ROB CROSS has laughed off suggestions of a conspiracy after he was left off Sky Sports latests darts promos while all his Premier League rivals featured.

The former world champion, 34, begins his challenge for the title in Belfast on Thursday night.

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Cross faces a tough quarter-final clash against Stephen Bunting on the first night of the 2025 season.

Voltage was left off a promotional poster on Tuesday after the broadcaster signed a bumper new five-year TV deal with the PDC.

All eight of his Premier League Darts rivals were included in the promo, along with women’s trailblazers Fallon Sherrock and Beau Greaves.

Asked about being left off the poster, Cross joked: “Obviously my face must not fit.

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“It’s one of them – but they’re still going to be seeing me for 16 weeks now.

“I’m not really too bothered. I’ve never really played darts for the limelight, I’m not one of those people.”

Cross won the world title in 2018 but has struggled to regularly hit the heights of his World No.1 form over the past three years.

He crashed out at Ally Pally in the second round in December – and suffered a shock loss to qualifier William O’Connor at last week’s Masters.

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Voltage prefers to shun the limelight – and admits it was tough to adjust to his new-found fame after topping the world seven years ago.

Cross continued: “Some people thrive off it.

“When I won the World Championship, was I ready to be in the spotlight? Probably not.

“Did I really want to be in the spotlight? Probably not.

“But I did it, I fronted it, and I learnt a lot that year.

“I’m just happy as long as the cheque hits the bank at the weekend and I can feed the family on Monday.”

Cross will go up against Bunting, Chris Dobey, Gerwyn Price, Luke Littler, Michael van Gerwen, Nathan Aspinall and Luke Humphries in this year’s Premier League.

Sky’s new deal with the PDC will see events remain on the broadcaster until 2030.

It is the biggest deal in darts history and is estimated to be worth £25million per year.

Jonathan Licht, managing director of Sky Sports, said: “The incredible growth in darts viewership on Sky Sports over the last 12 months shows just how much the nation loves this sport.

“The extraordinary story of last year’s World Championship helped to welcome new younger audiences to the sport and brought increased excitement for fans.

“Following another successful tournament, there seems no better time to extend our longstanding partnership with the PDC to remain the home of this uniquely brilliant sport.

“We’re excited to keep innovating to tell the stories and bring fans closer to the action through our unrivalled coverage of the biggest darts tournaments for the next five years.”

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