Is the new Premier League format better?

The 2022 Premier League started with a hurricane of changes. And we are not talking about the Premier League football.  You can find all about football on punditfeed.

The new format promises to make the most famous darts championship even more competitive and thrilling.

Previously, the PL was played like this: ten top darts were invited to it, who played once a week with each other. After nine weeks, the two underdogs got a kick in the ass and a cash settlement, while the other eight played another round. At the end of seven weeks, there were four tops (according to the Premier League rating) who skated the semi-finals and the final. This format has remained in place for many years, with minor changes: in 2019 and 2020, there were nine regular players and nine challengers (players with invitations) who played only once.

This year, the PDC has completely redesigned the format - how does it look now, and is it better?

- reduced the number of players: instead of ten - eight;

- each stage of the Premier League is held in the format of a mini-knock-out tournament;

- for winning a stage, the player will receive points in the Premier League rating and money - ten thousand pounds.

Now the Premier League is somewhat reminiscent of the Biathlon or Skeleton World Cup. There, one stage is a whole story that ends with a medal on the pedestal (or with tears outside of it). It will be the same in the PL, only instead of a pedestal, the accounting department will write a check for a tidy sum. Motivation!

But the reason for the transformations probably lies deeper. Previously, the Premier League sinned with passing matches that did not receive much attention. Draws were especially annoying - the previous format allowed this. Now they will not be: either wines or lows. No other way. This will keep the intrigue until the very last throw.

Let's go back to history again. With a ten-slot tournament, the places were distributed as follows: they definitely passed the top 4 of the PDC rating, four players were nominated by the corporation itself, and two more were nominated by the official Sky Sports broadcaster. Usually, the results of the World Cup (which takes place in December) and media significance were taken into account, as well as the prospects of the player himself, if he appeared in the professionals relatively recently. In fact, the Premier League is an elite darts club where only the elite can get into.

This principle has been preserved in the new tournament - elitism, rather, has even become more concentrated. But this is good, it should be in a full-fledged sporting event.

The principle of "players from the top 4 PDC" has been preserved. Peter Wright, Gerwyn Price, and Michael van Gerwen are legends for all time, and their absence from such tournaments can be equated with a crime against humanity. James Wade raises questions for many, in many respects regarding his not very good form, but it is simply stupid to ignore the current World Cup semi-finalist. After all, in the last two years he has played at the level of the fourth darter in

There are no questions here either. Michael is a World Cup finalist, and if this item does not give passage to the Premier League, then there is definitely no point in it. Johnny is the current champion of the premiere, and he booked his invite for 2022 back in 2021. We put them aside - everything is deserved.

That leaves Joe Cullen and Gary Anderson. Cullen got a place as a Masters champion, and it's already becoming a tradition. It was first tested last year when Johnny Clayton won at the Masters. The experience is more than successful, and Cullen is ready to build and strengthen it for future generations.

There is a feeling that the PDC is trying to move away from the media in favor of sports performance and distance itself from Sky Sports in decision making.