PDC Chief Executive Matt Porter rules out the World Championships moving to Saudi Arabia ” We put on our best event at Alexandra Palace.”

In recent weeks, there has been much speculation that the World Darts Championship may be held in Saudi Arabia.

This follows PDC President Barry Hearn’s suggestion that the main event, along with the World Snooker Championship, be relocated to the Middle East.

Now, PDC Chief Executive Matt Porter has spoken out about the idea of the World Championship relocating away from the renowned Alexandra Palace.

It has been suggested that the World Championship has outgrown ‘Ally Pally’, which has hosted the event since 2008.

Despite this, Porter indicated that transferring the event is not a top priority for the PDC, and that a move to Saudi Arabia is not in the works.

“We put on our best event at Alexandra Palace, we put on the world’s most loved darts event, we put on the biggest darts event at Alexandra Palace. We’re not that well-known for making silly decisions I’d like to think.

“It would be a little bit of a strange move just to go straight from Alexandra Palace to a country that’s never ever had a darts tournament before with your biggest event so it’s not something that’s necessarily in the immediate future.”

“It’s certainly not top of our priorities to find a new venue for the worlds.”

Fans will be relieved to learn that the World Championship will remain in North London, as confirmed by the PDC’s CEO.

Saudi Arabia has made significant investments in other Matchroom [PDC’s parent company] sports, including as boxing, so this announcement should allay fan concerns.