Is £1million for the world champion too much? Paul Nicholson gives his verdict on the PDC's £25million prize fund and how it will help inspire the next Luke Littler

In this week's column, Paul Nicholson gives his thoughts on the news and the criticism faced by the PDC, while a full breakdown of the prize money for each event can be found at the bottom.

A prize fund of £25million is great for darts, isn't it?

Absolutely.

This is seven million pounds more than what's up for grabs in 2025 and yet another example of how the PDC are constantly striving to make sure that the financial benefits are there for players if they have the drive, the ambition, and they're willing to sacrifice their time for a very difficult profession.

I think this is amazing for the sport, and I just wish that I was in my prime to take advantage of these kind of numbers!

If you'd have said to me at the start of my career in 2007 that the world champion would one day get £1million, I'd have said "Not in my lifetime."

Yet here I am in my mid-40s and it's happened already. That's astonishing.

Darts players can now earn sums of money that they wouldn't previously have dreamed of and it's quickly becoming one of the most lucrative individual sports to get involved in, even if it is some way behind the likes of tennis and golf, which we'll probably never catch up with.

Is £1million for the world champion 'too much'?

Unsurprisingly there are lots of critics who believe too much of the prize money increase went into the World Championship, particularly for the overall winner, and the implications that would have on the rankings.

To have one 25th of the entire yearly purse going to one player is life-changing.

In reality, however, the player won't get to keep it all to themselves.

Firstly they need to pay their levy to the PDPA, which I believe is 2%. So that's £20,000 gone already. Then a percentage of what's left will go to your manager which could be anywhere from 10% to 25%.

These amounts are all tax deductible so it's whatever is left after that - let's say around £850,000 - you then need to work out how much of that will be going to the taxman, and it'll be pretty much half. Whenever I won prize money, I'd just play safe and work on the basis that only half of it was mine to keep. You don't want to hack off the taxman!

Nevertheless, walking away with £500,000 is still a hell of a lot more than the £16,000 gross that Dennis Priestly pocketed for winning the PDC's first World Championship back in 1994.

Should the prize money have been spread more evenly?

The PDC have been criticised by some people for putting too much extra money into the World Championship rather than spreading it more evenly, especially in the early rounds of tournaments which are largely unaffected by the big increase.

However, players aren't looking at how much money they earn for winning one match anymore. They mostly all have a lot more ambition than that.

It's all about getting to the latter stages of the majors and picking up the big paydays. And that's how it should be.

After all, the PDC aren't here to reward mediocrity.

If you are looking at second-round money and feeling disappointed about the prospect of going home with that, then you're a defeatist. You should be looking to thrive on tour, not survive.

WATCH: HOW MUCH DO DARTS PLAYERS EARN

If you don't think you can win a tournament then you're someone who's looking to scrape a living from a very affluent tour.

Those players won't survive for very long with that mentality - they'll be eaten up by those believing they can cash the big cheques.

However, in terms of the ranking system, I can see why some feel the world champion gets too much.

If you win the £1million, then you're going to be in the top four for the next two years guaranteed, aren't you? And you'd probably stand a great chance of rocketing straight to the top spot.

From that point of view the rankings may not be proportionate to what people are doing form wise, but overall I truly believe the positives of the new prize money structure greatly outweigh any negative sentiment.

How many declining or 'retired' players will be hungry to make a comeback?

There are plenty of players like myself who have enjoyed spells in the higher reaches of the game and won plenty of titles who will be tempted to revive or relaunch their careers.

Although there's a growing influx of younger players climbing the rankings, there's still some who wait until their late 30s or 40s to make their big breaththroughs such as Ritchie Edhouse and Andrew Gilding in recent seasons. This will encourage those in the older age groups who have tumbled out of the PDC to give it another shot.

There will be some who think: "Do you know what, if I can just rededicate myself and rediscover something that I once had, then I could be playing for riches far greater than in my heyday."

I was ranked in the top 10 once upon a time and so was Mark Webster - and neither of us are exactly old!

There are excellent players even older in their 50s who might think they can do all this again.

However, it boils down to whether you were a mercenary or not. Was it about the money or the passion?

Take Wayne Mardle for example. Wayne can still throw a great dart and people have asked him for many years why he doesn't give it another go. But he'd always say that the fire isn't there. For some players like Wayne and myself, it really wasn't about the money.

It was about the chance to fulfil a dream of being on the stage and winning a title. It means a lot to look back and see what I managed to achieve. It was never about the money. It was always about just having moments - the moments I had with Phil Taylor, Simon Whitlock, Gary Anderson and many others. They're priceless.

As much as I would love to be able to pick my darts up again and say: "Do you know what, I can be better than I was", I'm just not sure. The money is not an enticer for me.

Adrian Lewis never struck me as a mercenary either but wouldn't it be fitting if he times his comeback to coincide with the new prize money structure and hit the 'jackpot'!

He didn't relinquish his PDC Tour Card because he didn't love the sport anymore, but to prioritise his family.

When the time is right, the second phase of Adrian's career could be a lot more lucrative than the first.

Is this the time for mercenaries to shine?

This announcement is great news for James Wade and Gary Anderson in particular, because these guys are proper mercenaries, and there is nothing wrong with that.

James doesn't play for the love of the game as much as he will say, and will be licking his lips more than most about the prospect of adding to his career earnings in abundance.

Gary may well be in the twilight of his career but he's certainly still got the ability to cash in over the next few seasons before father time really does catch up with him.

There's nobody on tour that would want £1million more than Gary and I'm sure he's kept himself in the sport this long - despite previous hints that he could retire - because the money has only been going one way.

He's already won close to £5million in his career but if he can grab one more world title, his family will be set up for life, and that's what's most important to him.

A lot of the younger players will obviously be delighted at the prospect of being able to live more of a stylish 'footballer lifestyle'.

Old school dart players would have never dreamt about being able to live like the sports stars more associated with football, golf and tennis, but this is now becoming a reality for the players of today and tomorrow.

Will this prize money encourage more youngsters to play darts?

Luke Littler has single-handedly inspired the next generation to get into darts but this money will also have a massive impact.

Not only will the thought of becoming a millionaire captivate youngsters in the youth academies around the country and the world, but there will be more parents than ever who'll view darts as viable sporting career option for their children.

The investment in their development will be paid back when they become professionals.

We hear so many stories about the expensive sacrifices that parents have to make in order to give their child the best hope of reaching the top in sports like tennis and golf, plus the Olympic sports that aren't necessarily that lucrative.

But darts is a lot cheaper than many other sports to get involved with and now the rewards are eye-poppingly good, the landscape of darts will look a lot different in five to ten years time.

Who else can benefit apart from the players?

It's not just the players who are going to see life-changing benefits to their income.

This could actually be life-altering money for anyone who commands a percentage of a player's prize money such as their manager. Some of them can command around 15%, so that equates to £150,000 if their player wins the world title.

Some players like Gerwyn Price and Peter Wright are self-managed and keep that side of things within their own family unit, but there are still many that do.

There'll be managers, agents and coaches out there thinking about their potential riches, while we'll probably see more of these types of individuals getting involved in the sport who haven't been before.

I believe more people will want to find a way to get their percentage of a certain player - like we see in sports like golf and tennis. They have agents, coaches, caddies, physiotherapists, nutritionists, the lot.

This is what happens to a sport's wider professionalism when gross amounts of money goes into it, so don't be surprised to see darts get the same treatment.

There are going to be people and organisations out there saying "£25million in darts every year, how can I get my cut of that?"

Prize money up for grabs in 2026

World Darts Championship

• Winner: £1,000,000
• Runner-Up: £400,000
• Semi-Finalists: £200,000
• Quarter-Finalists: £100,000
• Last 16 losers: £60,000
• Last 32 losers: £35,000
• Last 64 losers: £25,000
• Last 128 losers: £15,000
• Total: £5,000,000

Premier League

• Winner: £350,000
• Runner-Up: £170,000
• Semi-Finalists: £110,000
• Fifth in Table: £95,000
• Sixth in Table: £90,000
• Seventh in Table: £85,000
• Eighth in Table: £80,000
• Nightly winner bonus: £10,000
• Total: £1,250,000

World Matchplay

• Winner: £225,000
• Runner-Up: £125,000
• Semi-Finalists: £65,000
• Quarter-Finalists: £35,000
• Last 16 losers: £22,500
• Last 32 losers: £12,500
• Total: £1,000,000

Grand Slam of Darts

• Winner: £200,000
• Runner-Up: £100,000
• Semi-Finalists: £60,000
• Quarter-Finalists: £35,000
• Last 16 losers: £20,000
• Second in Group: £12,500
• Third in Group: £5,000
• Total: £1,000,000

World Grand Prix

• Winner: £150,000
• Runner-Up: £80,000
• Semi-Finalists: £50,000
• Quarter-Finalists: £35,000
• Last 16 losers: £20,000
• Last 32 losers: £7,500
• Total: £750,000

Players Championship Finals

• Winner: £130,000
• Runner-Up: £70,000
• Semi-Finalists: £40,000
• Quarter-Finalists: £27,500
• Last 16 losers: £15,000
• Last 32 losers: £7,000
• Last 64 losers: £4,000
• Total: £750,000

European Championship

• Winner: £150,000
• Runner-Up: £80,000
• Semi-Finalists: £50,000
• Quarter-Finalists: £35,000
• Last 16 losers: £20,000
• Last 32 losers: £7,500
• Total: £750,000

UK Open

• Winner: £120,000
• Runner-Up: £60,000
• Semi-Finalists: £35,000
• Quarter-Finalists: £20,000
• Last 16 losers: £12,500
• Last 32 losers: £7,500
• Last 64 losers: £3,000
• Last 96 losers: £2,000
• Last 128 losers: £1,250
• Total: £750,000

World Masters

• Winner: £100,000
• Runner-Up: £50,000
• Semi-Finalists: £30,000
• Quarter-Finalists: £17,500
• Last 16 losers: £10,000
• Last 32 losers: £5,000
• Preliminary Rounds Last 16 losers: £2,500
• Preliminary Rounds Last 32 losers: £1,000
• Preliminary Rounds Last 64 losers: £750
• Total: £500,000

World Cup of Darts

• Winners: £50,000 each
• Runners-Up: £24,000 each
• Semi-Finalists: £15,000 each
• Quarter-Finalists: £10,000 each
• Last 16 losers: £5,000 each
• Second in Group: £3,000 each
• Third in Group: £2,500 each
• Total: £500,000

World Series of Darts Finals

• Winner: £100,000
• Runner-Up: £60,000
• Semi-Finalists: £30,000
• Quarter-Finalists: £17,500
• Last 16 losers: £10,000
• Last 32 losers: £5,000
• Total: £450,000

European Tour Events

• Winner: £35,000
• Runner-Up: £15,000
• Semi-Finalists: £10,000
• Quarter-Finalists: £8,000
• Last 16 losers: £5,000
• Last 32 losers: £3,500
• Last 48 losers: £2,000
• Total: £230,000

Players Championship Events

• Winner: £15,000
• Runner-Up: £10,000
• Semi-Finalists: £6,500
• Quarter-Finalists: £4,000
• Last 16 losers: £3,000
• Last 32 losers: £2,000
• Last 64 losers: £1,250
• Total: £150,000

World Series of Darts Events

• Winner: £30,000
• Runner-Up: £16,000
• Semi-Finalists: £10,000
• Quarter-Finalists: £5,000
• Last 16 losers: £1,750
• Total: £100,000

Challenge & Development Tour Events

• Winner: £3,000
• Runner-Up: £2,000
• Semi-Finalists: £1,000
• Quarter-Finalists: £750
• Last 16 losers: £350
• Last 32 losers: £250
• Last 64 losers: £100
• Total: £20,000

Women’s Series Events

• Winner: £2,500
• Runner-Up: £1,000
• Semi-Finalists: £750
• Quarter-Finalists: £500
• Last 16 losers: £300
• Last 32 losers: £200
• Last 64 losers: £75
• Total: £15,000

Women’s World Matchplay

• Winner: £15,000
• Runner-Up: £8,000
• Semi-Finalists: £4,500
• Quarter-Finalists: £2,000
• Total: £40,000

World Youth Championship

• Winner: £15,000
• Runner-Up: £7,000
• Semi-Finalists: £3,400
• Quarter-Finalists: £2,000
• Last 16 losers: £1,500
• Last 32 losers: £800
• Last 64 losers: £600
• Third in Group: £400
• Fourth in Group: £200
• Total: £100,000

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