A new era of amateur darts has been promised at the Modern Amateur Darts (MAD) launch.

Following the announcement of the new organisation in June, there’s been wide spread speculation about the plans MAD have for the amateur game.

At today’s launch press conference, it was announced there will be:

  • champions of every single region, peaking the way up to World level
  • separate men’s and ladies’ titles
  • four showpiece events to go alongside the titles
Modern Amateur Darts
The MAD launch begins a new era of amateur darts.

Championships defended on a rolling basis

The championship system is inspired by systems used in sports such as boxing or MMA.

There will be four divisions of titles:

  • Super regional level. All the regions in MAD will have a champion.
  • National champions. There will be champions in England, Scotland and Wales.
  • A European champion. This title is open to any amateur player in Europe.
  • A World champion. This title is open to any amateur player.

All super regional titles will be defended every four weeks. The other titles will be defended every five weeks.

Title defences can happen via one of two ways. The first is financial bids. The minimum bids for each title are:

  • £500 for a super regional title
  • £1000 for a national title
  • £1500 for a continental title
  • £2000 for a world title

Champions will receive 70% of the total bid. 20% will go to MAD, and 10% will go to media and sponsorship partners.

There can also be number one contenders to each title, which would constitute a mandatory defence for each champion.

Find out more about the MAD Championship System.

Four new showpiece events

There will also be four showpiece events alongside the main MAD titles:

National League Championships

  • will happen at the end of the year’s league play
  • consists of the 16 super regional teams, playing in a seeded group of four round robin format. There will then be a knockout round
  • super regional teams are made up of the 24 best performers of the three previous quarterly super regional championships
  • any MAD member can make the championships
  • £10,000 prize fund

British Amateur Open Finals

  • will be the third stage of the British Amateur Open
  • finalists will qualify at regional level, and super regional level
  • any member can enter. Open to Men and Ladies
  • 64 finalists will playoff in a 16 group round robin, then knockout stage
  • £30,000 prize fund. £10,000 goes to the winner. All 64 players to receive prize money

Golden Gauntlet

  • 30 players involved. 16 super regional champions, three national champions, European and World Champion, five MAD Icons and four wildcards
  • randomly drawn, quick format, winner stays on event
  • event starts with two players. A new player joins when a match is won
  • Winner receives £10,000. Can be won by a player who plays just one match

Champion of Champions

  • 256 players involved. One qualifier from each MAD region
  • Event is a traditional best of three format throughout the qualifiers and finals
  • Random draw
  • Open to all MAD members
  • £30,000 prize fund

Find out more about MAD’s league system on their website.