HUMPHRIES BELIEVES MAJOR TOURNAMENT HEADING FOR AMERICA
01/07/2025 By Aaron Nijjar
LUKE HUMPHRIES is convinced a PDC major is heading to the USA and believes darts can crack America if fans keep turning out.
World No. 1 Humphries lapped up every moment of last weekend’s World Series in New York as he lifted the trophy at Madison Square Garden.
Electric crowds of over 3,000 hit the Big Apple venue with the competition staged in one of the smaller halls at the iconic arena.
‘Cool Hand’ admits a big TV event is moving across the Atlantic in the future.
He said: “Let’s not walk before we can run, but I believe that the way the crowd were this weekend, and a lot of players said it, you know there’s 3,000/4,000 creating better environments than we have on Premier League nights of 8/10,0000.
“There’s a major coming in the next two or three years, or the next four or five years here.
“I don’t know what that will be, but we have to have the support from the American crowd and be like: We really love it, we want to come.
“If the support’s there, Barry [Hearn] and Matt [Porter] will bring it. We’re more than happy to come here for big major tournaments.
“I honestly, hand on heart, believe that in the next, you know, two, three, four, five years, that that will generally happen.”
Eight-times major winner Humphries knows it’ll take even more support from American fans for darts to stage bigger and better events across the States.
He added: “That’s what we want, we want the big venue, we’re so blessed to have the theatre, we’re blessed to have it there, but my gosh, we would love to have it in the big arena.
“Like I keep saying, we have to have the support from the Americans to come and allow us to be able to hire the venues and stuff because it’s expensive.
“I was at a [New York] Rangers game in NHL last year, and when they scored, it was just an insane atmosphere. I’d love to experience that in my time, come and experience a 15, 16, 17, 18 thousand American crowd in their full voice.
“What they showed this weekend just proves that they really are, really are enjoying it, so it’s great to see the numbers are up and we’re getting bigger and better.
“Next year, hopefully, even bigger and then, who knows, we can get to that big arena, that’s what we all dream of.”
Image by Taylor Lanning.
