Grand Slam of Darts

Finals

Records and statistics

Total finalist appearances

• Active players are shown in bold
• Only players who reached the final are included
• In the event of identical records, players are sorted by date first achieved

Champions by country

Nine-dart finishes

Seven nine-darters have been thrown at the Grand Slam of Darts. The first one was in 2008.

High averages

Previous BDO v PDC tournaments

There have been previous tournaments in which players from both the PDC and BDO have competed. Between 1997 and 2001, several BDO players competed in the World Matchplay and the World Grand Prix – this was as a result of a 1997 Tomlin Order which allowed freedom of players to enter more events. This was later restricted from the start of 2002 onwards, when eligibility rules allowed only Professional Dart Players Association members to compete in the tournaments.

The 2005 Masters of Darts was the first tournament to feature the top players from each organisation. In 2006 and 2007, following Raymond van Barneveld's move to the PDC, the Dutch organisers of the International Darts League and World Darts Trophy invited some top PDC players to compete alongside BDO players.

Perennial participants

As the Grand Slam is an invitational tournament for players who have reached major finals and semi-finals, or been the top of their countries' respective rankings, there is a certain degree of prestige attached to qualifying for the tournament, and even more for entrants who qualify multiple times. Gary Anderson and James Wade qualified for 15 successive tournaments between 2007 and 2021, before missing their first event in 2022.

Television coverage

ITV screened the first four editions of the Grand Slam of Darts, which ended their 19-year absence from regular darts coverage (although they did show a one-off Clash of Champions match between Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld in 1999). The inaugural event saw selected first-round games, the semi-finals, and the final all screened live on ITV1 and the rest of the tournament live on ITV4 but the live coverage was moved entirely to ITV4 in subsequent years, with highlights packages being the only coverage of the event on ITV1.

The tournament proved popular on ITV4, with the 2009 event achieving nine out of the top ten places in the channel's output for that week. Viewing figures ranged from 208,000 to 435,000 with the final itself watched by 454,000. ITV extended their contract with the PDC to show the tournament until at least 2010.

The presenting team consisted of lead presenter Matt Smith, and analysts Alan Warriner-Little and Chris Mason (who replaced Steve Beaton in 2008). The commentating team included Stuart Pyke, who also commentates on darts for Sky Sports, boxing commentator John Rawling, and Peter Drury. Janie Omorogbe provided reporting duties and player interviews.

On 25 January 2011, it was announced that Sky Sports would broadcast the event until 2018. Sky continues to air the event with its current deal running until 2025.

Sponsorship

The sponsors of the event were PartyBets.com (2007) and PartyPoker.com (2008–09), websites operated by Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, the Daily Mirror newspaper (2010), William Hill (2011–13), Singha Beer (2014–16), bwin (2017–18) and BoyleSports (2019–2020). Cazoo took over as sponsors from 2021, as part of a deal where they will also sponsor the PDC World Cup of Darts and the European Championship. In October 2023, Mr Vegas was named as title sponsor.

References

References

1. (8 September 2020). "BDO era comes to an end as counties join UKDA".
2. (20 November 2010). "Taylor beaten by Beaton". [[British Sky Broadcasting]].
3. Waters, Mike. (2 May 2018). "Darts legend Eric Bristow to have PDC Grand Slam trophy named in his honour following sudden death".
4. "Grand Slam Of Darts Winners". Darts Database.
5. [http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/sport/article-23395241-details/On+the+line:+Sleepy+Wasps+set+alarm+bells+ringing/article.do ITV agree to cover Grand Slam] {{Webarchive. link. (2013-05-05 This is London)
6. [https://www.barb.co.uk/whats-new/weekly-top-10? Weekly Top 10 Programmes] {{webarchive. link. (2014-07-18 Broadcasters' Audience Research Board)
7. [http://www.itv.com/Sport/Darts/News/GrandSlamfever/default.html ITV signs deal with PDC for three more years] {{webarchive. link. (2008-10-22 ITV)
8. [http://www.pdc.tv/page/GrandSlamDetail/0,,10180~2275468,00.html Sky Sports Snap Up Grand Slam] {{webarchive. link. (2011-01-28 PDC)
9. "Sky Sports and PDC agree new five-year deal". [[Sky Sports]].
10. "SINGHA Beer Sponsor Grand Slam". [[Professional Darts Corporation.
11. (18 October 2023). "Mr Vegas becomes title sponsor Grand Slam of Darts & Nordic Darts Masters".