After the recent B.D.O. championships I think its plainly clear that something needs to change, and I personally think its time the 2 bodies amalgamated into one.

Obviously some of the B.D.O. players may struggle against the top P.D.C. but overall there will be more competitions with a lot more prize money on offer.

Whether there should be some kind of divisional structure like say in the Football side of these is a hard to say. But with the experience of developing the grass roots of the game that the B.D.O. has and the money that the P.D.C. can generate I think it will only do good for the game.

But what do you think?

yeah they should merge and have divisions .

They both have 2 entirely different working methods and could not exist as one entity imho

Andy wrote:

They both have 2 entirely different working methods and could not exist as one entity imho

Well thats a problem I guess, but there is bound to be issues such as that, but still think some kind of integration of the 2 bodies is needed.

The two organisations both have different ways of doing things , The BDO encourages the county game which many of us aspire to become part of while the PDC is just what it says PROFESSIONAL DARTS CORPORATION And is therefore more aimed at top line players , The BDO as a separate entity has the grass roots of the game , Bringing players up to a new level , In fact the BDO is pretty much the PDC training ground , Do well in one then move on to the other , just different steps in the game ! They both have there place Ollie Croft and co should have listened back in the 80s instead of the my way or the highway attitude , Bet he didnt really expect them to hit the highway and for the pdc to have the top line players !
What we have now is the equivalent of county (BDO) and pro (PDC) and the natural progression if the player is good enough is from one to the other.

when the cameras showed Olly sat in the crowd the other day he looked well sick, not happy chappy at all.

But I'm not saying they should stop all what bdo have done, only improve it, but as you say Hearn would want something out of it so would not do it for nothing.

I am hopeful the B.D.O. will get back on the right track but it will take time , Martin Adams is only a small part of the organisation and there are plans to improve the company for all . Im a B.D.O. man , i grew up watching B.D.O darts Lowe , Bristow all the guys that are now consigned to darting history ! I like the fact that a builder from a housing estate if good enough can grace the stage if only for 1 round ! However you dress it up i think the P.D.C is an elitist organisation , That fact cant really be argued , P for professional !!
The B.D.O will i hope survive and grow strong again but there is much work to do and i do think they are aware of this but it wont happen overnight , These things take time ,a lot of damage has been done since the split and wounds will need to heal .

Andy

Well I hope your right Andy, its not looking so great for them now, they really need to get more tv coverage too.

Trouble is the audience is limited , I suppose the only way they will get more tv is to go to one of the sky channels or similar though i would love to see the BDO continue on the BBC i dont think thats a viable course of action , Tv money is badly needed to take them forward .

More tv coverage is needed for the BDO ..as Andy sais i also was brought up watching

the BDO also when things were much better (my opinion ) as we only had all Darters playing for to see whom

was the Champion, but now with the PDC we have players where one becomes Champion

and so we have to Champions one each from both and about time both came together

even if its changing the name to another as that way we then would know who really is the best

But there maybe an arguement against such because like Andy sais there's the BDO which is in a way the only chance
for the say Builder to grace the stage and possibly winning such in having a very gd tourney
whereas later in time he possibly if good enough can make it his livelihood

Is much better than building with bricks id imagine

Ive mainly been a BDO fan because they were the very 1st and the PDC and Barry Hearn
got involved because of Greed as money is his main motive being a businessman
as i dont think deep down he is a big Darts man at all .. In My Opinion

He seen it as big business and has in a way taken over with his PDC ..
But as sais the BDO is good for the grassroots of the game for us ordinary immortals
having a chance of gracing the stage more so ;)

Thats a fair point Stevie about Hearn being in it for the money, but I don't begrudge someone who has the skill to make money using their business talents, his motives may not have been for the love of the game like Olly Croft, but we have all benefitted from what Hearn has achieved with the PDC.

Olly Croft may have started with a love for the game but the attitude of him and those around him damn near killed the B.D.O .All this talk of the 2 entitys joining would never have come up if he had jusl listened to the players instead of trying to destroy the ones that wouldnt toe the line !

i would love to see mr hearns running the bdo but i would wonder how he would handle the county and youth side of it.

but in all honesty the bdo need to pull their finger out and get some serious tv coverage on terrestrial tv and not sky as some people dont have it, even the bdo could run the county v pro comps in pubs, i think martin adams has his work cut out though as ollie croft for all his love of the game did smother it.

They will never join forces, and I agree in order to survive and grow the BDO needs more tv exposure. If they can't get terrestrial involved then why not ESPN - they showed the Masters and now Lakeside, so maybe they can buy in to do a few more comps.

The BDO should also look at streaming some competitions online like the PDC do - and maybe even one of the county matches each month as well. Possibly even streaming comps into the pubs.

If they can get more tv exposure then they would be able to get more sponsors interested - get more sponsors they can increase the prize funds for their comps, and with more money available less of the top talent would go over to the PDC.

It isn't going to be an overnight transformation given the mess they are in, but they need to show good progress by the next Lakeside if they want to carry on in existance.

Well if they are never to join they are definitely going to need more sponsorship, and if that requires more tv coverage they better get it sorted and fast!

All the bickering is hurting darts in general. They should try and get along really.

Well it's been 8 months since my previous post in this thread - the BDO are possibly in an even worse position now given that Uncle Barry is now getting involved with ESPN.

I know it clashes with a County weekend, but I reckon there will be a few BDO players going to Q School this year as things don't seem to have improved.

With the advent of the EDO and their streaming and promotion of events this year I reckon the BDO should hand over the reins to the EDO and just leave the BDO to concentrate on the County and grass roots scene.

Sad state really, but after reading some old mags lately this sort of thing was happening with the BDO and NDAGB back in the early 1970's. A lot more involved nowadays though.

Yes. Join or be gone. It's a business after all is said and done.

Businesses that are failing sometimes need help.

I think it's got to a point where the bdo will have to go to the pdc if a merger is going to take place.

With the introduction of Q school and the youth tour, Hearn has shown that he can take professional darts forward without the bdo but the bdo can't and hasn't moved forward. Uncle Barry offered the bdo a get out of jail free card and they refused it so he is now only focusing on the pdc.

it will never happen like you say bigshow they got offered a good deal but turned it down

This to me seems all to familiar with the way 2 of the leagues here in Adelaide are behaving toward each other.

It has gone past the stage of it being an organisation v organisation and now seems to be personal between Barry and Ollie.

Just an outsiders opinion.

Jimbo21 wrote:

This to me seems all to familiar with the way 2 of the leagues here in Adelaide are behaving toward each other.

It has gone past the stage of it being an organisation v organisation and now seems to be personal between Barry and Ollie.

Just an outsiders opinion.

Ollie is a goner now. I really thought the new look board would be a good thing and they would listen to offers and re-strategize but I've seen no difference.