TELEVISION EVENTS
Currently just two events are televised, the Winmau World Masters and
the Lakeside World Professional Championship. Prior to that Setanta
Sports had televised four other events, however this only lasted one
year. Previously there had been no British televised events, outside of
the two majors, for several years. With the advent of many sports
channels, together with the likes of ITV4 showing major sporting events
it is an area which has significant potential. The introduction of ESPN
into the game of darts and specifically the BDO can only be a major
positive injection; however their introduction comes at a cost which is
the loss of the BBC to the World Masters. The overall cost will only be
identified in real terms once the event has taken place. However the
fact that the event is televised at all gives the BDO hope for the
future. The World Masters however is another competition which is in
danger of losing its identity, over the past 12 months a new points
table was introduced so it was easier for all to track the World
Masters rankings, with a now regular switch from the latter end of the
year to September and back again means the competition has once again
thrown up players being able to get two sets of points for one
tournament or none at all depending on the date. It is essential the
competition finds a stable date in the calendar.
The World Professional Championships is a week long event in which the
BBC has several programmes and several hours which are needed to be
filled. If this is continued with its afternoon programme then the BDO
must take the opportunity to establish a five minute spot each day to
promote the Organisation and its benefits.
TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE
The words structure and tournament have not been put together before
within BDO tournaments. The attitude previously has been to put a
tournament together and then decide what the format is going to be.
Several issues need to be determined before any formal planning on this
subject can be implemented; however a simple proforma would be to
increase the length of matches at certain points within tournaments.
The higher the category of the tournament the longer the latter stages
should be. As such it might be that the final of a category ‘A’
tournament would be a minimum of the best of five sets five legs to a
set, however a category ‘C’ tournament might just be the minimum of the
best of nine legs. Furthermore the categorisation in respect of the
numbers entering a competition should be based on the previous year’s
numbers not the current years.
PRIZE MONEY
Several years ago it was introduced that the category of a tournament
had to have a minimum first prize. This was supported by the number of
entries into that competition. The current categorisation is dependant
on the prize fund rather than the first prize; however there is no
determination as to how the prize fund is distributed. We believe that
each category should be dependant on both the first prize and also how
the fund is distributed.
BICC
The BICC has since its inception been the flagship of the BDO. The
function that on any one weekend in the region of 2300 dart players can
represent their County and travel all over England, Scotland and Wales
gives this competition huge potential for sponsorship and support.
However the lack of any innovative ideas from the current board
together with a consistent lack of sponsorship has degraded this
competition enormously. The ability for counties to continue to produce
teams and sufficient finance for those teams to continue within the
BICC is rapidly diminishing. The current climate means that sponsors
are no longer willing to part with their money as readily as in
previous years. Therefore it is the onus of the board of the BDO to
provide as much assistance as possible. In 2008 it was agreed to
increase the money which counties put into the BICC in order to fund
the points for the ‘B’ teams. Whilst we believe that the current
funding going into the BICC from the Counties is sufficient, the amount
returned to the counties in the way of prize money is not. The BDO has
cut its costs for the BICC year on year because of the introduction and
implementation of the email system and then with the utilisation of
DFW. However none of these savings have been passed onto the Counties.
The current income for the BICC from counties is approximately £41,000
and if the Superleague levy is included this takes it well over
£50,000. With the outgoings in prize monies approximately £35,000 this
leaves a minimum of a £15,000 shortfall. Whilst it is acknowledged that
there is a significant amount of time and work put into the BICC we
find it somewhat difficult to believe the cost of running the BICC
comes close to £15,000.
Therefore we believe two things can happen almost immediately, the
first is to reassess the financial structure of the BICC and the second
is to restructure the prize monies given to the counties. Furthermore
there has been a long overdue need for the BICC to be given a facelift.
Many competitions, outside of darts, over the past two decades have
been revamped in order to provide long term sustainability. In order
for the BICC to move forward a major review on the competition is
essential. A working party made up of the current BICC Directors
together with nominated representatives from each division, including
Scotland will be given the opportunity to sit down and recommend a
pathway forward for the BICC.
SPONSORSHIP
For several years now, sponsorship for the BDO has been limited to just
a few companies. With Lakeside and Winmau the two main sponsors a few
other companies such as East Yorkshire Events, John Smiths, Jackpot Joy
and Pontins have made up the remaining sponsors. The recent
introduction of Rileys was according to the board going to bring
significant new income to the counties. Unfortunately this has not been
forthcoming, and where Counties have received income it is not a
sustainable long term answer. Therefore it is essential that the BDO in
its movement forward identifies new areas for sponsorship as well as
enhancing relationships with the current loyal group. It will be the
responsibility of one individual to undertake the role of maintaining
the current relationships and also developing new clients. The current
board have also failed in any bid they may have undertaken to identify
minor sponsors. These are the type of companies such as water
manufacturers to sponsor the water placed on the stage. Another area
maybe to sponsor individual boards at tournaments, if 32 boards were
sponsored at £100 per board this money for instance would go a long way
to paying for the accommodation for officials. The person who
undertakes the role of obtaining sponsorship will be given the
opportunity to develop a new strategy in obtaining and maintaining
clients.
