The 2016 Betway Premier League Darts was a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation â the twelfth edition of the tournament.
The event began on 4 February at the Leeds Arena in Leeds and ended with the Play-offs at The O2 Arena in London on 19 May. The tournament saw its first visit to the Netherlands after agreeing to go to the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam on 12 May, joining 15 other venues across the UK and Ireland. This is the third year that the tournament was sponsored by Betway.
Gary Anderson was the defending champion, but he lost to Phil Taylor 10âÂÂ7 in the semi-finals. Michael van Gerwen won his second Premier League Darts title by beating Taylor 11âÂÂ3 in the final.
Van Gerwen also recorded the highest televised 3-dart average of 123.40 against Michael Smith during night 4 in Aberdeen.
The tournament format remained identical to that since 2013. During the first nine weeks (Phase 1) each player plays the other nine players once. The bottom two players are eliminated from the competition. In the next six weeks (phase 2), each player plays the other seven players once. Phase 2 consists of four weeks where five matches are played followed by two weeks where four matches are played. At the end of phase 2 the top four players contest the two semi-finals and the final in the play-off week.
Rotterdam's Ahoy Arena became the first arena from outside the British Isles to host a Premier League event, it replaced the Brighton Centre.
The players in this year's tournament were announced following the 2016 PDC World Darts Championship final on 3 January 2016, with the top four of the PDC Order of Merit joined by six Wildcards. The ten players made up the top ten in the PDC Order of Merit following the World Championship. Stephen Bunting (world number 16) and Kim Huybrechts (world number 14) did not return from last year. Robert Thornton returned after a year out, and Michael Smith made his début.
The 2016 Premier League saw the introduction of a ã25,000 League Leader's Bonus for the player who topped the league table following the 15 league nights, taking the total prize fund for the event up to ã725,000 from ã700,000 in 2015.
<small>*Gary Anderson was originally scheduled to play against Adrian Lewis, but was sidelined with an illness, so Michael Smith played twice in Round 1. Anderson played Lewis on 17 March (Round 7), giving Smith the night off.</small>
Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne
<small>*Robert Thornton was originally scheduled to play against Michael Smith, but was sidelined with an illness, so James Wade played twice in Round 2. Thornton played Smith on 24 March (Round 8), giving Wade the night off.</small>
3Arena, Dublin
Motorpoint Arena Nottingham, Nottingham
SSE Hydro, Glasgow
Echo Arena Liverpool, Liverpool
Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, Cardiff
Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth
The O<sub>2</sub> Arena, London
After the first nine weeks (phase 1), the bottom two in the table are eliminated. Each remaining player plays a further seven matches (phase 2). The top four players then compete in the playoffs.
When players are tied on points, leg difference is used first as a tie-breaker, after that legs won against throw and then tournament average.