Dart days: Advocates seek ways to revive game’s sagging popularity

Thursday, Aug. 2, 2001 | 11:31 a.m.

Tourney

Tougher drunken driving laws, poor management of leagues and a general apathy of tavern owners has driven a spike through the game of darts in the United States over the last five years.

Darts organizers and players are in town this week for the American Darters Association Convention and the $70,000, 10th annual National Championship at the Riviera hotel-casino. They are discussing ways to reverse a trend where the sport has lost about 3 million American players since 1996.

"Basically, we are trying to find ways to stop the bleeding," said Glenn Remick, a world-class dart player and president of the ADA.

"Darts is still a $4 billion annual industry, right up there with professional football, baseball and NASCAR. But without efforts to turn around a trend where we are losing players and participating taverns, we will be in trouble."

One innovation, currently being tested in St. Louis, headquarters for the organization that has 10,000 members, are dart boards that use radio waves to automatically record the exact placement of steel-tipped darts and electronically keep score of the game.

"The device goes behind the board, and the dart acts as an antenna to determine its exact location," Remick said

The device is coin-operated, thus generating revenues for taverns and amusement companies that will install the games once they are mass-produced.

Currently, only six machines are in operation and, Remick said, dart play has doubled in the locations that have the machines.

Any good news is welcomed by the industry that in 1996 boasted 21.3 million U.S. players, up from 16.4 million in 1990.

Today, however, estimates are that 17.4 million Americans play darts. Those figures mirror efforts in recent years to lower the legal limits of blood alcohol level from 0.10 to 0.08 in many states. The limit is still 0.10 in Nevada, but dart play is down significantly here, too.

"People are more aware of the consequences of DUI laws and don't want to drive long distances from bars, so many stay home and play darts or have given up the game altogether," said Alex Howard, president of the American Dart League of Southern Nevada, which has 60-100 players in leagues at 14 local taverns. An estimated 30,000 Las Vegans play darts, he said.

"It is difficult for us to overcome the stigma that dart players are a bunch of drunkards -- a stigma that just isn't true," Howard said.

Remick, who in 1985 captained the underdog United States dart team to second place in the World Cup in Australia, losing only to perennial powerhouse England, said his organization is not against tougher penalties for drunken drivers.

"We have to adapt," he said. "Twenty years ago, $18 of every $20 went into the bar's cash register. Today only about $12 of every $20 is generated by alcohol sales.

"There is shared revenues with the amusement games, jukebox, cigarette machines, etc. We have to capitalize on that with our coin-operated machines. We have to give tavern operators a reason to want dart boards."

Along those lines, Remick said, is a space problem. Darts are thrown from a line that is 7 feet, 9 inches from the board, which is hung at 5 feet, 8 inches at the bullseye. Each dart board requires 60 square feet. Remick admits a slot machine that generates significantly greater revenue takes up far less space.

"The second-biggest reason why darts has dropped in popularity is poor league management," Remick said. "It is estimated that 86 percent of leagues are run by volunteers appointed for one year. Some are good, but some are so bad they alienate beer wholesalers who would sponsor tournaments.

"In the last five years, the number of registered league dart players in the United States has dropped from 3.5 million to 1.5 million."

Remick said his leagues are run by professional franchise operators like Howard, who make their money improving their leagues and getting more people and taverns involved. Still, tavern operators are ever fearful of rising costs of liability insurance.

"Let's face it, there is a concern about putting sharp, steel-tipped objects in the hands of people who have been drinking," said Stacy Bromberg, the No. 1-rated women's player in the United States eight of the last 10 years and a longtime Las Vegan who does not drink when she plays.

Pat Carrigan, the No. 1 men's player in the ADA and a Las Vegas resident for 35 years, remembers when many bars in town had dart boards.

"Back then, there was more diversification -- the real young players of 21-28, and the older, seasoned veterans over 50," he said.

Bromberg and Carrigan are members of the Sin City Saints, one of five local teams that will compete today through Sunday in the tournament that will feature 1,000 top American players. The other local squads are Becks Bombers, Between the Sheets, Biers and Sin-City Posse.