Lakeside 2010 Prize Money
Posted on October 31st, 2009
The bravado with which this announcement was released by the BDO is a painfully transparent attempt to stick two fingers up at Barry Hearn’s PDC. Like kids in the playground it just makes everybody look silly and childish. Hearn’s offer to buy the BDO may be serious but the timing was obviously intended to rile Olly and his cronies. And rile them it did – Olly taking the decision to instantly reject the offer out of hand.
This announcement of a woefully unbalanced prize fund is wrapped in a load of bluster trumpeting the fact that the winner receives £100k. Why bother? Why not just concentrate on making the best of what you have and ensuring your own members are looked after? Scratch below the first prize and the picture is alarming.
For the 2010 Lakeside Championships the total prize fund of £325k is an increase from 2009 of just £5k – all of it goes to the mens champion. There’s no increase for the rest of the men and no increase for the women. The ladies champion will receive a paltry £6k. That won’t even pay for a year on the tour. To put it in perspective, it’s only double what a male first round loser gets. It’s the same as a PDC first round loser at Ally Pally. Anastasia Dobromyslova can win almost as much just for being in the Grand Slam of Darts and not winning a game. Losing ladies quarter finalists at Lakeside get a piffling £500.
And it’s not just the disparity between men and women; the mens prize money breakdown is far too top heavy. In their desperation to reward their winner and be able to declare him a £100k world champion, they have forgotten about the rest. The winner will get more than three times the £30k awarded to the beaten finalist and nearly ten times the £11k awarded to losing semi finalists. All the men’s prize money pales against the PDC pot but so what? Cut your own cloth accordingly.
The BDO can’t compete with the PDC’s £1million prize fund (£200k to the winner), so they shouldn’t try. By doing so it is now at the expense of their very own BDO family. The rumblings of discontent are becoming more audible with every decision the maroon blazers make and this just seems like another shot in the foot. If only both sides could grow up and get on.
Here’s the press release in full, judge for yourself…
£100,000 FOR 2010 BDO LAKESIDE WORLD PROFESSIONAL MEN’S DARTS CHAMPION
LAKESIDE COUNTRY CLUB, FRIMLEY GREEN, SURREY | SATURDAY, JANUARY 2 to SUNDAY, JANUARY 10, 2010
The 2010 Lakeside World Professional Men’s Champion will receive a cheque for £100,000, and the total prize fund for the Championships will be £325,000 – making it the richest ever in the history of the most prestigious Championships in World Darts.
It’s a fitting reward for the players from over thirty countries around the globe who have competed for the right to be in the final field of 32 men and 8 women in the BBC televised Championships from January 2nd to 10th, 2010.
“What a fantastic way to celebrate the 25th year that the BDO has staged the World Pro at Lakeside!”, says Olly Croft, Managing Director of BDO Enterprises Ltd, “We are delighted that Bob Potter’s commitment and support of these great Championships remains as strong as ever.
“We first came to Lakeside in 1986 and 2010 marks the twenty-fifth consecutive year that Bob has made Lakeside Country Club the undisputed home of world darts. But more than that, since Lakeside became main title sponsor in 2004, the winning cheque for the Men’s Champion has doubled to a life changing six-figure sum. It represents a marvellous commitment to BDO darts and coincides with the wonderful news that BBC TV Sport is extending its exclusive contract with the BDO to broadcast the World Pro until 2013.
“In addition, John Smith’s and Jackpotjoy.com continue as official Lakeside and BDO shirt patch sponsors respectively, and the World Pro continues to maintain the history of darts at the highest possible participation levels. It is a true world event seen by the biggest TV audiences for darts anywhere in the world.
.“We are proud that the World Pro offers not only a wonderful mix of well-known players and emerging talent on an annual basis, but also the finest officials in world darts, the world’s premier broadcaster and the No.1 venue in World Darts.
“What a winning combination!”
Played at Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green, Surrey – ‘the home of World Darts’ – from Saturday, January 2nd to Sunday, January 10th, 2010, the Men’s World Professional Championship will celebrate thirty-three years of continuous coverage on BBC (1978 to 2010), while the Women’s World Professional Championship will be staged for the tenth consecutive year (2001 to 2010).
“Of course, I am delighted that Lakeside is continuing as main title sponsor of these great Championships for the sixth consecutive year”, says Bob Potter, OBE, proprietor of the Lakeside Complex.
“The atmosphere is truly unique, and we are privileged to play host to some of the world’s top players – men and women – who produce ever-increasing standards of darts excellence year after year.
“The increase in prize money reflects our ongoing commitment not only to the Championships, but also to the BDO and its players and officials, together with BBC TV Sport, who combine to provide us with top-of-the-bill darts year after year”.
The extensive TV coverage by BBC Sport is complemented by Red Button and online coverage of every dart thrown for digital TV viewers. In addition, thanks to deals signed by the BDO’s international TV distribution partner BBC Worldwide, coverage of the event will be seen throughout Europe on Eurosport, and throughout Asia on Eurosport Asia. Coverage of the whole tournament will also appear on SBS-6 in Holland.
This provides the most diverse TV exposure for any darts Championship anywhere in the world, and collectively produces the biggest global TV audiences for darts.
2010 PRIZE MONEY – MEN: WOMEN:
CHAMPION: £100,000 CHAMPION: £6,000
Runner-up £30,000 Runner-Up £2,000
Semi-Finalist £11,000 x 2 Joint 3rd £1,000 x 2
Q/Finalists £6,000 x 4 Joint 5th: £500 x 4
2nd Round £4,250 x 8
1st Round £3,000 x 16 TOTAL: £12,000
TOTAL: £258,000
Highest Checkout: Men & Women: £3,000
9-Dart 501 Men & Women: £52,000
TOTAL AVAILABLE PRIZE FUND: £325,000
Tags: Lakeside World Professional, Prize Money
Filed under BDO-WDF, Lakeside World Professional |
3 Responses to “Lakeside 2010 Prize Money”
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Nick Says:
January 8th, 2010 at 11:53 pmI am enjoying the tv coverage but was very disappointed with the Lakeside website when I looked for tickets etc. It is totally devoid of detail, do I assume this weekend will be sold out or just turn up ??
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john Says:
January 10th, 2010 at 8:21 pmi have watched with horror the standard of play and comments from the tv commentators who or what are they on about..
cries of good darts and huge applause for scores between 85 and 120 is a laugh a minute. i mean compare this to the pdc is like watching two different games. the pdc with all its glamour glitz and top top players and the bdo with as much glamour or glitz as a oap”s christmas dinner..
the bdo should get a reality check and have ripped mr hearns hand off. however the fat men in the ivory tower would have to find alternative employment.
the bdo world championships is a jumped up inter county competition. and i doubt any one of them ive seen this week would make the top 32 of the pdc.. -
Ashley Says:
January 11th, 2010 at 11:02 amthe standard of some of the legs are the same its the consistancy that lacks. pdc players seem to play top form leg in leg out where bdo players have spells. i think some of the players are good enough for the top 32 of the pdc look back to november about how well the bdo players where against the pdc. and if you look at the pdc players there are alot of ex-bdo players in there…
