A large team from the Professional Darts Corporation have been working hard to install the stage, set up tables and seating and fully stock the bars and merchandise tables ahead of the start of the Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts.
The tournament, which features a 32-player field over nine days of competition, has returned to WV Active Aldersley for the fifth time, having become the home of the tournament in 2018 following the start of works to renovate the Civic Hall.
The tournament, which features a 32-player field over nine days of competition, has returned to WV Active Aldersley for the fifth time, having become the home of the tournament in 2018 following the start of works to renovate the Civic Hall.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hi there, I'm James Riperevich and I'm here at WV Active, Aldersey Stadium, to talk about
00:04the Grand Slam of darts because Saturday is when it all begins. We're here just to sort
00:08of see the set-up. What you can see right now is the seating here, which is at the back
00:12of the venue. As you go along, it's quite a big room. It holds 2,000 people. So you've
00:16got the seating there, where if you've sort of paid for the cheap seats, as it were, that's
00:22your view. You won't exactly have trouble looking because inside the venue there's four
00:25big screens. You've got two screens there and two screens by the stage. Darts is a funny
00:31event in that you can't always see what's going on because if you look over there, the
00:36target is actually very small. So if you were sat here, you're not really going to see very
00:40much. However, they've designed this room so that you can see pretty much from wherever
00:43you are. Right now, that's the seating. The tables haven't been set up yet, but they are
00:48going to be set up and there's going to be rows going on there. Where we are is actually
00:52where the families and friends of the players are going to be sat. So the entranceway will
00:57be here. They'll walk up to the stage, which is just over there. You see the walkway onto
01:03the stage. You can see where the dartboard is. That very small target up there. This
01:07year it's sponsored by Mr. Vegas. So there's going to be a lot of that around there. It's
01:10a reminder as well, it's the Grand Slam of darts. If you didn't know that, it's right
01:12above the dartboard up there. This area, as I've said, is where the entranceway is. So
01:17the players will come in through that door. It's all set up there. They've got their players
01:21lounge up there and everything. They'll come through there, they'll walk up this way. Bray
01:25and crowd all ready to help celebrate these players coming onto the stage, whether they
01:28love them or they hate them. I know that Gerwin Price gets quite the reception when he comes
01:32here. Possibly due to the farting incident five years ago against Gary Anderson. The
01:37tables will all be set up here. You can see them in the cages right now, ready to be set
01:41up. I'm actually coming as a punter on Wednesday. So I'll be able to sit there, watch what's
01:46going on, enjoy a beverage because behind the stand is the bar where plenty of beers
01:52are going to be sold. I think about 15,000 this week. You'll be able to sit on your tables,
01:56look at the stage, look at the screens and see what's going on. I've also found out there's
02:00about four microphones around the dartboard, behind the treble 20, behind the treble 19,
02:07behind the double 12 and one other area which I haven't quite checked yet. You'll be able
02:15to hear the darts hitting the board basically. Right now it's very much in progress being
02:20set up but in a few hours time this will look like a full all singing, all dancing darts
02:25venue and it all starts at 12 o'clock tomorrow.