Jack Kenmare
PDC president Barry Hearn has teased a major announcement regarding the future of darts after Turki Al-Sheikh suggested he wanted to create a "crazy concept" for the sport.
Al-Sheikh, who is the chairman of Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority and controls some of the biggest fights in boxing, is keen to extend his hand and get involved with darts.
In fact, the Saudi politician has shown an interest in purchasing a stake in Matchroom Sport, the events promotion company that is involved in several sports including snooker, boxing and darts.
On the Netflix series Matchroom: The Greatest Showman, Al-Sheikh mentioned darts as he joined Barry Hearn and his son Eddie at the Chris Eubank Jr Vs Connor Benn fight in April.
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"I said to him [Eddie]: ‘We want the snooker and the darts'," said Al-Sheikh. "I want to do the darts, but I want to do it crazy way. Crazy concept, yeah? Crazy play, something.”
Barry Hearn, who is the founder and president of Matchroom Sport, responded: “We’re on a mission. We want to have relationships with people like you for a long term, in place, and then we want to grow a massive business."
Five months after those comments were made and Hearn Snr has said there will be news dropping "very soon" about the future of darts.
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Speaking to Sky Sports about the plans, he said: "If you can't drink in a country where we must respect their traditions and their laws, we don't drink. Or we don't go. And if you don't want to go, don't go.
"But by the way, watch this space. Very soon, you'll hear something about Saudi, they'll go, oh my god, where is this? Where is this journey going to end? And the answer is, the beautiful answer is, I have no idea. But I know it's got a long journey ahead of it."
Of course, Al-Sheikh previously created the 20-point “Gold Ball” in snooker, which was introduced during a Riyadh-based tournament in March 2024.
Hearn touched on that concept during the interview. "When I heard about the golden ball from Turki, I was shaking," he said. "Oh no, no. Don't start messing with it. It's had more publicity than the rest of the tournament altogether.
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"And it's all the publicity about the re-ad season, the goals, the ball's got the name on."
Hearn continued: "He's a smart man. And sometimes we get restricted by the lack of our own imagination. And you can bet your bottom dollar, if and when we do something in Saudi, there'll be a few twists on it.
"I have no idea what he's going to say. But I do know what I'm going to say. Yes, thank you.
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"It's a clean sheet of paper. You know, as you quite rightly say, we're not going to be restricted. Obviously, we want to make sure that it's credible. If it's part of a series, for example, it has to be credible.
"But we're not going to be tied up with, you know, all we can do that because there's no reason why we will look at everything. And it will all be, you know, you've got to accept this. It will all be money-oriented."
He added: "The one thing about Turki Alalshikh, his excellency, is he doesn't walk away."