The upcoming PDC World Darts Championship has 96 participants, but that is going to change in the future. Barry Hearn has announced that the field of participants for the 2025/26 edition will include as many as 128 players.
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The former PDC chief and Matchroom chairman also suggested that Alexandra Palace, where the tournament has been held since 2007, could be replaced by a larger venue to take advantage of the sport's skyrocketing popularity. This is mainly caused by the rise of teenage sensation Luke Littler, who has attracted a whole new audience to the sport of darts.
By increasing the number of players by 32, quite a few matches and tournament days will be added to the PDC World Darts Championship. Speaking with Jeff Stelling on talkSPORT, Hearn revealed that 90,000 tickets for this year's World Championship were purchased "in 15 minutes" and he claimed that nearly quadruple that could have been sold.
"I asked my people in head office, 'Tell me, how many could I have sold?' They said, somewhere over 300,000. Now that puts a different emphasis on it," he said. "Same as when we moved from the Circus Tavern all those years ago, now I’m looking at Alexandra Palace. And I’m saying, well, it only holds 3,500. I have to grow all the time. If you ever get complacent you go backwards."
"So, next year we will go from 96 to 128 players. We will add four more days, which is eight sessions, which is another 25,000 tickets. Sooner or later, I should be looking and saying: 'Do you know, like with snooker, I need a bigger venue'. I mean I can sell out any arena in the world. But can I do it for 30 or 40 sessions?
The 2025/26 World Darts Championship will be the 33rd in the history of the PDC. The very first edition of the PDC World Cup was in 1993/94 with 24 participants, held then at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet. Dennis Priestley then became the PDC's first world champion and earned £64,000 in prize money at the time. The 2024 world champion, Luke Humphries, earned half a million pounds from winning the world title in 2024.
It shows the extent of the sport's explosive growth into the mainstream, and Hearn is understandably keen to continue to capitalize on this amid a huge spike in popularity following the rise of teen sensation Littler. A record 4.8 million people watched via British channel Sky Sports as Humphries defeated Littler in the final.
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Former PDC president Barry Hearn, currently active in the role of president at the PDC
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- So what if littler missed out, he doesnt have to enter everythingant10-11-2026
- Good, absolutely no loss if we never see this dancing goof ever again......no that is not fair. He absolutely cannot and has never been remotely able to dance!richieburnettrocks10-11-2026
- Yes Phil,now the money in the game is bigger than ever,you'd play littler. Well so would I! Retire on your memory Phil,and your successful careerrick6709-11-2026
- And why should he listen to you?Deduce635807-11-2026
- Ultimately it is a bye for whoever draws Barney. It will be another stroppy and sulky performance once he goes behind. Barney was excellent but really must completely call it a day now.richieburnettrocks07-11-2026
- I'm disappointed he was not able to secure a spot at the Grand Slam. With Carl Sneyd taking care of Daryl Gurney, he would have had to beat Andy Boulton before facing the winner of Sneyd vs Mensur Suljović for a Grand Slam spot. Unfortunately, after beating Filip Bereza comfortably, he succumbed to Boulton, and the board would ultimately be won by the highly inconsistent Carl Sneyd. Since he could instead have been drawn against the likes of Cristo Reyes, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Stephen Bunting, I think once Gurney was out of the picture he would have been favourite to win his board, and it seems like a massive missed opportunity to put 5 grand on his ranking and seal another major TV appearance ahead of the Worlds. The highs and lows of following Raymond van Barneveld!Deduce635806-11-2026
- Probably i will receive a lot of backlash and hate for this reaction, but well, so be it. I am more than sick and tired of those lies of you Barry Hearn. How dare you defend yourself over the back of Fallon’s son! He has a disability and not an illness, so let me correct that for you! I know because I have the exact same disability. I have tried to reach out to Fallon in the past, and offered her to help her and her son, because I was struggling with the same problems, and I understood the boy. I wanted him to have finally someone who understood him. However she told me that she did not want my help, and I have respected Fallon’s choice. I have never asked Fallon for money. They don’t need money in that case. I only ever wanted the best for Fallon and Rory, but I have to be honest about the situation. Fallon should tell the true story and not be forced to tell lies. I don’t hate Fallon, and I don’t begrudge or envy a single penny that she gets, but this situation/case is just not fair. I hate the lies and the dishonesty and injustice. I don’t want Fallon to be hated because there is an unfair disadvantage created. Don’t proclaim your false lies over the back of Rory! I only stand for integrity and justice. I am precisely the one who always sticks up for Fallon. And you don't, you don't give a damn about them. You were never there for them, and now you only want to save your own position! You are just trying to talk your way out of your own bad behavior at the expense of someone with a disability. And to Fallon, I don’t know if this may ever reach you, and you read it, but I want you to know I love you and I love your son Rory very much, I am sorry how things developed and went. I hope you and Harriet are still friends. I am sorry if I were too persistent to you, or you experienced it that way, but it was never my intention. Please understand I have autism as well. As Barry Hearn would say, I am only just a human being too, and I also make mistakes and misjudge things sometimes. I promise you I did everything out of the deepest love and care for you and Rory. If I were you, I should just keep all the money, only please never be dishonest or tell lies anymore for Barry Hearn, or anyone else. I hope you have the best life, and I wish nothing more than the best for you. I have always loved the two of you. Farewell.Hiddo05-11-2026
- She is a professional. If darts is her income, she is a professional. Same as Adrian Lewis, Martin Adams. A tour card just means someone can play on the PDC tour. You could even make a case that Clayton wasn't a professional (until recently I believe) because he had employment elsewhere.BandB04-11-2026
- She's technically not a professional though as she doesn't hold a pro tour card.mr-pablo04-11-2026
- Such a shame that lakeside has been reduced to this. Fantastic venue,and previously a great tournament. Not any morerick6703-11-2026