Luke Humphries will embark on a third successive Premier League Darts Finals Night when taking to the oche at London's 02 Arena on Thursday evening.
It's been an admittedly tough campaign for 'Cool Hand', who had to wait 15 weeks to clinch his first nightly win, but a strong end to the league stage saw him make four consecutive finals and he takes on Jonny Clayton in the capital with a spot in the final up for grabs.
In spite of his success in the Premier League, winning the competition for the first time in 2025, Humphries has advocated for change in the format amid fan suggestions that the format is becoming repetitive.
Speaking exclusively to bet365, Humphries said: "Do you know what? I think it's been a good few years now and I've enjoyed the format, I still enjoy the format of what it is now, but I think there's so many players that could be in it that are not.
"Do you need to stop these great players not being in it?
"I know they like it elite. I know they like it really tight with eight, but if you have 10 players I feel like it be might be easier to stop arguments of who should be in.
"I know there's still going to be (arguments) and people will say 'that 11th or 12th person should be in', but I wouldn't go past 10 because I feel like if you take it to 12 then maybe it's not as elite as it should be."
The 2026 Premier League follows the same format that was introduced in 2022, with an eight-person knockout bracket every Thursday night for 16 weeks.
Players receive two points per semi-final finish, three points per runner-up finish, and five points per final win, and the top four in the standings after the league phase enter Finals Night, where 1st plays 4th and 2nd plays 3rd in best-of-19 semi-finals before a best-of-21 final decides the winner.
Darts fans have also been critical of the format in more recent years, with suggestions that seeing elite players face off on a regular basis diminishes the excitement that used to accompany rare match-ups between the best of the best.
Humphries added: "I think not just us as players, but the fans want change and we need them on our side. Hopefully they will be rewarded with something that they want as well.
"Us as players, we just want what the fans want. We want them to have good entertainment."
Prior to 2022, the Premier League Darts opted for a round-robin format consisting of 10 players, which then became eight players after 10 nights when the two players at the bottom of the standings were eliminated.
The round-robin format would continue amongst the eight players from Night 11 to Night 16, before the top four players in the standings entered Finals Night, which was identical to the format that we have now.
It's yet to be seen as to whether the PDC will opt for a change in structure, but with the view of the fans and world number two aligning, you'd suspect they may look into a potential alteration.
