Aspinall brands PDC tour “repetitive” and demands major changes

NATHAN ASPINALL believes the PDC tour has become “repetitive” but insists a Royal Rumble event is not the answer.

The world No16 admitted he would love to take part in the concept after Luke Littler threw his support behind it earlier this year.

Aspinall, 35, reckons it would only work as an exhibition and claims the sport's biggest names would never commit without huge prize money.

But The Asp has called on darts chiefs to freshen up the calendar, saying existing tournaments need new formats rather than introducing gimmick events.

He told [247Bet](https://www.247bet.com/en-gb/sports): “I would love to take part in something like a Royal Rumble, but I don't think it would work, really.

“You couldn't have it as a ranking event anyway. It would have to be an exhibition event if you're going to do something like that.

“You have to try it without the big stakes at first. As fun as it would be, I think it would need to stay as an exhibition-type event rather than a PDC ranking event.

“And if it’s an exhibition, then they probably wouldn’t be able get enough money to attract the players to travel from all over to play in it.

“You wouldn’t get the commitment from the top players. Imagine trying to get Michael van Gerwen to fly over from Holland for one leg of 501.

“If he gets beat, he's only getting about 500 quid. That’s just not happening, is it?

“However, I do think they need to start changing some of the formats. I'm a darts player, that's my job now, but before that a darts fan, and the tour is getting so repetitive, in my opinion. It's best of 11 all the time.

“Look at the World Grand Prix, which always struggles for ticket sales. It's double-in, double-out and best of three sets.

“It's been the same for years. I do think there's scope to change it. What that change looks like, I don't know. Do you change it to 701?

“Do you make it a bit more cut-throat and do double-in, double-out 301 over a short format?”

Aspinall also believes the Premier League has outgrown its current eight player format.

The two-time major winner believes the strength in depth across the sport means the competition should be expanded.

He added: “I don’t know exactly what the changes should be, but I do think there's the room to change some things, definitely.

“Darts is booming. We should be making every event as exciting as possible and selling out everything.

“The Premier League has to change next year too. It has to. And not just so I can get in. I think there are enough players and enough depth now to extend it to 10, 12 or even 16 players.

“I do think some changes need to be made in some tournaments just to give them a spark of life. Let's try to do something to freshen it up.”

Words: Aaron Nijjar

Image: Taylor Lanning