Eurosport has agreed a deal to televise five major British Darts Organisation events on its channels in the UK and worldwide during the autumn of 2014.
The pan-European sports broadcaster, which has covered BDO tournaments on a regular basis over the past 12 months, will screen the Winmau World Masters, seen as the most prestigious event on the BDO circuit outside of the the Lakeside World Championships.
The World Masters will be staged at Hull City Hall, the tournament’s venue since 2011, from October 9-12 with British Eurosport’s live coverage of the 2014 event running from the last 32 stage to the finals.
This will be the culmination of a bumper week of darts in Hull which will include play offs for the BDO World Darts Trophy, BDO World Professional Championship and the inaugural BDO World Youth Championships.
Four other tournaments have been added to Eurosport’s darts schedule as part of its new deal with BDO Events, the new commercial arm of the BDO.
These include the British Open at The Spa in Bridlington, with the final day being broadcast live on September 21, along with the Romanian Open (September 28) Top of Ghent (October 17-19) and the Northern Ireland Open (November 7-9).
All five events will be covered live and/or delayed on either British Eurosport or British Eurosport 2, with extended highlights also due to be shown in the week following each event.
Eurosport’s relationship with BDO Events was first forged with the showing of all three days of the inaugural World Darts Trophy in February 2014, which was held at the iconic Tower Ballroom in Blackpool.
BDO Events, the BDO’s recently established commercial arm, is aiming to replicate the success of the rival Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) by re-invigorating the organisations circuit of events, including more TV tournaments and refreshing its image.
This comes after only two BDO tournaments were televised by major networks in 2013, with the BBC and ESPN covering the Lakeside World Championship, while British Eurosport picked up the rights to broadcast the final day of the Winmau World Masters in October.
Commenting on the worldwide Eurosport deal for the autumn series of events, Sue Williams, BDO chairperson, said: “BDO Events have been working very hard to secure this deal and we are grateful to Eurosport for their continued confidence in the BDO.
“We’ve worked side by side with them over the last year at tournaments like the World Masters and adding the British Open to the deal can only raise the profile of the BDO and the circuit which we provide.
“These events are part of a 5 tournament autumn series which will be a fantastic start the darting year.”
Stephen Holland, director of BDO Events, added: “BDO Events broadened our relationship with the BDO in April 2014, and have since acquired similar sales agency rights with other governing bodies and promoters.
“We are delighted to see these tournaments representing a range of countries’ governing bodies and promoters, broadcast on a multi territory basis with a partner of the stature of Eurosport which will continue to support us as we further promote more of these events to a wider audience.
“We are particularly pleased for the players who will get to showcase their undoubted skills to a much wider audience.”
The new Eurosport deal adds to the BDO’s existing deal with the BBC for live free-to-air coverage of the organisation’s showpiece event, the Lakeside World Professional Championships, until at least 2016.
For more information about the British Darts Organisation, visit the official website.
.
.
