Choosing between darts and snooker is not difficult for Hearn: "Darts, just because this sport has grown so spectacularly"

Barry Hearn blew out 75 candles this year. Yet Englishman still remains closely involved in the organization of both snooker and darts tournaments.

In a conversation with Stephen Hendry on his youtube channel Cue Tips Hearn was asked about his favourite sport: darts or snooker. "Darts, just because the sport has grown so much in popularity and the fact that snooker players are still a bit spoiled in my opinion, and then I'm very critical," Hearn said.

"I feel like on the PDC Pro Tour there are 128 players behind me. They do everything they can to promote their sport, to create media opportunities, I don't have exactly the same feeling with the snooker players. They are a bit stuck in the glory days, which actually weren't even the glory days. The prize money today is bigger than it has ever been and is getting bigger, the viewership is bigger. They need to understand that it's a two-way street."

"So darts, just for the speed of the sport and the love of the crowd that just has a great time," Hearn continued. "If you buy a ticket to darts you don't know who you're going to watch, because if you don't buy them in advance everything sells out very quickly. A lot of people also just come to darts tournaments for the atmosphere, the darts themselves are often incidental."