Share
2nd January 2018
08:31am GMT
Two-time world champion Adrian Lewis, who has dropped down to No.20 in the rankings, will play no part while the likes of James Wade, Kim Huybrechts, Jelle Klaasen and Dave Chisnall all miss out on a spot in the line-up.
Daryl Gurney, Mensur Suljovic and Gerwyn Price join Cross as debutants for the 15-week competition which gets started at Dublin's 3Arena on Thursday, February 1.
"Rob Cross was an electrician last February – I don’t know what electricians earn, but I’m going to guess at £20,000 a year. What’s he going to earn in 2018... maybe £600,000 or more?" Hearn said, via the Mirror.
"This is not Premier League football. They live on Fantasy Island, and good luck to them.
"But where we have come from is the real world with ordinary working-class people with extraordinary ability and they are getting the rewards they deserve for entertaining people.
"Like all sport, ability is the only criteria in darts and when legends like Phil Taylor move on, it’s the same with royalty: The king is dead, long live the king.
"Sport is a soap opera, it consumes the masses and Taylor has been like one of those old retainers from Coronation Street or EastEnders who has been there since the very beginning of the series. But we all reach our sell-by date, Phil was a big enough man to admit he has reached his and the show must go on.
"Our Premier League night in Rotterdam sold out 12,000 tickets in 15 minutes. We are going to Berlin for the first time in 2018 and that’s all but sold out already.
"Such is the demand to watch darts now that we have sold 100,000 tickets for the Premier League – and we haven’t spent a shilling on marketing it.
"If I thought there was a weakness in our sport, I would be looking to cover it — but I don’t see one.
"People say to me in snooker all the time, ‘What are you going to do when Ronnie O’Sullivan retires?’ Ronnie is the only sparkling player out there and I answer truthfully, ‘I don’t know’.
"But in darts, I know someone is going to come along and wear the crown — just as Jordan Spieth came along in golf when Tiger Woods stopped winning everything.
"The level of excellence we are going to see over the next few years with the youngsters coming through in darts will be amazing — they have no fear."
Explore more on these topics:
