WDT 2018 - the post mortem

[Skewball]

Why would you say the prize money is poor?

Relatively speaking.

The event marketed itself as a TV major with 48 of the worlds best players in attendance, went on for 5 days in a 2000 seater arena and by doing so put itself up against darts events of a similar and smaller ilk. By that measurement it looks poor to me.

very poor.
And paid for by County Members.

[oche balboa]

WDT 2018 was the best version yet

SOme great games and standard was better then before

The crowd is down to the promotion of the event from the BDO. 6 Pubs are not far from the venue should have started there to get people into the venue even for free (or £5 and a pint) Guild Hall to blame for this too

[Ginge]

No the venue aren't to blame at all, they put it in their brochure which no doubt went out to everyone on their mailing list and pushed it on FB and Twitter the same as all their other events.

The fault firmly lies with the event promoter.

[Skewball]

WDT 2018 was the best version yet

SOme great games and standard was better then before

The crowd is down to the promotion of the event from the BDO. 6 Pubs are not far from the venue should have started there to get people into the venue even for free (or £5 and a pint) Guild Hall to blame for this too

Guild Hall to blame???!!!!!

Jesus Christ

[el_ringo]

In fact I would go as far as to offer anyone who bought tickets for this year's event free tickets for next year as a reward for their loyalty.

Oh come along they have been punished enough no need to rub it it by making them go next year as well

[oche balboa]

Skewball is a cunt

[Mgt]

Meanwhile I saw pictures of the Lincolnshire Open (yesterday) and it was absolutely heaving.

Is there any good reason not to play the BDO majors at the large, succesfull opens? Or turn the opens into mayors themselves by adding prize money otherwise wasted on this clusterfuck and having the latter stages televised? It already happens on a modest scale at the Dutch Open, I can assure you that venue would have looked amazing on tv compared to this shit. Add the money, get regional channels to televise it and build from there.

Might be I'm missing something obvious but it seems like a better way to go forward. There are tournaments with hundreds, even thousands of people attending and they choose to televise this exercise in vanity instead......

[Skewball]

Skewball is a fraggle

You need help. Seriously.

[Ginge]

Meanwhile I saw pictures of the Lincolnshire Open (yesterday) and it was absolutely heaving.

Is there any good reason not to play the BDO majors at the large, succesfull opens? Or turn the opens into mayors themselves by adding prize money otherwise wasted on this clusterfuck and having the latter stages televised? It already happens on a modest scale at the Dutch Open, I can assure you that venue would have looked amazing on tv compared to this shit. Add the money, get regional channels to televise it and build from there.

Might be I'm missing something obvious but it seems like a better way to go forward. There are tournaments with hundreds, even thousands of people attending and they choose to televise this exercise in vanity instead......

I guess people want to play rather than hang around. I know its not an open but look at how many people were left in the crowd by the end of the finals day at the Masters, you had over 500 (?) players playing in that only a couple of days beforehand.

[WCDPA]

Meanwhile I saw pictures of the Lincolnshire Open (yesterday) and it was absolutely heaving.

Is there any good reason not to play the BDO majors at the large, succesfull opens? Or turn the opens into mayors themselves by adding prize money otherwise wasted on this clusterfuck and having the latter stages televised? It already happens on a modest scale at the Dutch Open, I can assure you that venue would have looked amazing on tv compared to this shit. Add the money, get regional channels to televise it and build from there.

Might be I'm missing something obvious but it seems like a better way to go forward. There are tournaments with hundreds, even thousands of people attending and they choose to televise this exercise in vanity instead......

I guess people want to play rather than hang around. I know its not an open but look at how many people were left in the crowd by the end of the finals day at the Masters, you had over 500 (?) players playing in that only a couple of days beforehand.

Flip side is Dutch open and Welsh with great crowds

[Ginge]

Meanwhile I saw pictures of the Lincolnshire Open (yesterday) and it was absolutely heaving.

Is there any good reason not to play the BDO majors at the large, succesfull opens? Or turn the opens into mayors themselves by adding prize money otherwise wasted on this clusterfuck and having the latter stages televised? It already happens on a modest scale at the Dutch Open, I can assure you that venue would have looked amazing on tv compared to this shit. Add the money, get regional channels to televise it and build from there.

Might be I'm missing something obvious but it seems like a better way to go forward. There are tournaments with hundreds, even thousands of people attending and they choose to televise this exercise in vanity instead......

I guess people want to play rather than hang around. I know its not an open but look at how many people were left in the crowd by the end of the finals day at the Masters, you had over 500 (?) players playing in that only a couple of days beforehand.

Flip side is Dutch open and Welsh with great crowds

Of course. But how many will hang around for an extra two days (and that's a bare minimum unless you totally slash the format) on top of the days they are already there playing, just to watch?

[oche balboa]

An idea suggested is have a Friday Night Qualifier and then a weekend tournament with free or discounted tickets for players taking part in this

Mens 16 players
Ladies 8 Players

[Zapp Brannigan]

An idea suggested is have a Friday Night Qualifier and then a weekend tournament with free or discounted tickets for players taking part in this

Mens 16 players
Ladies 8 Players

So the masters then?

[oche balboa]

An idea suggested is have a Friday Night Qualifier and then a weekend tournament with free or discounted tickets for players taking part in this

Mens 16 players
Ladies 8 Players

So the masters then?

Thats not open to all is it.

[Zapp Brannigan]

An idea suggested is have a Friday Night Qualifier and then a weekend tournament with free or discounted tickets for players taking part in this

Mens 16 players
Ladies 8 Players

So the masters then?

Thats not open to all is it.

No but while the idea of a qualifier before a weekend tournament is a good one the bdo have already done that to death with the masters and as ginge says nobody bothers to stay for it

Would end up like that event in Manchester when they were literally streaming a game where the only 2 people in the area was the 2 people playing

[Mgt]

Meanwhile I saw pictures of the Lincolnshire Open (yesterday) and it was absolutely heaving.

Is there any good reason not to play the BDO majors at the large, succesfull opens? Or turn the opens into mayors themselves by adding prize money otherwise wasted on this clusterfuck and having the latter stages televised? It already happens on a modest scale at the Dutch Open, I can assure you that venue would have looked amazing on tv compared to this shit. Add the money, get regional channels to televise it and build from there.

Might be I'm missing something obvious but it seems like a better way to go forward. There are tournaments with hundreds, even thousands of people attending and they choose to televise this exercise in vanity instead......

I guess people want to play rather than hang around. I know its not an open but look at how many people were left in the crowd by the end of the finals day at the Masters, you had over 500 (?) players playing in that only a couple of days beforehand.

Flip side is Dutch open and Welsh with great crowds

Those are the two obvious ones I'd try to upgrade if I were on the board indeed.

Either televise the last day/evening and day from the last 16/32 onwards or have the mayor played intermittently with the latter stages of the open, maybe in adjacent rooms while televising the mayor.
Probably would take some work to make it doable but something needs to be done and as everyone with any business sense knows you play on your strengths (massive opens) first before you try to improve things you're shit at (standalone televised mayors).

[Ginge]

Meanwhile I saw pictures of the Lincolnshire Open (yesterday) and it was absolutely heaving.

Is there any good reason not to play the BDO majors at the large, succesfull opens? Or turn the opens into mayors themselves by adding prize money otherwise wasted on this clusterfuck and having the latter stages televised? It already happens on a modest scale at the Dutch Open, I can assure you that venue would have looked amazing on tv compared to this shit. Add the money, get regional channels to televise it and build from there.

Might be I'm missing something obvious but it seems like a better way to go forward. There are tournaments with hundreds, even thousands of people attending and they choose to televise this exercise in vanity instead......

I guess people want to play rather than hang around. I know its not an open but look at how many people were left in the crowd by the end of the finals day at the Masters, you had over 500 (?) players playing in that only a couple of days beforehand.

Flip side is Dutch open and Welsh with great crowds

Those are the two obvious ones I'd try to upgrade if I were on the board indeed.

Either televise the last day/evening and day from the last 16/32 onwards or have the mayor played intermittently with the latter stages of the open, maybe in adjacent rooms while televising the mayor.
Probably would take some work to make it doable but something needs to be done and as everyone with any business sense knows you play on your strengths (massive opens) first before you try to improve things you're shit at (standalone televised mayors).

Sounds like something Warren Brown was trying to do...



Doubt he was trying to make a tournament for pub players (the August one) into a three day event, but then again, this was Warren Brown.

[Mgt]

Is there any good reason not to play the BDO majors at the large, succesfull opens? Or turn the opens into mayors themselves by adding prize money otherwise wasted on this clusterfuck and having the latter stages televised? It already happens on a modest scale at the Dutch Open, I can assure you that venue would have looked amazing on tv compared to this shit. Add the money, get regional channels to televise it and build from there.

Might be I'm missing something obvious but it seems like a better way to go forward. There are tournaments with hundreds, even thousands of people attending and they choose to televise this exercise in vanity instead......

I guess people want to play rather than hang around. I know its not an open but look at how many people were left in the crowd by the end of the finals day at the Masters, you had over 500 (?) players playing in that only a couple of days beforehand.

Flip side is Dutch open and Welsh with great crowds

Those are the two obvious ones I'd try to upgrade if I were on the board indeed.

Either televise the last day/evening and day from the last 16/32 onwards or have the mayor played intermittently with the latter stages of the open, maybe in adjacent rooms while televising the mayor.
Probably would take some work to make it doable but something needs to be done and as everyone with any business sense knows you play on your strengths (massive opens) first before you try to improve things you're shit at (standalone televised mayors).

Sounds like something Warren Brown was trying to do...



Doubt he was trying to make a tournament for pub players (the August one) into a three day event, but then again, this was Warren Brown.

Warren Brown tried to create all kind of new tournaments with unrealistic prize money and perks for players and fans in venues he couldn't afford/fill in a century. Quite a difference with trying to upgrade existing successful weekends of darts into mayors.

[Jonesy487]

Hi.

Long time lurker, not a huge poster, but reading some of these comments today......

First off, I watched both PDC/BDO this weekend. And to be honest, the more darts the better. Regardless of code.

But to be honest, I struggle to see how this weekend could be good for darts as a whole, never mind the BDO.

If you stumble upon a product, just watching it for 2-3 minutes is going to be the difference. I did this is 1993 with the BDO worlds and instantly i was hooked. To a casual fan, or someone who used to watch the darts, you would see the crowd and just turn it off. The impression it gave was appalling. I thought that the standard of slme of the games was on a par with some of the PDC games this weekend, and the drama/closeness in some games kept me watching for sure.

The fact to me looks pretty clear, until the promotion of these events is up to scratch (maybe less events, marketed a full 3-4 months in advance would be an idea) then it makes no difference who is playing in them, no-ones going to turn up to an event. If that continues, then TV companies can’t sell ads, and they won’t pay for the product.

Someone mentioned earlier maximising someone like Fallon Sherrock and I 100% agree. She is the poster girl that girls growing up could relate to, to at least grow a new audience or increase participation levels.

Ditto for Glen Durrant, get him on TV actually showing his personality rather than asking him to tell people to come down as the crowd is poor, if the perception is that it’s rubbish, people will just believe it. BBC used to do a fantastic job in the worlds telling you more about the players (I wish sky would do it more) and to make people see these people as someone they can relate to and get behind.

Market the product better, market the players better, and at least give it a chance to succeed. At the moment, it seems like there are too many voices and people seem to want to score points rather than wanting the product to succeed.

A better BDO means a better PDC. And in truth, the balance of power has shifted in darts long ago and is pretty much irreversible, but theres still plenty of players/administrators who would make a good living out of darts.

[Skewball]

Hi.

Long time lurker, not a huge poster, but reading some of these comments today......

First off, I watched both PDC/BDO this weekend. And to be honest, the more darts the better. Regardless of code.

But to be honest, I struggle to see how this weekend could be good for darts as a whole, never mind the BDO.

If you stumble upon a product, just watching it for 2-3 minutes is going to be the difference. I did this is 1993 with the BDO worlds and instantly i was hooked. To a casual fan, or someone who used to watch the darts, you would see the crowd and just turn it off. The impression it gave was appalling. I thought that the standard of slme of the games was on a par with some of the PDC games this weekend, and the drama/closeness in some games kept me watching for sure.

The fact to me looks pretty clear, until the promotion of these events is up to scratch (maybe less events, marketed a full 3-4 months in advance would be an idea) then it makes no difference who is playing in them, no-ones going to turn up to an event. If that continues, then TV companies can’t sell ads, and they won’t pay for the product.

Someone mentioned earlier maximising someone like Fallon Sherrock and I 100% agree. She is the poster girl that girls growing up could relate to, to at least grow a new audience or increase participation levels.

Ditto for Glen Durrant, get him on TV actually showing his personality rather than asking him to tell people to come down as the crowd is poor, if the perception is that it’s rubbish, people will just believe it. BBC used to do a fantastic job in the worlds telling you more about the players (I wish sky would do it more) and to make people see these people as someone they can relate to and get behind.

Market the product better, market the players better, and at least give it a chance to succeed. At the moment, it seems like there are too many voices and people seem to want to score points rather than wanting the product to succeed.

A better BDO means a better PDC. And in truth, the balance of power has shifted in darts long ago and is pretty much irreversible, but theres still plenty of players/administrators who would make a good living out of darts.

Please post more, great post!