It seems a long time ago now, but covid and its horrible lockdowns were only declared ‘over’ a mere matter of months ago. And while it brought nothing but misery and damage and some changes to the way we go about things on a daily basis, there is at least one legacy that has been positive.
We are talking about the Online Darts Live League, originally branded as the MODUS Darts Live League which itself followed on from the MODUS Icons of Darts Live League.
As noted, all of these events came about as a reaction to the coronavirus pandemic which at the time brought global sports to a standstill. Darts, of course, is fortunate that it is one of the few sports that can benefit from being played inside people’s homes. Football, cricket and rugby, for example, not so much.
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Who Are MODUS?
Founded in 1997, MODUS is an events and management company that represent many of the world’s highest profile darts players while laying on professional, premier events and exhibitions.
MODUS have partnered with Belfast-based iGame Media in order to utilize their sophisticated technical delivery and broadcast capabilities to bring these events to the market. 4k cameras will continue to capture every thrilling moment as well as every throw in ultra high definition as standard while supporting Ultra Low Latency streaming and broadcast-grade quality content. This is achieved by broadcasting brand new multi-camera footage.
The 2020 Modus Icons of Darts Live League pitted groups of six players fighting it out from the comfort of their own homes and live streaming their efforts remotely. Play was set up in a round-robin format and took place from Monday to Saturday each week.
Not only did this provide players with valuable match practice in a competitive environment at a time when no darts tournaments were ongoing, but it also gave darts fans the chance to catch some live darts during that first initial period of isolation.
Now that lockdown is a thing of the past, there is no need for the players to take on each other from home. However, such was the accidental success of live streaming the darts behind closed doors, newer tourneys have sprung up in their place, the Online Darts Live League being one of them.
Weekly tournaments
2021 saw the Icons tournament replaced by the Modus Online Live League which originally featured a host of star names taking each other on in a group stage format through a live stream in a behind closed doors set up. The League was comprised of three groups and play took place from Monday to Friday with a final group being formed for the Saturday. There was a £10,000 prize fund, reserved for the weekly winners, runners-up and third-placed players.
Former Lakeside world champs Martin Adams and Richie Burnett, plus former UK Open finalist Colin Osborne, James Richardson and Chas Barstow were among the bigger names to take part.
All of the matches were contested over a best-of-seven legs format while being streamed exclusively live on desktop, mobile and tablet for darts fans in the United Kingdom and numerous other regions globally.
MODUS Super Series, The Successor
As of Saturday the 3rd of September 2022, an exciting new darts competition will launch in the UK. The MODUS Super Series will feature top international stars such as the record-breaking Fallon Sherrock, plus the legends that are Martin Adams and Robert Thornton.
Lisa Ashton, Jarred Cole, Neil Duff, Kevin Painter, Mikuru Suzuki and Thibault Tricole are all also on board while Paul Nicholson, Mark Webster, Chris Mason, Chris Murphy and Abigail Davies will be providing live commentary.
This competition will again be live streamed, but games will not be taking place inside players’ homes but instead at a top-spec, purpose-built location in Portsmouth. There is over £1 million on offer to players across the season which comprises of more than 30 hours of live streamed matches which can also be viewed through the bet365 darts live stream Monday to Saturday every week.
The MODUS Super Series will offer perfectly timed matches for UK bettors with matches running in Morning and Evening Sessions from 09:30 GMT through 22:00 GMT.
Open to non PDC Tour Card holders over the age of 18 as well as legends of the sport, the MODUS Super Series will see 12 players compete each week in a series of group matches. They will happen on weekdays, producing six qualifiers who will each progress onto the Finals Night on Saturday evening which will be held in front of a live audience.
This will continue for 13 weeks when the 12 weekly winners will battle it out in Champions Week in an effort to be crowned the MODUS Super Series champion who will pick up a winners’ prize of £20,000.
Best of all, the next MODUS Super Series begins all over again from week one creating a non-stop cycle of high-quality tournaments that are played continuously all year round. Not bad for a successor to the Online Darts Live League which ran for two years as a COVID era, play at home darts tournament and evolved made for TV, studio-based competition.