2007 LAKESIDE WORLD PRO RICHEST EVER

The 2007 LAKESIDE WORLD PROFESSIONAL DARTS CHAMPIONSHIPS will celebrate the 30th Anniversary of exclusive coverage of the BDO’s World Professional Darts Championships on BBC Television with the richest prize fund of all time.

There is an available prize fund of £290,000, with the 2007 Men’s World Champion picking up a cheque for £70,000.

The full prize fund is as follows:

2007 Men’s World Pro Champion £70,000
Men’s Runner-up £30,000
Men’s Joint 3rd x 2 £11,000
Men’s Quarter-Finalists x 4 £ 6,000
Men’s Second Round x 8 £ 4,250
Men’s First Round x 16 £ 2,750
Highest Checkout (Men & Women) £ 2,000
9-Dart Televised Checkout
(Men & Women) £52,000

2007 Women’s World Pro Champion £ 6,000
Women’s Runner-Up £ 2,000
Joint 3rd x 2 £ 1,000
Joint 5th x 4 £ 500

To be played at Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green, Surrey -‘the home of World Darts’ – from Saturday, January 6th to Sunday, January 14th, 2007, the World Professional Darts Championships have all the history and kudos as the No.1 tournament in World Darts. The Men’s World Professional Championship will celebrate 30 years continuous coverage on BBC (1978 to 2007), while the only stand-alone Women’s World Professional Championship will be staged for the seventh consecutive year (2001 to 2007).

“Lakeside is delighted to be continuing as the main title sponsor”, says Bob Potter, OBE, proprietor of the Lakeside Complex. “The atmosphere is unique, and we have once again increased the prize money to reflect the ever-increasing standards that we are privileged to see year in year out.”

In addition to BBC TV, Dutch broadcasting company SBS-6 will be back for their 10th consecutive year to transmit live darts to The Netherlands and Greater Europe, Eurosport will be adding to the global TV mix, and digital viewers will be able to watch every dart thrown live on BBCi. In addition, BBC Worldwide will offer coverage to countries around the globe.

BBC viewing figures in 2006 were a healthy 14% up on 2005 to a 1.2million average audience (10.2% share). Excluding the late night Darts Extra, the average audience throughout the week was 1.3 million (10.5% share).

The peak quarter hour was up to over 4 million, with an overall peak audience for the final of 4.2 million – a massive increase on the 3 million peak audience for the 2005 final).

The World Pro enjoyed the best ever ratings in the history of SBS-6, with an average of 3.9 million throughout the week and 5.03million for the final – a broadcasting record for SBS-6.

“I am proud to say that the World Professional Darts Championships not only boasts the true history of darts at the highest possible level, but also has the largest TV audiences for darts in the world – all enjoying the best players, finest officials, and the No.1 one venue in World Darts” adds Olly Croft.

2006 Men’s World Pro Champion JELLE KLAASEN and six times Women’s World Pro Champion TRINA GULLIVER will return to defend their titles from January 6th to 14th, 2007.