Championship League was a PDC

darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, missiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dar ...

tournament that used a

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

and legs format similar to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

but offered the top players outside the top 8 in the

PDC Order of Merit The PDC Order of Merit is a world ranking system used by one of the darts organisations, the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Following the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship it superseded a world ranking system based on points being awarded fo ...

a chance to compete for the championship. It was the first ever darts tournament to be solely broadcast on and funded by

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

distribution.PDC Website report – PDC Launch Championship of Darts
from the

Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the World ...

, obtained 22-08-2008 The tournament was first announced on the official PDC website in mid-April under the name 'Championship of Darts'. It took place throughout September and October and featured a field of 29 players. The inaugural championship – the 2008 Championship League Darts – was held at the Crondon Park Golf Club in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

and featured a prize fund of £189,000 and a place in the

Grand Slam of Darts The Grand Slam of Darts is a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation and is known as the Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts for sponsorship purposes. The PDC also invited the best performing players from its rival, the British Dart ...

for the winner.PDC Website report – Championship League Darts Information & Groups
from the Professional Darts Corporation, obtained 22-08-2008 Phil Taylor won the inaugural championship. The final tournament was held in 2013.– 2014 PDC calendar unveiled
from the Professional Darts Corporation, obtained 13-11-2014

Internet coverage

As there were no spectators in the playing room, coverage was exclusive to the Internet. The choice to broadcast the tournament over the Internet had been partly inspired by the

Championship League Championship League is a professional snooker tournament, devised by Matchroom Sport. A ranking event version of the tournament began from September 2020, played similarly to its invitational, non-ranking counterpart but with some minor changes ...

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

event and was also a successor to the live streaming of certain matches from the Blue Square

UK Open The Cazoo UK Open is a ranking major darts tournament held annually at the Butlins Minehead Resort by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in England. Often referred to as the "FA Cup of darts", the UK Open replicates the abolition of seedin ...

regional finals from the

PDC Pro Tour The PDC Pro Tour is a series of non-televised darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). They comprise Professional Dart Players Association (PDPA) Players Championships and European Tour events. Only four players ...

. The streaming was aided by the company Perform, a digital sports agency. Live streaming of every game was available on several sports betting websites, and was available internationally except in the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

where, for legal reasons, the Championship could not be shown.

Final results

Finalists

References

External links

Championship League Darts page on the PDC website
{{PDC Darts Tournaments Sports leagues established in 2008 Sports leagues disestablished in 2013 2008 establishments in England 2013 disestablishments in England Professional Darts Corporation tournaments