Grand Slam of Darts returns to Wolverhampton: Players, prices, venue, food and everything you need to know about the annual carnival of darts

The Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts has become one of the highlights of the year for the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and one of the events which brings together the best players in the world.

With World Champions, Majors winners and those looking to cause a shock all competiting, it will be a week-long fiesta of darts in front of large and noisy crowds at Aldersley Stadium in Wolverhampton.

The first session begins on Saturday, November 8 at 1pm and will run throughout the week until finals day on Sunday, November 16, so we have taken a look at what people can expect from a week of tungsten tossing action.

What is the Grand Slam of Darts?

The Grand Slam of Darts is a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation and is known as the Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts for sponsorship purposes.

The PDC used to invite the best performing players from its rival, the British Darts Organisation (BDO), until the BDO went into liquidation in September 2020.

Since the 2015 edition of the Grand Slam, the tournament is classified as a ranking-tournament, being a non-ranking event at previous editions.

The reigning champion is Luke Littler, who beat Martin Lukeman 16 legs to three in the 2024 final, and the winner in 2025 will win the Eric Bristow trophy and £150,000 in prize money.

The full list can be seen on the PDC website.

Where in Wolverhampton has it taken place?

Up until 2017, the tournament was staged each November at the Civic Hall since it began in 2007.

After the Civic Hall and Wulfrun Hall were closed for renovation work in 2018, the tournament moved to Aldersley Stadium, taking place inside the massive sports hall, with Gerwyn Price beating Gary Anderson to win the first edition of the tournament at Aldersley.

Since then, the tournament has remained at Aldersley, apart from the Covid-affected tournament in 2020, which was played behind closed doors at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

It returned back to Aldersley in 2021 and remains there even after the reopening of the Halls, with PDC chief executive Matt Porter saying the PDC could do more with the venue.

He said: “We'll be staying at Aldersley for the Grand Slam. We feel it's a more suitable venue for the event now as we can accommodate more people at tables, which is what the crowd want.

"We're speaking regularly to Wolverhampton Council as they're putting a lot of investment into that venue, looking to upgrade it, and looking to have us as part of that.

"We've got a very strong relationship with them, they love having the Grand Slam, they know it's good for the profile of the city and we know it's the right city to host that event.

"We feel that Aldersley is the place for it to be and, with the improvements that are looking to be made there over the next couple of years, could be a top venue.”

How many sessions are there and how many seats are available?

There will be 12 sessions taking place throughout the week, with two each on the first Saturday and Sunday at 1pm and 7pm, all featuring eight best-of-nine-leg matches.

On Monday and Tuesday, there will be one session of eight matches each, starting at 7pm, then four best-of-19-legs second round matches each on Wednesday and Thursday, both at 7pm, two best-of-31-legs quarterfinals on Friday and Saturday, then two best-of-31-legs semi-finals at 1pm on Sunday and the best-of-31-legs final at 7.30pm on Sunday.

Each session will allow up to 2,000 people, either on tables or tiered seating at the back of the arena, with large screens showing the action on stage.

How much does a ticket cost and where can I get one?

The event is almost sold out, but any remaining tickets are available via the official PDC website.

For the opening weekend, the prices are a front table seat for £48.60, a rear table seat for £43.20 and £37.80 for a tiered seat.

Over the rest of the week from Monday to Sunday, a front table seat is £43.20, a rear table seat for £37.80 and £32.40 for a tiered seat,

There is "limited parking on site" for each session, with car parking tickets costing £10 per session.

Shuttle buses will run from the city centre to Aldersley at intervals before each session and return after the sessions, costing £5 per person.

What is available to eat and drink at the event?

The venue will have a bar with multiple pumps on at the back of the arena, behind the tiered seating, with a queueing system which usually doesn't take long.

A large team from the PDC 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.

On average, a beer at a PDC event will cost around £7.25 for a pint or £29 for a four-pint jug of beer.

In terms of food, these will include the Costa Coffee Unit at Aldersley, then Burger Kitchen and Street Eatz Chicken in the area outside next to the athletics track.

Who can I expect to see playing at the event?

The tournament regularly features the top names in the darting world, as well as also providing players on the tour who have won development tournaments and challenger events with an opportunity to qualify.

It features 32 players who have qualified as World Champion or through winning a major tournament or being a runner up in a major tournament or by qualifying from a tour event or qualifier.

This includes defending Grand Slam champion and current World Champion Luke Littler, as well as past Grand Slam winners in Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price and perennial tournament winners in Jonny Clayton, James Wade and Stephen Bunting.

Among the other names to qualify for the tournament are Women's Series winner Beau Greaves, Women's Matchplay winner Lisa Ashton, World Youth Champion Gian van Veen and popular German Martin Schindler.