The tournament was shown live on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland.

[2] The competitors were announced on 1 January 2014 following the Ladbrokes World Darts Championship final, with the top four players from the PDC Order of Merit to be joined by six Wildcards.

[3][4] The tournament format is identical to that of 2013, whereby after nine weeks the bottom two players are relegated.

PDC chairman Barry Hearn explained the decision was made to give Wade a rest to enable him more time to gain treatment for his health issues,[5] but Wade released a statement the following day, describing the omission as "devastating" as he was "one of the four most consistent players in 2013".

[6] Week seven saw a tournament record attendance with 11,000 fans in Leeds, which was also the only new city introduced on the circuit this year, although Glasgow had a new arena with The SSE Hydro making its debut.

Newton played Whitlock on 27 March (Week 8), when Robert Thornton was given the night off.