the CDC as now the players have something real to play for in terms of prestige. The number of qualified players passing on their premier events was a fucking embarrassment and testament to how unimportant the Continental Cup and Matchplay event where to tour card holders. And for that reason they need to pull their heads out of their asses and give points now for those 2 events, in both order of merits they run. More events to suss out who is the best in NA is needed and throwing in these two events helps and shows who can play well against the best vs being at the whim of the draw and location as to who shows up to the regular weekend events. Will be interesting to see if they are going to use the 2 year or the 1 year and which Canadians will be Americans. Of course the CDC people won't write down the qualifying criteria and put it on their website, only their mates are going to now how the whole fucking thing will work. And more than likely if it is announced won't be announced till the results are in the bag anyways.

FFS the women again. Fucking let it go PDC your not going to find a quality woman player by letting the women play each other. The real proof of quality is the one or two women who can come thru a combined field. If they can't your better off waiting till they can. The PDC here is setting themselves up to be seriously laughed at and taint the whole process as just inclusion for the sake of a freak show. The one thing that may redeem them is the whole first round is now one big pre-lim and a little luck of the draw may find one of the women in the second round. OTOH this comes back to bite them in the ass as then she will take a beating like Thorton's missus.

Development getting 2 spots. Yes I know every one likes the youth and no one wants to talk ill of anything that gives the appearance to promote the game, but lets be honest the top youth are already playing both Development and Challenge so give two spots to the Challenge and one to the Development. I think the Challenge gives the tougher test.

I like the expansion of the Pro tour invites, makes the tour card more valuable, gives more opportunity to the dedicated players. Lets be honest they have been getting hosed for the sake of growing the sport and including international players via a pretty low bar. About time those uselss dedicated cloggers down the ranks get to wet their beak a bit.

Prize money is just fucking distorted and way too top heavy...again. A handful of shit players are going to be getting their ass saved by getting a shot at Ally Pally. But lets be honest those players more than likely to be back clogging things up anyways as they get through Q school one way or another. Not sure anything can be done about that just the nature of sport.

All in all a very interesting development and look forward to seeing how it all shakes out and what the PDC keeps and fucks off for the following years Ally Pally.

[thegentle]

Also why don't they have 4 First Round games on Day 1, then no-one has to play twice.

The defending champ traditionally plays on Night 1.

But the greater principle is to make sure that every session involves a seed.

Fair enough, not like the unseeded player would have much chance against Cross anyway.

However I really don't think every session needs a seed.

Think Cadby, De Zwaan, Hopp, Dimitri and a few others would disagree. Mind you, Dimi's just as likely to lose to Zong Xiaochen

[Zeyes]

I like the expansion of the Pro tour invites, makes the tour card more valuable, gives more opportunity to the dedicated players. Lets be honest they have been getting hosed for the sake of growing the sport and including international players via a pretty low bar.

Good point. I wonder what Steve Maish thinks about it.

[tungsten tossers]

Big leap for the PDC on this one. Expansion of the international qualifiers isn't as big as I thought it was going to be but that is probably a good thing as some of the far flung international qualifiers are shit. The real risk here is a large devaluation of Ally Pally first round matches via increasing the amount as well as decreasing the quality. The additional international qualifiers probably will increase value for the far flung TV markets as they have a few more rooting reasons to tune in that first week. And yet again just another reason to turn the GSOD into an international event for promoting the regional tours and give those players more experience and value for those regional tours. Come on Hearn pull your finger out and get rid of the BDO qualifiers, give the opportunity to those interested in playing a PDC system.

Great news for the CDC as now the players have something real to play for in terms of prestige. The number of qualified players passing on their premier events was a fucking embarrassment and testament to how unimportant the Continental Cup and Matchplay event where to tour card holders. And for that reason they need to pull their heads out of their asses and give points now for those 2 events, in both order of merits they run. More events to suss out who is the best in NA is needed and throwing in these two events helps and shows who can play well against the best vs being at the whim of the draw and location as to who shows up to the regular weekend events. Will be interesting to see if they are going to use the 2 year or the 1 year and which Canadians will be Americans. Of course the CDC people won't write down the qualifying criteria and put it on their website, only their mates are going to now how the whole fucking thing will work. And more than likely if it is announced won't be announced till the results are in the bag anyways.

FFS the women again. Fucking let it go PDC your not going to find a quality woman player by letting the women play each other. The real proof of quality is the one or two women who can come thru a combined field. If they can't your better off waiting till they can. The PDC here is setting themselves up to be seriously laughed at and taint the whole process as just inclusion for the sake of a freak show. The one thing that may redeem them is the whole first round is now one big pre-lim and a little luck of the draw may find one of the women in the second round. OTOH this comes back to bite them in the ass as then she will take a beating like Thorton's missus.

Development getting 2 spots. Yes I know every one likes the youth and no one wants to talk ill of anything that gives the appearance to promote the game, but lets be honest the top youth are already playing both Development and Challenge so give two spots to the Challenge and one to the Development. I think the Challenge gives the tougher test.

I like the expansion of the Pro tour invites, makes the tour card more valuable, gives more opportunity to the dedicated players. Lets be honest they have been getting hosed for the sake of growing the sport and including international players via a pretty low bar. About time those uselss dedicated cloggers down the ranks get to wet their beak a bit.

Prize money is just fucking distorted and way too top heavy...again. A handful of shit players are going to be getting their ass saved by getting a shot at Ally Pally. But lets be honest those players more than likely to be back clogging things up anyways as they get through Q school one way or another. Not sure anything can be done about that just the nature of sport.

All in all a very interesting development and look forward to seeing how it all shakes out and what the PDC keeps and fucks off for the following years Ally Pally.

This is going to be a "trial" year to a point and I am sure Barry will change certain qualifying criteria if he thinks that part of it didn't work. None of us really like the cloggers but if they get there on merit then good luck to them. As more younger players come through the system many of the cloggers will disappear in time but darts is just that sort of game where age doesn't matter. Look at Paul Lim. For me, it is not about the age of the player, it is more about their personality and how they play the game. I like D Webster and he is 49, I also don't mind Beaton as he plays the game at a good pace and clearly loves his darts. The likes of Painter and Robbie Green will disappear in time as they just wont be good enough. Granted there will be fair few players that will get some decent Cash when without the change they wouldn't have but the same goes for a few players that we like to see too. To me, the change is positive, and it might take a couple of years to settle down. Remember what the prelims used to be like? Yet last year I really enjoyed them in the set format. This has got to be better for the global game, increasing the interest around the rest of the world and giving the PDC more global recognition. As for the ladies, Barry has pulled off a PR masterstroke. It is all over the press, and all positive. He knows exactly what he is doing

[The Thorn]

Got to agree with Cannibal on the prize money distribution. Other events should see their prize money increased also. It's not great if a player does fuck all for 12 months then turns up at Ally Pally, wins a couple games, probably with a lucky draw as well, and they get to stay in the top 32 for another 2 years. Which means they get another 2 shots at an Ally Pally run, so it starts all over again. The winner of the Matchplay, WGP and GSOD basically gets the same as the two semi-finalists at Ally Pally, which is just unfair.

However I think the inclusion of the women is a great step. They could have waited until a female qualifies from the tour but why? Of course this is mainly a PR trick and not going to boost the womens game but it doesn't matter. I don't think it could backfire on them, even if the ladies won't perform well. Most people will be just glad they were there, and won't really complain about the standard. It's only 2 games out of 32 in the first round, and there are going to be some other really bad players.

[tungsten tossers]

Got to agree with Cannibal on the prize money distribution. Other events should see their prize money increased also. It's not great if a player does fuck all for 12 months then turns up at Ally Pally, wins a couple games, probably with a lucky draw as well, and they get to stay in the top 32 for another 2 years. Which means they get another 2 shots at an Ally Pally run, so it starts all over again. The winner of the Matchplay, WGP and GSOD basically gets the same as the two semi-finalists at Ally Pally, which is just unfair.

However I think the inclusion of the women is a great step. They could have waited until a female qualifies from the tour but why? Of course this is mainly a PR trick and not going to boost the womens game but it doesn't matter. I don't think it could backfire on them, even if the ladies won't perform well. Most people will be just glad they were there, and won't really complain about the standard. It's only 2 games out of 32 in the first round, and there are going to be some other really bad players.

Definitely agree that the Matchplay should be higher in prize money as the gulf between the two is pretty huge. I wonder how much of it comes down to sponsorship and TV Money?. The worlds is seen as the flagship event and viewing figures are obviously much higher than the matchplay. But yes, the gulf is huge and whilst it should be higher, maybe the gap is just too big.

[Randall]

It's a near 400k gap now isn't it?
If it's this distorted is it time to stop using money alone as a ranking tool?

[The Thorn]

It's a near 400k gap now isn't it?
If it's this distorted is it time to stop using money alone as a ranking tool?

Well there's always the possibility of switching to a points-based system, not sure how much hassle that would be. It's still cheaper than to almost double the prize fund for all TV tournaments, which would be the preferable solution.

[Randall]

It's a near 400k gap now isn't it?
If it's this distorted is it time to stop using money alone as a ranking tool?

Well there's always the possibility of switching to a points-based system, not sure how much hassle that would be. It's still cheaper than to almost double the prize fund for all TV tournaments, which would be the preferable solution.

That would be a much fairer system.
You still weight the worlds higher but not to the extent the money system alone does.

[tungsten tossers]

It's a near 400k gap now isn't it?
If it's this distorted is it time to stop using money alone as a ranking tool?

£115k for winner

[tungsten tossers]

It's a near 400k gap now isn't it?
If it's this distorted is it time to stop using money alone as a ranking tool?

Well there's always the possibility of switching to a points-based system, not sure how much hassle that would be. It's still cheaper than to almost double the prize fund for all TV tournaments, which would be the preferable solution.

Wasn't the OOM put in place when Colin Lloyd knocked Phil off the top spot as Phil missed a lot of the floor tournaments and Colin played pretty much everything. Phil was obviously the number one player but points put Lloyd ahead.
Similar to Gando and Barney now

[Randall]

It's a near 400k gap now isn't it?
If it's this distorted is it time to stop using money alone as a ranking tool?

£115k for winner

385k gap then.
Going to encourage lazy fucks like Lewis, Barney and gando to skip the tour all the more.

[Zeyes]

I think they just need to stop making the Worlds payouts themselves so top-heavy.

This year:
W: 500k
RU: 200k
SF: 100k
QF: 50k
R16: 35k
R32: 25k
R64: 15k
R96: 7.5k

Imagine if they stopped incrementing at the top for a while (like they did on the Pro Tour) and just made the distribution much flatter with the next few prize money increases, for something like:

500
300
180
110
60
40
25
15

That's 4 million total, with every step less than twice the previous one. Instead, I suspect the winner's cheque will be near a million by the time they go up to 4 million overall... As it stands, the PDC has created the luxury version of the Lakeside payouts - so high at the top that everything else barely matters.

Anyway, the problem of the other majors looking so paltry in relation to the Worlds would also be mitigated over time if those events kept getting their usual top-to-bottom increases but the Worlds were to be frozen at the top for a while.

[tungsten tossers]

I think they just need to stop making the Worlds payouts themselves so top-heavy.

This year:
W: 500k
RU: 200k
SF: 100k
QF: 50k
R16: 35k
R32: 25k
R64: 15k
R96: 7.5k

Imagine if they stopped incrementing at the top for a while (like they did on the Pro Tour) and just made the distribution much flatter with the next few prize money increases, for something like:

500
300
180
110
60
40
25
15

That's 4 million total, with every step less than twice the previous one. Instead, I suspect the winner's cheque will be near a million by the time they go up to 4 million overall... As it stands, the PDC has created the luxury version of the Lakeshite payouts - so high at the top that everything else barely matters.

Anyway, the problem of the other majors looking so paltry in relation to the Worlds would also be mitigated over time if those events kept getting their usual top-to-bottom increases but the Worlds were to be frozen at the top for a while.

Definitely think it should be frozen for at least 2-3 years now, with any increases going to other majors
They could put in a few incentives like most 180's, highest average, most ton checkouts etc for individual bonuses, instead of increasing prize money or would that be too tacky?

[Dreamboy501]

WHO SAW THIS COMING


Rod Studd @Rod_Studd
If the BDO allow their best 2 women to play, it’ll be a brilliant move to promote women’s darts and encourage more to play the game. That has to be a good thing Chris.

Chris Mason @Chris180Mason 12m
Absolutley, however I am hearing that the BDO will not allow them to compete in both, missing a huge opportunity if they go down that road.

Showing why the BDO are the fucken pathetics they are...

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[Dreamboy501]

All in all it's interesting to see how it will all unfolds come December....

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[Tommo]

Devious Des will be in charge by then, wouldn't mind betting he will have"amended" the rules to ensure
that the human mound of pus Bo qualifies.