"Hopefully it will be resolved shortly": PDC Chief Executive Porter gives update on alarming Cadby and Perez visa situation

Amid the World Cup of Darts being announced to be going solely doubles, PDC Chief Executive Matt Porter went on the Weekly Dartscast to discuss the change and a range of other topics and admitted public opinion did sway the change.

"A lot of public opinion has been pro doubles in recent years and it certainly adds an identity to the World Cup which other events don't have. I think there's an argument that the best of seven format that we've had before generates a lot of excitement because in those short matches, you can have upsets. Will we get that in the longer matches, well maybe not but time will tell. But it was worth a shake-up," he said to the Weekly Dartscast.

But away from the World Cup and onto the main tour, an alarming situation regarding Corey Cadby in particular with the Australian returning to the PDC Tour but not yet playing a game due to visa issues again has emerged. Porter was asked for an update.

"They're both (Cadby and Perez) going through the process of obtaining UK visas. There's a visa which you come in on for a short period of time and they both had that but in order for them to relocate over here to play on the ProTour regularly, they need to get a more permanent visa. It's ongoing, it's possibly taking a little bit longer than either of them would've liked. But hopefully it will be resolved shortly."

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World Series and Premier League changes

But while the World Cup has changed, Porter spoke about the changes to the World Series which were lamented for being shortly after the World Championship but with the Premier League and working with external partners, Porter admits their hands are tied.

"Our calendar is hugely limited by the Premier League. The Premier League being on a Thursday night essentially wipes out four months of weekends for overseas events as you physically can't get players there on time. Nobody wants to be flying the players in on Friday morning to play Friday evening, that's just not good preparation or it's too risky for the tournament. Those January weekends were both clear in the calendar."

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The same can be said for the Premier League with Dimitri van den Bergh starring in this year's tournament and rise of TV figures over in Belgium, questions have been asked about a night in the country but Porter says for now, it's not feasible.

"We're not rushing to do that, our host broadcaster for the event is Sky Sports and it's obviously a UK broadcaster so we have to be mindful of that. To decamp the whole operation to Europe for one night is a costly and time consuming process, we're happy to do it in Netherlands and Germany. Don't get me wrong, they're making great strides in Belgium. The interest levels there are astronomical now compared to a few years ago but we won't just be taking it to new countries without real compelling reason to do so. I'm not ruling it out but it's not a short term priority."

Handling of Sherrock situation

He also gave more depth on the Fallon Sherrock situation at the World Championship with a last minute third spot being given to the previously non qualified Queen of the Palace which Porter said could've been handled better but was approved by Sky and relevant shareholders as a good move.

"We probably didn't handle it as well as we could've done in terms of the timing of the announcement but we'd always had it in mind as an option and when we discussed it with Sky about the progression of darts, it was deemed that a third women's spot was a positive thing for the event. We went down the route, some people got very upset but I'm sure they're all ok now."