"One that we're hoping to get over the line for 2025" - Matt Porter reveals another Asian World Series of Darts event is planned for next year

PDC Chief Executive since January 2008, Matt Porter has seen the sport of darts develop into a real global powerhouse over the last decade. One of the things that has played a key role in the development of darts has been the World Series of Darts, showing off the best players to far flung corners of the planet.

Recently, the 2024 World Series of Darts Finals took place in Amsterdam. Playing somewhere close to his brilliant best, Luke Littler took the title, comfortably beating Michael Smith in the final 11-4.

Whilst in Amsterdam, Porter sat down with Online Darts to discuss the 2024 World Series of Darts campaign and the plans to develop further in the coming years. "What's been the big plus for us this year, has been the crowds," Porter begins. "We've seen bigger numbers in Australia and New Zealand, big numbers in Poland, bigger numbers in Denmark, bigger numbers even in Bahrain going back to going back to January. Then of course, New York was special. So I think, what we're starting to do now, is build the brand in those territories, really get people used to the events coming to to their country or their city and turning up for them, making sure they get tickets."

As Porter admits though, there has been a notable lack of wins for the regional challengers this year against the PDC pros. "The challenge is, that the top guys are playing each other every week and they're playing each other to a level that most players in the world can't compete with," he explains. "It's all right if I could put tour card holders up against them and other pros and stuff like that, but it's very, very difficult for these local qualifiers to turn up and deliver. I think it's very difficult in a race to 11, to say to a guy who who's qualified from essentially a sort of Semi-Pro, amateurish background, you're expected to go up there and play against the guy who you know, at his worst is going to average like 93 / 94."

This is something Porter and the PDC are looking to fix though. "We're looking at how we can improve domestic circuits in different countries, because we want players to be ready to step up to that stage," he says.

As the World Series looks to expand though, more newer countries are keen to get involved in the action. "We've got one that we're working on yeah," Porter admits. "The thing is with releasing the World Series, we like to do it separately because there's a lot more pieces to the jigsaw that need to go into place. Also, we're dealing with different time zones, we're dealing with different demands from local promoters and local venues, so that tends to have a life of its own. But there is still one that we're hoping to get over the line for 2025."

Whilst he doesn't say exactly where, it seems the potential of an East Asia event is likely.