Reigning champion Luke Littler and world number one Luke Humphries will headline the 2025 BetMGM Premier League Darts line-up, with seven time winner and World Championship runner up Michael Van Gerwen also in the eight man field.
Stephen Bunting and Chris Dobey return to the elite tournament which gets underway in Belfast at the SSE Arena on February 6th and comes to the Three Arena in Dublin for the third week of competition on February 20th.
Teenage sensation Littler stormed to victory on his Premier League debut last May – hitting a nine-darter against Humphries in the final – before capping off a fairy-tale rise by lifting the World Darts Championship title last Friday at Alexandra Palace.
The Premier League, sponsored by Bet MGM and televised live on Sky Sports will see the sport’s biggest names compete across 17 weeks of action from February until May. The eight stars will contest 16 mini-events during the season, with each league night comprising quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final over the best of 11 legs.
Points will be awarded each night to form the league table, from which the top four players will progress to the Play-Offs, which will be held at The O2 in London on Thursday May 29.
Former World Champion Luke Humphries – the runner-up to Littler last year – also makes his second Premier League appearance, having lifted the World Cup, World Matchplay and Players Championship Finals titles in 2024.
Dutch superstar Michael van Gerwen, the World Championship runner-up on Friday, will be chasing a record-extending eighth Premier League crown in 2025, as he prepares to feature for a 13th consecutive campaign.
The three-time World Champion will be joined by world number four Rob Cross – the 2019 runner-up who celebrated World Series of Darts glory at Madison Square Garden in New York back in June.
Stephen Bunting will make his long-awaited Premier League return – having previously competed in the 2015 season and as a Challenger in 2020 – following a landmark 2024 season, which saw him climb to a career-high of fifth on the PDC Order of Merit.
Bunting clinched his maiden PDC televised title in January’s Masters, and also progressed to the UK Open quarter-finals and World Championship semi-finals to continue his impressive resurgence.
Gerwyn Price will make his seventh Premier League appearance in 2025, after enjoying a welcome return to form at the World Darts Championship.
Price – the 2023 Premier League runner-up – won a World Series of Darts event in Copenhagen last summer, and reached the last eight at Alexandra Palace to cement his place in the world’s top ten.
Price was edged out in the quarter-finals by former Masters champion Chris Dobey, who will feature in his second Premier League campaign this year – having made his debut in 2023.
Bedlington star Dobey claimed a hat-trick of Pro Tour titles in a prolific 2024 season, and his run to the semi-finals at the World Championship saw him break into the world’s top ten for the first time.
Two-time televised title winner Nathan Aspinall completes the eight-player line-up, after the popular Stockport star recorded back-to-back fifth-place finishes in the last two editions of the Premier League.
“We are really excited by this year’s line-up, which I’m sure will entertain our incredible crowds across Ireland, the UK and Europe,” said PDC Chief Executive Matt Porter.
“The Bet MGM Premier League will reach a huge live audience across the next four months, following record-breaking ticket sales for the 2025 season.”
“All eight players have pedigree on the biggest stage, and fresh from some brilliant performances at the World Darts Championship we’re looking forward to 17 brilliant weeks of competition.”
The 2025 Bet MGM Premier League will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK & Ireland, through the PDC’s worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDC TV for Rest of the World Subscribers.
SPORT FOR BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE
A night at the darts is about as much fun as is possible at a sporting event with the crowd being very much a part of the show. There is limited availability of seats for both the Belfast and Dublin shows but the bulk of seats were snapped up when they went on sale last year.
WHAT’S UP NEXT?
February 6th in Belfast and February 20th in Dublin.
MEMBERSHIP AND EVENTS
Sport for Business will host a special conference on Sports ~Tourism in Ireland at the University of Limerick on Thursday, March 20th.
BUY YOUR TICKETS HERE FOR THE SPORTING YEAR AHEAD 2025
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The Sport for Business Membership comprises nearly 300 organisations, including all the leading sports and sponsors, as well as commercial and state agencies.
