Former Players Champion and current darts pundit Paul Nicholson on why Madison Square Garden holds the key to cultural change towards darts in North America…
When you think of North American darts, what comes to mind first? The answers may differ from person-to-person, but I would wager that most darts fans would go for John Part, as they should.
Even at the height of his success, John could walk any American or Canadian street and nobody would marvel at the talent or impact he had on a sport that is predominantly seen as a hobby, past-time or an occasionally lubricated way to settle scores.
This feeling towards darts in North America is cultural and it is taking decades to change the thinking.
Myself and many others have passed through border patrol in the United States especially and the way we are looked at when we say we are professional darts players is demeaning.
The ubiquitous line of, “You can make a living at that?” gets my blood boiling every time.
Here is the thing about darts in North America these days though, people are taking it way more seriously than ever and its not the players who are making the most significant changes, it is the organisers.
The Championship Darts Circuit (CDC) decided that following a more successful model akin to that shown by Asia and Oceania would heighten the scope for talent to shine, and help from the PDC could allow them to showcase that talent in the right place and give everyone something to shoot for.
Turn your minds back to the early days of the PDC. Americans and Canadians had a big say in things.
Larry Butler won the very first World Matchplay. There were Americans in all of the first world championships. Names like Jim Watkins, Gary Mawson, Gerald Verrier, Jerry Umberger, Sean Downs and Steve Brown represented the Stars and Stripes and as for Canada, you had to wait until 1998 for John Part to make his debut in that event.
With all due respect to these players, they were seen as ‘whipping boys’ of the time, maybe with the exception of Steve Brown who made the semi-finals of the first World Championship in 1994.
For years, the PDC have been trying to crack America and it has proven very difficult.
Events have been played in Connecticut, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Chicago and many other cities in PDC history, but the truth remains that North America still saw darts as a bit of a hobby sport and nothing serious.
Something needed to change, and I think the introduction of Madison Square Garden might just be it.
Let’s face it, when you think of MSG, you think boxing, you think New York Rangers and Wrestlemania.
You do not think darts, but maybe now you do little bit more after two successful years hosting the US Darts Masters.
The feedback from the players has been incredible, the reaction of the fans has been excellent too.
I do not have anything against Las Vegas when it comes to sport or indeed darts, but the West coast of America doesn’t work as much as the East coast does right now.
The West has some catching up to do, as the catchment areas of NYC, Boston, Philadelphia and the Southern provinces of Canada have taken the lead when it comes to the growth of the game.
The point that proves this is that Jeff Smith, Matt Campbell, Jim Long and Part are all from the same area of Canada and that is way more accessible to New York than say Vegas, Texas or otherwise in the United States.
It is no surprise to me to see Smith and Long doing well in a World Series event. It was great to see what can happen, because the World Series gave us Damon Heta, the Anderson brothers, Corey Cadby and many others. This is what it is all about, but with America and Canada we are still battling against that tide of it being seen as a hobby.
I think MSG is sending a very clear and concise message that darts is serious business.
We will never compete with the NFL, NHL, NBA or even MLS but when you see Luke Humphries and Gerwyn Price playing darts with players from the New York Jets, you catch yourself thinking, “hang on a minute now!” Maybe we can do this. Maybe we can change the thinking and they will take us seriously.
I believe in what Peter Citera is doing with CDC. I believe that Madison Square Garden is the perfect place for us to make a splash every spring in America, and I also feel that we have a long way to go, but we are most definitely going in the right direction.
When influential people like Ariel Helwani are getting involved, ears prick up and tongues start wagging and I see growth as inevitable.
This is a battle cry! If you are American or Canadian and you like darts and are good at it, you can be the next generation of stars to follow in the hallowed footsteps of Virachkul, Lim, Sinnaeve, Butler, Part, Mawson, Jeff Smith, Young and Gates.
This is no joke, North American darts WANTS YOU (slightly cheesy Uncle Sam reference) and we want you too. Stand up and show us what you can do from 2024, because we are coming back next year.
We have already seen commitment from the likes of Danny Baggish, Dan Lauby Jnr, Jules Van Dongen, Alex Spellman, Leonard Gates and a few others. And with new names like Jason Brandon, Jake Macmillan and JT Davis, the future could be even brighter.
One last thing though, if you think about the PDC World Cup coming up, and how well Matt Campbell and Jeff Smith (the new two-time North American darts champion) are playing, and how well versed they are in pairs, you might want to see what price they are as a dark horse. Imagine the impact of a Canadian World Cup win?
If Canada does win the World Cup, they surely deserve their own World Series event too, eh?
About Author
