Talk of the World Darts Championship moving to Saudi Arabia has been rife in recent weeks.
This comes after PDC President Barry Hearn suggested that the showpiece event could relocate to the Middle East along with the World Snooker Championship.
The suggestion caused uproar in the darting community with fans and players alike against the move, though some players such as Gerwyn Price supported the idea.
Now PDC Chief Executive Matt Porter has opened up on the possibility of the World Championship moving from the iconic Alexandra Palace.
Matt Porter rules out controversial move
It’s been proposed that the World Championship has outgrown ‘Ally Pally’ which has hosted the spectacle since 2008.
Despite this, Porter revealed moving the event is not a priority for the PDC and he told Online Darts that a move to Saudi Arabia is not on the horizon.
He said: “We put on our best event at Alexandra Palace, we put on the world’s most loved darts event, we put on the biggest darts event at Alexandra Palace. We’re not that well-known for making silly decisions I’d like to think.
“It would be a little bit of a strange move just to go straight from Alexandra Palace to a country that’s never ever had a darts tournament before with your biggest event so it’s not something that’s necessarily in the immediate future.”
Porter added: “It’s certainly not top of our priorities to find a new venue for the worlds.”
Porter’s revelation a relief for darts fans
Confirmation from the PDC’s head honcho that the World Championship will remain in North London will relax fans.
Saudi Arabia has heavily invested in other Matchroom [PDC’s parent company] sports such as boxing so this news will ease fan fears.
The Middle East is potentially a lucrative market for the PDC however, and the sport should explore the market further.
The Bahrain Darts Masters was established in 2023 in an effort to tap into a previously untouched market and a World Series event in Saudi Arabia can be expected in the future.
Darts should embrace any potential new markets but leaving the sport’s biggest events untouched is a smart move.