RECORD-BREAKING PRIZE MONEY FOR 2008  LAKESIDE WORLD PROFESSIONAL DARTS CHAMPIONSHIPS
LAKESIDE COUNTRY CLUB, FRIMLEY GREEN, SURREY. SATURDAY, JANUARY 5 to SUNDAY, JANUARY 13, 2008 

The 2008 LAKESIDE WORLD PROFESSIONAL DARTS CHAMPIONSHIPS will have the richest prize fund in the
thirty-one year history of the BDO’s World Championships.

In its inaugural year of 1978, total prize money was £10,500 and the first ever World Champion, Leighton Rees of Wales, received a cheque for £3,000.

In 2008, the available prize fund is being increased to its highest ever total of £310,000 – with the Men’s Champion receiving a cheque for a record-breaking £85,000.

“This is yet more positive news for the BDO , and we are  delighted that Lakeside’s commitment to these great Championships is stronger than ever”, says Olly Croft of the BDO. “Since Lakeside became main title sponsor in 2004, there have been consistent  increases in prize money – especially for the World Champion. In 2004, the Champions cheque was £50,000. In 2008 it will be £85,000. That represents a 70% increase!

“Needless to say, I am proud that the World Professional Darts Championships not only boasts such a significant prize fund, but that it also enjoys the true history of darts at the highest possible level. In addition, it has the largest TV audiences for darts anywhere in the world, plus the best players, finest officials, and the No.1 one venue in World Darts.”

To be played at Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green, Surrey - ‘the home of World Darts’ – from Saturday, January 5th to Sunday, January 13th, 2008, the Men’s World Professional Championship will celebrate 31 years continuous coverage on BBC (1978 to 2008), while the only stand-alone Women’s World Professional Championship will be staged for the eighth consecutive year (2001 to 2008).

 “Lakeside is delighted to be continuing as main title sponsor of these great Championships for the fifth consecutive year”, says Bob Potter, OBE, proprietor of the Lakeside Complex. “The atmosphere is unique, and we are privileged to play host to the world’s top players – men and women – who produce ever-increasing standards of darts excellence year after year.

“The increase in prize money not only reflects our commitment to the Lakeside World Championships, but also to the BDO players and officials who provide us with top-of-the-bill darts on BBC television year after year”.   

There will be live darts on BBC-1 and BBC-2 every day of the Championships, together with afternoon and recorded highlights. BBCi digital viewers will once again be able to watch every dart thrown live, and BBC Worldwide will offer coverage to more than seventy countries around the globe.

In addition, Dutch broadcasting company SBS-6 will be back at Lakeside for their 11th consecutive year to transmit live darts to The Netherlands, and  Eurosport (with 104 million outlets) will be adding to the global TV mix.
 
Collectively this provides the biggest TV audience for darts in the world.

A peak audience of five million BBC viewers watched the exciting and dramatic 2007 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championship Final between Martin Adams and Phill Nixon.
This represented a remarkable 19.5% share of the BBC audience on a Sunday evening, up against ITV’s top-rating soap opera  ‘Coronation Street’, and meant that 1 in 5 of the available viewing audience tuned into the 2007 Lakeside World Final.

This was an increase of nearly one million viewers on the 2006 peak audience and represented the highest audience for a Lakeside World Professional final in six years.
2007 Men’s World Professional Champion MARTIN ADAMS and seven times Women’s World Professional Champion TRINA GULLIVER will return to Lakeside to defend their titles from January 5th to 13th, 2008.

PRIZE MONEY: