Nominal vs present value
Local display: $0.7m · Rebased to 2024 USD via US CPI-U
How the total breaks down
Championship prize money. BDO World Championship and major televised event purses.
Exhibitions & appearances. Pub and hall exhibitions that paid far more than official prize funds.
Impact 88
- Made darts a British television personality sport
- Proved exhibitions, not purses, paid the first superstars
- Created the showman template Taylor and later PDC stars still use
Bristow taught darts that character sold tickets. The exhibition-heavy income model he lived on became the sport's underground economy for decades — and when the PDC later raised official purses, it still kept the showman premium Bristow had proved audiences would pay for.
In 1985 Bristow was darts' loudest brand: multiple world titles, BBC familiarity and a nickname that filled rooms. Official prize money looked small even then; the living came from driving to exhibitions where a single night could beat a tournament cheque. Restated in 2024 dollars the total is modest, but the structure — fame over purse — defined darts economics until Sky Sports rewrote the ledger.