Nailing The Bull's - Eye
Dart Leagues and Tournaments Are a Good Bet for the Right Place

Hosting a league and/or tournament really depends on your bar atmosphere and overall capacity. This month, Nightclub & Bar turned to a few experts in the industry who host dart leagues and tournaments in various locations throughout the year, to see what they recommended for those owners and operators looking to break into the category.

Texas League Play
“I think darts have declined in Austin (Texas) most recently, but it definitely goes up and down,” Leon McGuire says. McGuire is an expert, considering that he once owned his own dart business and has spent the last 19 years organizing leagues in the city (bestdarts.net). “Whenever I think the trend is starting to decline, it goes back up. There has not been a season in 19 years that I haven’t seen new people playing, though. In Austin, I have seen places throw up a couple of boards and things just seem to start from there.” In McGuire’s case, he currently organizes and manages 15 teams of four people a team. He does not charge the bar, and each person playing pays an annual fee. The bars are responsible for buying the boards and other necessary equipment, and because the laws allow it, McGuire’s players are rewarded with cash prizes and trophies at the season’s close. “They (the bars) do sometimes add in beverage sponsors,” he says. “They will give discounts on beer prices, and on Friday nights a Happy Hour deal. We all pay $5 a week and have a Mystery Out. This is an extra dollar that pays for the league to run. At the end of the season, there is a little return on your money. It’s similar to running a bowling league.”

Tournament Champion
Over in Solomon’s Island, Md., James Black, owner of B & B Dart Supplies, has also been helping owners realize profit for two decades. He specializes in tournaments, which run at several locations on Friday and Saturday nights. “What it means is several hundreds of dollars each night for the establishment,” he says. For those who work with Black, the boards are provided along with all of the supplies for the tournament. Black then takes one staff member from each venue and trains that person to run the event. There is a fee for each team for each game, and the tournament is held in the “Luck of the Draw” style. While some of his bar owners do seek out sponsors, Black advises that he feels the best system is to run a charity tournament. “If you run the tournament for charity,” he says, “you can do it 80/20. Twenty percent goes to the charity, and you have a tax write-off.” There are some challenges to hosting a tournament, in Black’s opinion, however. Owners and operators need to consider space. For “Luck of the Draw,” Black says eight boards are a nice set-up. Players need to have their own section of the venue if it is a crowded night, and the food and cleanliness are paramount to making the tournament last. “If people come in and the food is lousy, it doesn’t matter how much money you throw at them,” he says.