There can be only ONE
To the Dallas Dart Players:
Last Wednesday, Oct 17th, was sadly the last Circuit tourney at Drinks Saloon. They have begun their own Weds night tournament, again.
Six months ago, The Circuit and Drinks joined our two different Weds night tournaments into one, so the local ‘tournament dart players’ only had to choose ‘whether they wanted to play a tourney that night or not.’ They didn’t have to choose where or with whom, nor worry about loyalties or old and new social relationships. There was only one place to play and it worked out well for both the non-Circuit players and the regulars, plus Drinks. We had a respectable average participation rate of 20 players. Before, this merge happened those same 20 players were usually split between both clubs and neither tourney location/sponsor had a good night. Either that or all the dart players texted each other and ran to play at whichever club had the most players, or where their friends were at the time, or the where the MOP was huge. So, it ended up being just one respectable sized tournament anyway proving that ‘There can be only ONE”. The combining of both tournaments solved the problem for both Drinks & The Circuit with everyone seeming to benefit from this arrangement. However, nothing seems to last forever and change is inevitable even though you might not understand ‘why’.
The above leads to this: That at this time, in the ‘Dallas Dart Playing Community’, I do not see a sufficient number of ACTIVE Tournament players to support TWO tournaments on the same night during the week. Neither location would have a GOOD NIGHT with LESS than an average size tournament for the players to enjoy which has already been proven time and time, again.
One of the original and top reasons I began The Circuit was to ‘FILL a GAP’ which existed – In my opinion there was NOT enough weekly dart tournaments. I therefore set out to provide a GREAT Dart tournament on each night of the week whereby both the players and the sponsoring club had a GOOD night. I made sure that any other Circuit tourney on that same night was sufficiently distanced through ‘Neighborhoods’ in order to reach an entirely new group of skilled players. All the players from each Neighborhood would then come together every TWELVE MONTHS to PLAY in a HUGE, UNIQUE, and ‘fully player funded’ DART EVENT filled with talented individuals from all over the DFW Metroplex in order to provide a FUN, CHALLENGING, and EXCITING season-end Dartistry Event. Then and now, this concept is still important to me. To do this, its TAKES the ‘participation of the local players’ and the ‘cooperation not competition’ of the Dart clubs in each neighborhood. In the end, it is the players inevitable support or nonsupport of a particular tournament which makes or breaks a sponsoring club’s continued support. This holds true for ONE club as it does for the whole Circuit. The ‘Use it or Lose it’ concept.
With that said, the Dallas dart players don’t seem to need or want a Circuit tournament on Weds nights anymore (or some other nights). They seem to have chosen a new(?) and different(?) venue or allowed their favorite clubs to do so for them. Actually, looking at the participation level of the Circuit tournaments during this last 30 days, I’m not even sure if the players want TWO Dartistrys a year, anymore? or even care whether the Circuit still exists. It takes an average of 16 players per tourney to reach the funds necessary to continue the Dartistrys at the same level. We’ve only averaged 10. The players priorities and their loyalties seem to have changed.
Well, mine hasn’t. It’s still I stated in the above paragraph. So, in order to do right by the Dallas Dart Playing Community and be true to ‘there can be ONLY ONE’ proven concept, I cannot in good conscience attempt to find another Wednesday night sponsor in Dallas (it would be unfair to the players and the sponsoring club) until such a time as the Dart Community has increased sufficiently to support TWO 16+ player tournaments, 2 clubs, and ‘The Circuit’, again.
Therefore, I will be looking outside of Dallas proper for an appropriate and respectable ‘Circuit Sponsor’ that will reach players who both need and WANT The Circuit there. When this happens, if at all, I will let you know. I will miss y’all on Weds night. Have Fun. Throw Good Darts.