Champions League of Darts: BBC to broadcast inaugural tournament

Gary Anderson beat Adrian Lewis in January to retain his PDC World Championship crown at Alexandra Palace

The first Champions League of Darts will be broadcast live across the BBC in what is being billed as an "exciting new era" for the sport.

The eight-player tournament will be held in Cardiff on 24-25 September.

It will feature the leading eight players from the PDC Order of Merit come the end of July's World Matchplay, and the champion will earn £100,000.

The decision to broadcast the new event means the BBC will cease to cover the BDO World Championship.

PDC chairman Barry Hearn said the "very best players" will be participating in the Champions League of Darts, which he called an "exciting, quick-fire tournament".

The eight players will be split for a round-robin group phase, with the top two from each group progressing to the knockout stages.

Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport, said: "Darts has always had wide appeal and it is great that audiences will get the chance to see all the action from the world's top players live on BBC Two and across our platforms."