WARRINGTON’S Back-to-back world darts champion Luke Littler returns to London’s O2 Arena tonight aiming to secure a second Premier League title in just his third season in the competition.
Standing in his way first is Welsh star Gerwyn Price in the opening semi-final of Finals Night. Should Littler progress, he will face either reigning world number one Luke Humphries or 2021 Premier League champion Jonny Clayton in the final.
But ahead of the biggest night of the Premier League season, Littler has admitted he would like to see major changes made to the tournament’s current format.
The current eight-player format has been in place since 2022, with players competing in weekly knockout tournaments across 16 weeks of action.
Fans have regularly voiced frustrations over the repeated match-ups throughout the campaign, with the same players facing each other numerous times during the season.
PDC chief executive Matt Porter recently acknowledged that the organisation is open to reviewing the format in response to those concerns, despite insisting the current structure still creates excitement inside arenas each Thursday night.
Speaking ahead of Finals Night, Littler admitted he would personally welcome a return to one of the previous formats used during his childhood.
Littler Wants Return Of ‘Judgement Night’
“I’d like to see a change. I’d like to play in a premier league where it’s just one game a night.”
“Get an extra two players in, get a judgement night back in as well, because that’s what I grew up watching,” Littler told SportsBoom.co.uk.
The format Littler is referring to was last used in 2021 and featured 10 players instead of the current eight-man field.
Under that structure, each player competed in one match per night rather than a mini knockout tournament. After the opening nine weeks, the bottom two players in the table were eliminated in what became known as ‘Judgement Night’.
The remaining eight players would then continue battling for places in the top four before Finals Night.
Although Littler never had the opportunity to compete in that version of the Premier League, he admits it was the format he enjoyed most growing up as a fan of the sport.
“It was very, very interesting to see obviously two Premier League players go with your 10th and 9th and then the other eight can battle it out.”
Despite preferring the older system, Littler also acknowledged that the PDC may choose to stick with the current structure if it continues to prove successful commercially and with audiences.
“If it’s not working, then change it, but if it’s working for the PDC, then just keep it in place,” he concluded.
