2020 Premier League Darts

The 2020 Unibet Premier League Darts is an ongoing darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation – the sixteenth edition of the tournament. The event began on Thursday 6 February at the P&J Live in Aberdeen and will end with the Play-offs at The O₂ Arena in London on Thursday 22 October, after a delay was caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Michael van Gerwen is the four-time defending champion after defeating Rob Cross 11–5 in the 2019 final.
On 12 March 2020, it was announced that the double-header due to be played in Rotterdam had been postponed due to coronavirus concerns. The following day it was announced that the Rotterdam dates would be moved to September, with the culmination of the tournament taking place there instead of London. On 16 March 2020 it was announced the round to be played in Newcastle would be moved to October, taking over as the tournament's final round.
The May dates were postponed on 9 April 2020, with the PDC announcing a fully rescheduled calendar, the play-offs now taking place in Sheffield. Further changes were announced in July, with the cancellation of the events in Birmingham, Belfast, Leeds, Berlin and the double header in Rotterdam; and the reinstatement of The O₂ Arena as the host of the final. Six nights were added to the calendar to be held behind closed doors at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.

Format

The tournament format will remain the same as 2019, with the only difference being the re-branding of 'contenders' to 'challengers' for this season.
Phase 1:
In each round, eight of the nine players play each other in four matches and the ninth player plays one match against one of the nine challengers. Phase 1 matches have a maximum of twelve legs, allowing for the winner being first to seven or a six-six draw. At the end of Phase 1, the bottom player is eliminated from the competition.
Phase 2:
In each round, the remaining eight players play each other in four matches. Phase 2 matches have a maximum of fourteen legs, allowing for the winner being first to eight or a seven-seven draw. At the end of Phase 2, the bottom four players in the league table are eliminated from the competition.
Play-off Night:
The top four players in the league table contest the two knockout semi-finals with 1st playing 4th and 2nd playing 3rd. The semi-finals are first to 10 legs. The two winning semi-finalists meet in the final which is first to 11 legs.

Venues

The only change of venues from 2019 to 2020 was the introduction of the P&J Live in Aberdeen, which hosted the opening night's action.
Following the COVID-19 outbreak, the rounds in Birmingham, Belfast, Leeds, Berlin and Rotterdam were cancelled, with rounds being added in Milton Keynes to make up.

Aberdeen	Nottingham	Cardiff	Dublin
P&J Live Thursday 6 February	Motorpoint Arena Nottingham Thursday 13 February	Motorpoint Arena Cardiff Thursday 20 February	3Arena Thursday 27 February

Exeter	Liverpool	Birmingham	Belfast
Westpoint Arena Thursday 5 March	M&S Bank Arena Thursday 12 March	Arena Birmingham	SSE Arena Belfast

Leeds	Berlin	Rotterdam	Milton Keynes
First Direct Arena	Mercedes Benz Arena	Rotterdam Ahoy	Marshall Arena Tuesday 25 – Sunday 30 August

Glasgow	Manchester	Newcastle	Sheffield
SSE Hydro Thursday 17 September	Manchester Arena Thursday 24 September	Utilita Arena Thursday 1 October	Sheffield Arena Thursday 15 October

London	-	-	-
The O₂ Arena Thursday 22 October	-	-	-
	-	-	-

Prize money

The prize money for the 2020 tournament remained at £825,000.

Players

The players in this year's tournament were announced following the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship final on 1 January. The top four on the PDC Order of Merit are joined by five wildcards.

Player	Appearance in Premier League	Consecutive Streak	Order of Merit Rank on 1/1/20	Previous best performance	Qualification
	8th	8	1
	7th	7	2	Runner-up
	3rd	3	3	5th
	3rd	3	4	Runner-up	PDC Order of Merit
	4th	3	5	Runner-up	Wildcard
	9th	1	6	Winner	Wildcard
	3rd	3	7	Semi-final	Wildcard
	1st	1	8	Debut	Wildcard
	1st	1	22	Debut	Wildcard

The format is similar to that of 2019, with 9 main players plus 9 invited players, now referred to as 'challengers' in a re-brand from the tag of 'contenders'. The 9 main players earn league points if they win or draw against the challengers. The challengers do not earn any league points but they earn financial bonuses if they win or draw their match.

Player	Venue	Order of Merit Rank on 1/1/20
	Aberdeen	31
	Nottingham	91
	Cardiff	16
	Dublin	37
	Exeter	35
	Liverpool	17
	Milton Keynes	19
	Milton Keynes	20
	Milton Keynes	23

League stage

Players in italics are "Challengers", and only play on that night.

6 February – Night 1 (Phase 1)

P&J Live, Aberdeen

13 February – Night 2 (Phase 1)

Motorpoint Arena Nottingham, Nottingham

20 February – Night 3 (Phase 1)

Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, Cardiff

27 February – Night 4 (Phase 1)

3Arena, Dublin

5 March – Night 5 (Phase 1)

Westpoint Arena, Exeter