The organisers of the Finder Darts Masters have released a press release after it was announced that the tournament would cease to exist from this year onwards.
In the released statement, the organisation acknowledges that it has not been possible to find a new tournament sponsor. Finder stopped after the last edition as a sponsor of the event held in Egmond aan Zee.
Press Release
Since 2001 the Darts Masters at Hotel Zuiderduin in Egmond aan Zee was a Household name in darts. From the first edition the event was a great success, and world-class players always liked to come to Egmond to compete in a packed house for this title
All these years, the hotel’s largest room in December was transformed for 3 days into a true darts arena.The list of winners says enough, including darts icons as Raymond van Barneveld, Gary Anderson, Glen Durrant, Mervyn King, Scott Waites, Darryl Fitton and Danny Noppert. From 2008, there was also a ladies tournament with winners such as Trina Gulliver, Lisa Ashton, Anastasia Dobromyslova and Aileen de Graaf, and since 2011 there has also been a strong youth tournament.
The tournament has had several main sponsors, from 2001-2004 Doeland, in 2005 Leendesk,from 2007 - 2014 Hotel Zuiderduin and from 2015 -2018 Finder. The director of Finder had already indicated that he would stop as a main sponsor after 2018.
From that moment on, the organisation has tried to find a new main sponsor for this world-class darts tournament. Unfortunately, this has not been successful and the organisation must, as it now looks, decide that there will be no 2019 edition.
Richard Nan, on behalf of the hotel and the organisation gave this statement: "This is a tough moment. For 17 years, around 700 darts fans have been sitting in the darts arena of the hotel for 3 days. Many of them even stayed in the hotel for the entire weekend. All players also spend the night here, so that fans have enough opportunity to meet their darts idols and get their picture taken. For these fans the Darts Masters was their annual outing, the first reservations were made almost a year in advance."
"Beside that also all the TV watching fans will be disappointed. The entire tournament all 3 days was live broadcasted live on television all those years, and since recent years also as an internet via a live stream."
No New Sponsor
"The viewing figures increased every year, with the 2018 edition at its peak with a total reach that exceeded one million viewers."
"We had already concluded a media contract for the next 3 years. A fantastic exhibition package for a new main sponsor was ready, which would certainly keep the investment under control. That is why we were confident that we could present a new name sponsor for the December 2019 and subsequent years edition."
"But unfortunately for so far we did not succeed. Based on the current situation, we are forced to cancel the media contract and to inform the players, darts associations and other stakeholders. In this way we want to thank all the players who have been on stage with us for their efforts and great performances all those years. Of course we also thank the BDO, NDB, sponsors, callers, officials and volunteers who helped make the tournament a huge success."
"And last but not least, all fans with their enthusiasm made sure that it was a big party every year but always with respect for all participating darts players."
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