The Grand Slam of Darts is a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. It was an event staged on terrestrial TV (ITV4) for its first 4 years but in 2011 SKY Sports took over the event and signed a 3 year deal.  The PDC also invites the best performing players from its rival the British Darts Organisation.

There have been two previous head-to-head matches between the champions of the two organisations and a few overseas tournaments have also featured BDO v PDC clashes, but this tournament is the first of its kind to be held in the United Kingdom.

The inaugural tournament took place in 2007, and was staged at the Wolverhampton Civic between 17 November and 25 November. Phil Taylor won the title, beating Andy Hamilton 18-11 in the final.
The 2008 Grand Slam of Darts, the second staging of the tournament, took place from Saturday 15 November to Sunday 23 November 2008 at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall. Taylor successfully defended his title, with an 18 legs to 9 win over Terry Jenkins.

In 2009 Phil Taylor got his Wolverhampton Hat Trick with a resounding win against BDO player Scott Waites 16-2 to take the title. The following year Waites went one better by beating James Wade 16-12 in the 2010 final from 10-2 down.

But Taylor regained his title with a resounding 16-4 win over Scot Gary Anderson in the 2011 final.

The 2011 event was staged by SKY Sports and sponsored for the first time by William Hill Bookmakers

The event also has a qualifier in October/November for any further wildcard places

There have been previous tournaments in which players from both the PDC and BDO have competed. Between 1998 and 2001 several BDO players competed in the World Matchplay – this was as a result of a 1997 Tomlin Order which allowed freedom of players to enter more events. This was later restricted when eligibility rules allowed only Professional Dart Players Association members to compete in the tournament.

The 2005 Masters of Darts was the first tournament to feature the top players from each organisation, and in 2006 and 2007 the Dutch organisers of the International Darts League and World Darts Trophy invited some PDC players to compete alongside BDO players.

As the Grand Slam is an invitational tournament for players who have reached major finals and semi-finals, or been the top of their countries’ respective rankings, there is a certain degree of prestige attached to qualifying for the tournament, and even more for entrants who qualify multiple times. This event is a none-ranked tournament.

ITV has screened the Grand Slam of Darts since its inception. The inaugural event saw selected first round games, the semi-finals, and the final all screened live on ITV1 and the rest of the tournament live on ITV4. However the whole of the 2008 event was broadcast live on ITV4, with highlights packages being the only coverage of the tournament to appear on ITV1.
This is ITV’s first televised darts tournament since they ceased coverage of the Winmau World Masters in 1988 – although they did show the first Clash of Champions match between Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld in 1999. The event remained on the ITV channels and on itv.com until 2010. In 2011 SKY Sports took over the event.
The presenting team consisted of lead presenter Matt Smith, and analysts Alan Warriner-Little and Chris Mason (who replaced Steve Beaton in 2008). The commentating team involves Stuart Pyke, who also commentates on televised PDC games on Sky Sports, boxing commentator John Rawling, and Peter Drury. The regular SKY Sports Team will take over in 2011.

The William Hill, Grand Slam of Darts is played at the Civic Hall,  North Street, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, WV1 1RQ
Tel: 01902 552122

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