Taylor: fourth successive title

The Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts has grown to become the biggest indoor sporting event in the UK over the past four years... it's the ticket every sports fan in the UK wants!

Barry Hearn
Quotes of the week

2009 Premier League Schedule
February 5
Liverpool Echo Arena
February 12
Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh
February 19
Ricoh Arena, Coventry
February 26
Odyssey Arena, Belfast
March 5
Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle
March 12
M.E.N. Arena, Manchester
March 19
Brighton Centre
March 26
N.I.A. Birmingham
April 2
S.E.C.C. Glasgow
April 9
Westpoint Arena, Exeter
April 16
Trent FM Arena, Nottingham
April 23
A.E.C.C. Aberdeen
April 30
Sheffield Arena
May 7
C.I.A. Cardiff
Play-Offs
May 25
Wembley Arena

The 2009 Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts will begin in Liverpool next February and also visit new arenas in Edinburgh and Exeter, before culminating in the play-offs at the Wembley Arena.

The £400,000 tournament will return in February 2009, kicking off at the Liverpool Echo Arena - which hosted the biggest ever crowd for a PDC event of almost 8,000 this year.

Edinburgh's Royal Highland Centre and the Westpoint Arena in Exeter will join some of the UK's biggest indoor venues, including Belfast's Odyssey Arena, the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester, Birmingham's NIA, the Sheffield Arena and Newcastle's Metro Radio Arena, in hosting Premier League Darts next year.

Wembley

The tournament, screened live on Sky Sports, will come to a conclusion with the play-offs on Monday May 25 at the Wembley Arena - coinciding with the Football League play-offs at the neighbouring Wembley Stadium over the same weekend.

The visit to Edinburgh means that three venues will stage the event in Scotland next year, alongside the SECC in Glasgow and the AECC in Aberdeen, with Cardiff's CIA hosting the Welsh leg of the tournament on the final league night.

"The Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts has grown to become the biggest indoor sporting event in the UK over the past four years," said PDC Chairman Barry Hearn.

Sensational

"Its development into a major arena spectacle has been nothing short of sensational - it's the ticket every sports fan in the UK wants!"

Phil Taylor claimed a fourth successive title in Cardiff in May 2008, and will be one of the eight competitors battling for the £125,000 first prize next year.

"The Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts is a massive tournament now and I love competing in it," said Taylor. "It was amazing this year to play in front of such massive crowds every week - it was like a Cup Final wherever we went and I'm sure it will be brilliant again next year."

The eight competitors for the 2009 Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts will be confirmed in January, with the top six players from the PDC Order of Merit, following the Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship joined by two Wildcard selections.