“I don’t believe any of it” – Vincent van der Voort rubbishes £20million 'biggest deal in darts history' signed by Luke Littler

Last week, news broke that Luke Littler had signed a new ten-year mega deal with Target Darts. Over that period, he would reportedly earn a total of 20 million. However, in the latest episode of the Darts Draait Door podcast, Vincent van der Voort said we shouldn’t take those figures too seriously.

“That’s not true either, I don’t believe any of it,” the Dutchman began. The contract extension was announced on a grand scale and even billed as ‘the biggest deal in darts history.’ Over 20 million pounds spread across 10 years. Van der Voort, however, adds a caveat. “Nice numbers, sure. I don’t think that’s achievable by selling darts gear. That’s not possible.”

Target supplies the darts for ‘The Nuke’, so they earn from every set sold. Littler benefits from that, but according to the Dutchman, it can never amount to that much per year. “His gear is obviously in demand, the darts are expensive and Littler gets a good percentage, but for ten years…,” he said skeptically.

“In any case, it’s not all guaranteed. He has a contract and will certainly get half a million pounds a year from that, but the other 1.5 million pounds is through royalties. From a business standpoint, you simply can’t say you’re guaranteeing two million pounds a year to Littler for ten straight years.”

Van der Voort then stressed that things will also need to keep going well for the two-time world champion in the coming years. “His contract will say he has to be in the world’s top eight, play the Premier League, and even hold a Tour Card. Something could happen to him, you know. Let’s hope not, but of course it can. The world is full of crazy things,” he concluded.