Here's what a trip to the 2024/25 PDC World Darts Championship will cost you The 2024 sporting calendar has been jam packed full of unmissable events. From UEFA Euro 2024 to the Paris Olympics, Wimbledon to the Paralympics, and of course, the World Matchplay Darts, there's been enough for almost every sports fan to sink their teeth into. As the summer months draw to a close, there's a palpable buzz in the air for the upcoming 2024/25 PDC World Darts World Championship. Set to unfold in December 2024, the event at Ally Pally is already a hot topic, with thousands eagerly anticipating the crowning of the next world champion. Last year, we saw a new star born as Luke Littler smashed his way into the public eye with his run to the final. Since then, it's been rare to see a week go by where the teenage sensation isn't mentioned, which for the professional player is paying dividends, with reports estimating his net worth at now more than £600,000. 'The Nuke''s rise to stardom opened up a new audience for darts, inspiring young and old generations to pick up the arrows and show what they can do on the oche. With the burgeoning popularity of darts, we anticipate a diverse crowd at the PDC World Darts Championship. For those fortunate enough to secure a ticket, we've done the math to show you how much a round trip will set you back (costumes and kebabs included). Table of contents:- Match Tickets Travel Accommodation Food & Drink Transport to the venue Costumes Total price to travel from each city Methodology Match Tickets Tickets for the upcoming PDC World Darts Championship sold out in record time, with 40,000 sold in the first half an hour of the tickets going on sale. This led to widespread anger on social media, as some fans struggled to obtain tickets, blaming bots and touts who had acquired them and reselling them at a much-inflated price, with some tickets going for £800. Alan Soutar, a PDC professional player and 2024 Players Championship title winner, shared his thoughts with us about this year’s ticket sales: “Reselling sites should not be allowed to do what they do but it happens in all events worldwide now. It’s very sad for working-class fans, and prices real grassroots fans who are the main fan base, out of premier events. "The PDC should not allow resales unless through one registered portal that is controlled. Tickets must be resold at the face value, that they were originally sold by the PDC. This would allow a chance for the real fans to attend.” Taking to social media, some fans even compared the ticket sales to Glastonbury ticket sales, which was something PDC chief executive Matt Porter discussed when speaking to The Standard earlier this year. Think PDC World Champs might genuinely give Glastonbury a run for its money in terms of how difficult it is to get tickets for — Charlie Herbert (@CharlieHerb9) July 30, 2024 In the interview, Porter suggested that due to the popularity of the tickets, the PDC may look at increasing the schedule of sessions at the World Championship and increasing the number of players in the tournament from 96 to 128. This would be instead of moving to a larger room or venue, as Ally Pally is very much loved by the PDC and fans alike, with the venue steeped in the tournament’s history. So, with tickets selling out in record time, how much did they cost? According to the PDC website, tickets ranged from £50 (first session) to £95 for the final session. These prices are based on whether you book a table or a tier ticket. Since 2019, ticket prices for the World Championships haven’t increased in line with other major sporting events, with prices going up around £17 - £27 per ticket, depending on the ticket type. *Due to the pandemic, only the first session played to an audience. We spoke with Matt Porter, chief executive of the PDC, about this year’s ticket prices: "We’ve seen record demand for the World Darts Championship this year, and that’s testimony to how popular the event has become to not only the British sporting public, but that from around the world too, with fans from over 50 countries travelling to Ally Pally each Christmas for the event. "We’re very conscious of the importance of keeping tickets affordable, whilst also recognising the huge demand, and we regularly benchmark our ticket prices against other sporting and entertainment properties to ensure they are pitched at the right level." Travel Travel is one of the more considerable expenses if you live outside of London. We looked at how much a return train ticket would cost from every major city in the UK; the 10 most expensive are as follows: For fans travelling from Northern Ireland, you can expect return flights to set you back £63. Of course, savings can be made if you have a railcard, decide to travel by coach or look at driving. With the chaos of London roads and congestion charges to consider, we’d usually opt for public transport. Accommodation We went on a hunt for the best accommodation close to Ally Pally. On average, a two-night stay for one adult costs around £333.28. The most expensive accommodation on our average was £910, with the cheapest setting you back just £55 for the two nights. We did find some crazily priced accommodation, which we didn’t include in our calculations. One apartment charged £10,000 for just two nights. On the same hunt, we also spotted apartments for £2,520 and £1,400. So, if you’ve secured your ticket and are still planning on attending the championships, we recommend securing your accommodation soon before prices increase. Food and drink We contacted the team at Alexandra Palace to ask them how much drinks would cost for the 2024/25 PDC World Darts Championship. On average, you are looking at £11.68 per drink. For a pint of Amstel, you can expect to pay £7.25 or £29 for a pitcher. Spirits with mixers will set you back £9.50 for a small and £12.50 for a large. A glass of wine costs £7.60 per glass or £30.40 for four glasses, and soft drinks cost £2.70. Prices supplied by Alexandra Palace. A spokesperson from Alexandra Palace provided the following comment: “We can’t wait to welcome all the players and fans from across the world, back to Alexandra Palace. It’s been said that what Wembley is to football and what Wimbledon is to tennis, Ally Pally is to darts – and it feels like the quality of the action and the atmosphere have gone to new levels in recent times. We are counting down to the return of all the fun, celebration and epic darts this festive period.” We expect thousands of pints to be sunk by fans letting their hair down over the Championships. In 2023, it was reported that over 500,000 pints were consumed. Alexandra Palace confirmed with us that for this year, they expect a circa 250,000 pints to be consumed over the events – with fans spending millions on their favourite beverages. At the last World Championship, Luke Littler’s love of kebabs was a big point of discussion. After coming in second against Luke Humphries, Littler was offered free kebabs for life at his local takeaway in Warrington – a true honour. We have you covered if you want to celebrate (or commiserate) after you've been to the darts and fancy celebrating Luke Littler style. We looked into how much a kebab will set you back from London’s finest kebab shops within a three-mile radius of Ally Pally. On average, you’re looking at spending £10.03. The most expensive kebab came in at £16.90, and the cheapest at £5.50 – not bad for London! Transport to Ally Pally Depending on where you travel, there are several ways to get to Ally Pally. For the purposes of our research, we looked at how much the tube would cost from Piccadilly Circus to Wood Green. The most expensive ticket is around £4 – so this proves to be one of the most economical ways to travel. If you are looking to drive and park at the venue, you can park at the East Court car park, which is open from 5am to 12.30am seven days a week. Just to be aware, the last entry to this car park is 8pm. The Grove car park is also open seven days a week from 6am to 7pm, excluding event days, when hours may vary. Each car park operates a charge system, and the charges support the venue's charity work to care for the site. If you prefer to travel by train, Great Northern operates a regular service. The W3 bus also runs from Finsbury Park and Tottenham to Alexandra Palace Ice Rink or Alexandra Palace Palm Court. If public transport isn't your thing, you can also opt for a taxi or, as a sustainable option, rent a Lime Bike or scooter for a small cost. Costumes 50 years ago, you wouldn’t see any costumes at Ally Pally. Footage captured in 1974 from the News Of The World Darts Championship shows audience members in smart attire, smoking cigarettes while dressed in suits. Fast forward to today and you can’t move without bumping into the likes of bananas in pyjamas, Christmas turkeys, Ronald McDonald or the Grinch. We can’t pinpoint exactly why fancy dress became such a prominent feature at professional darts tournaments, but for the crowd, it’s something they relish. We spoke with Sam Holden, an avid darts fan and captain of The Rumours Wizards darts team about why he enjoys dressing up for professional darts tournaments: “I've been to multiple live darts tournaments, sometimes dressing up, and other times not. The first time, a group of friends and I dressed as wizards to mark the occasion, as our darts team is called "The Rumours Wizards." It was the first and only time our entire darts team attended an event together, which made the occasion even better, especially travelling through London in our wizard costumes. It made the day and the event as a whole feel special and gave us some of the best memories. "Darts wouldn’t be the same without fancy dress. It brings people together because you can have a laugh and joke with others about their costumes. It creates a community of people who aren’t taking themselves too seriously and are there for a party, which is ultimately what attending the darts is all about—having fun!” Sam’s feelings on the joy of dressing up in costumes for professional darts events is also something darts fan, Guus Bakker and his friends look forward to: “We love to dress up for the darts, darts is already crazy and adding to that by dressing as idiotic as possible makes it even better. We always go with a group of 15 to 20 people and every time we see each other we just laugh. "It’s also a bit of fun before you go to the darts. We hold a ‘costume tournament’ every year. We get 64 costumes and hold a World Cup style knockout tournament to decide how we will dress. That takes a few months and then the ordering process means that we’re seriously having fun for six months before the tournament. It’s a lot of pre fun and helps you to connect with a lot of people.” So, how much will a costume set you back? We looked into the average of hundreds of costumes from Jokers’ Masquerade darts costumes collection, and the average price comes in at £40.01 (not including shipping). Of course, the price will vary depending on the costume you go for – the most expensive is priced at £142.99 and the cheapest at just 99p. The more eye-catching costumes are often shown on TV or appear in the media, so it's something to bear in mind if you like the spotlight. Just to note, the PDC does have some rules around certain costumes, which are well worth reading before you purchase yours. Total price To give you the best understanding of how much a round trip will cost to attend the PDC World Darts Championship, we calculated an average of all expenses discussed in this research. To keep things succinct, below you will find the cost from each of the UK’s 11 cities. However, if your town or city isn’t below, you can download the complete data from our methodology, which shows the cost per 71 areas across the UK. We caught up with content creator, co-host and founder of the Weekly Dartscast, Alex Moss about why he feels every darts fan should attend the PDC World Darts Championship. “I’ve been fortunate to attend many of the iconic darts venues over the years including the Lakeside, Winter Gardens and the Circus Tavern, but going to watch the darts at Alexandra Palace should be at the top of the bucket list for every darts fan. "Luke Littler’s emergence at the last PDC World Darts Championship has ushered in many new fans to the game and, as a result, getting hold of a ticket to watch the action at Ally Pally is now much harder than ever before. I would encourage all darts fans to experience watching the darts at Ally Pally at least once. Alexandra Palace is an historical venue, having been open now for more than 150 years, and Littler and the rest of the top darts stars are part of that history.” Will you be going to Ally Pally this year? So, now you have the research to get your expenses in check ahead of the PDC World Darts Championship, all that’s left is the anticipation on who will be crowned the winner and taking home the £500,000 top prize. And if last year is anything to go by, we expect the event to be more popular than ever. If you weren’t lucky enough to secure a ticket for the 2024/25 PDC World Darts Championship, you can still play along at home. Our range of quality dartboards, steel tip darts and flights at Darts Corner has everything you need to play like a pro. Are you looking forward to attending the championships this year – or missed out on a ticket? We want to hear from you! Reach out to us on socials (Facebook or X (Twitter) and tell us your stories, and we will share the best ones! Methodology Darts Corner analysed multiple data sources within this research, including: 2024 Ticket Prices from the PDC Ticket prices from Trainline Return flights from Skyscanner Cost of accommodation from Booking.com. For the purpose of this research, we selected two nights for one adult stay from the 20th Dec 2024 – 22nd Dec 2024 Kebab Takeaways within a 3-mile radius of Alexandra Palace via Google Maps Prices per cheapest kebab via the Takeaways websites, Just Eat, Uber Eats and Google Maps Cost of drinks at Alexandra Palace, provided by Alexandra Palace. The average total cost is based on one drink. Costume Prices via Jokers’ Masquerade. Transport to Alexandra Palace in London via Rome 2 Rio The full dataset can be downloaded here. Pictures: PDC Alex Moss is a content creator for Darts Corner and the co-host of the Weekly Dartscast podcast. Alex co-founded the Weekly Dartscast in 2017 and has helped produce 350+ episodes of the podcast, with their list of previous guests on the show a who’s who in the world of darts. Alex also writes content for the Darts Corner blog, including the weekly darts news round-ups and how-to guides.
