Grade The TV Titles

[Randall]

Wade is finished

[Rogg]

World Series of Darts Finals at 40. And the smaller World Series events at 30-35.

and how about the PDC Masters?

[Rogg]

The BDO World Championship obviously declined over time. There was the first decline after the split (most of the best players gone), another from 2002 (Skol Six gone), another from 2007 (Barney gone), another from 2008 (MvG, van der Voort, King, Klaasen gone), another from 2009 (Stompe, Thornton gone), another from 2010 (Anderson, M. Webster, Whitlock gone), another from 2012 (Olly Croft no longer in control), another from 2013 (Hankey gone), 2014 was a one year higher quality than the general trend, mostly more decline 2015-2016 (but still on BBC), 2017-2018 (Deluxe farce, Channel 4 years), 2019 (last BDO Lakeside), 2020 (O2 farce).

Well this was little short of erotic.

[Rogg]

I had the idea of applying our numbers to winners historically but the PT13 posts show the complexity of that.
Of course our ideas about the prestige of each event will have wibbled up and down across time.

Any thoughts on how and when the grades of each event have changed for you? Drop them in here and let's see what we can do.

[Randall]

The grand prix lost status when the format changed for sure

[The Ginge Reaper]

The Matchplay has changed theirs too tbh, you dont get never ending tiebreaks now, not that you got many.

[Randall]

Was that not just a covid change?

[Rogg]

The grand prix lost status when the format changed for sure

Yes, I agree. Just a shade though. 2014 that was introduced.

[The Ginge Reaper]

Was that not just a covid change?

No.

The "no tiebreak at the Worlds" was, they brought that back in for 2022 (bar the L96)

[Randall]

Was that not just a covid change?

No.

The "no tiebreak at the Worlds" was, they brought that back in for 2022 (bar the L96)

Fair comment then

[Randall]

The grand prix lost status when the format changed for sure

Yes, I agree. Just a shade though. 2014 that was introduced.

The slam either gained credence or lost it when they ended bdo entry
Depends on your stance

[Rogg]

The Matchplay has changed theirs too tbh, you dont get never ending tiebreaks now, not that you got many.

I never really cared about that personally but yes.

The Last 16 format was reduced fairly recently too.

On the other hand, the whole event is currently quite substantially longer format than it was for most of the 90s.

[HalloweenJack]

The grand prix lost status when the format changed for sure

Yes, I agree. Just a shade though. 2014 that was introduced.

The slam either gained credence or lost it when they ended bdo entry
Depends on your stance

When the GSOD started, in the early years of the event, the standard of entry from the BDO was generally good or certainly better than recent times and this showed in the results. Waites won and reached a final and Anderson represented the BDO in this event. Did MVG ?


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[Randall]

The grand prix lost status when the format changed for sure

Yes, I agree. Just a shade though. 2014 that was introduced.

The slam either gained credence or lost it when they ended bdo entry
Depends on your stance

When the GSOD started, in the early years of the event, the standard of entry from the BDO was generally good or certainly better than recent times and this showed in the results. Waites won and reached a final and Anderson represented the BDO in this event. Did MVG ?


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Seemingly not

[Rogg]

The grand prix lost status when the format changed for sure

Yes, I agree. Just a shade though. 2014 that was introduced.

The slam either gained credence or lost it when they ended bdo entry Depends on your stance

I think that will be restored with some kind of WDF entry this year.

What about the ranking aspect? Did the GSoD becoming a ranking event in 2015 make it bigger for you?

[Randall]

Being ranked has to increase its merit

[PT13]

World Series of Darts Finals at 40. And the smaller World Series events at 30-35.

and how about the PDC Masters?

45-50. I'll say 50.

[sennafan24]

The grand prix lost status when the format changed for sure

Yes, I agree. Just a shade though. 2014 that was introduced.

The slam either gained credence or lost it when they ended bdo entry Depends on your stance

When the GSOD started, in the early years of the event, the standard of entry from the BDO was generally good or certainly better than recent times and this showed in the results. Waites won and reached a final and Anderson represented the BDO in this event. Did MVG ? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MVG switched to the PDC with King, VVDV and Klassen in early 2007.

I recall they shared the same management company.

[PT13]

Was that not just a covid change?

No. Introducing a sudden death leg in World Matchplay matches after 6 legs of a tiebreak was introduced in 2013. Prior to 2013, matches went on and on until somebody won by 2 clear legs. Most infamous was in the first year (1994), when Jim Watkins and Keith Deller entered a tiebreak at 7-7, and Watkins eventually won 18-16, so more than half the total match was in a tiebreak. This sort of thing was rare in the tournament's history, although happened often in second round matches in 2004, and Shayne Burgess had a few in 2000. Another recent change to the World Matchplay format came in 2016, when Last 16 matches were changed from first to 13 legs to first to 11 legs, the first such change since 1999.

The World Grand Prix format has been diluted over time, and I consider the 2014 change to be particularly damaging. Look at how it changed by round from 2001:

2001: 2,3,6,7,8
2002-2006: 2,3,4,6,7
2007-2011: 2,3,4,5,6
2012-2013: 2,3,3,5,6
2014-2021: 2,3,3,4,5

[Randall]

I never have understood why they downgraded the Grand Prix