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The ends do not justify the means:
It (obviously) prevents fans from watching their team play on Saturday at 3pm, unless they can go to matches. For obvious reasons (too many to mention – but they include geography, ground capacity, and household finances), it is not realistic for all fans to get to all games. This situation is only accepted because it has always been the case. While acknowledging that the 3pm blackout may have some (doubtful) benefits for some; it is essential to acknowledge that the blackout has (undoubted) drawbacks for many. Even if the 3pm blackout does accomplish its presumed aim of ensuring that clubs who rely on gate receipts are not damaged by televised football (which this article does not accept anyway),it should not be retained if it does more harm than good. Like everything, this is a balancing act, and it is far from clear that the balance lies in favour of maintaining an anachronistic self-denial at all costs. [I should declare a personal interest here – as a Newcastle fan who lives in London and therefore cannot realistically attend in person
The substitution effect is weak:
The rationale for the 3pm blackout is that the absence of televised football makes it more likely that people will go to matches. There are two main reasons why this is too simplistic. Firstly, football support is essentially tribal. There are a few clubs who attract a sizeable contingent of supporters who attend Saturday 3pm matches at the same time as also supporting other clubs (for instance, Tranmere Rovers – where many fans also identify with either Everton or Liverpool). However, these clubs are the exception: as a general rule, a supporter of Club A is unlikely to miss a Club A match, just because Club B are on television. Secondly, there are plenty of fans who are no longer excited by football on the TV.
Back in the 1960s, when Bob Lord lobbied for the blackout, the idea of televised football would have been thrilling. Even in the 1990s, when I was growing up, we would watch (pretty much) every match on Sky. Televised football was still new and exciting. Now, there are so many matches on TV,it has lost that special feel. Personally, I no longer make time to watch anyone other than Newcastle, and I suspect that the population of supporters who would decide against going to a match, just to watch yet another over-hyped “showdown” on Sky or BT, is dwindling.
The blackout does not primarily benefit “the little guy”:The main beneficiaries (if any) of the blackout are the clubs who usually play on a Saturday at 3pm, but whose fans would be most tempted by televised matches involving other clubs. It is far from obvious that the fans of non-league or amateur clubs are the ones in this category. If Liverpool were being televised on a Saturday at 3pm, it is possibly more likely that someone would be tempted away from watching, say, Bolton or Blackburn, than Marine or Prescot Cables – partly because the Bolton and Blackburn tickets are more expensive, and also because non-league fans often have close, community ties to those clubs and the individuals involved (and an affinity for the matchday experience itself). If you were to ask a Liverpool fan whether he thinks it is beneficial to maintain the 3pm blackout in order to benefit local non-league teams like Marine or Prescot Cables, the answer might be yes.
It is far less likely that the same fan will be similarly keen to deny himself the right to watch Liverpool on TV, in order to prop up the incomes of Bolton and Blackburn. There is a vast swathe of clubs who, while they may not be illustrious enough to dissuade (some of) their supporters from preferring to watch elite football on television where there is a timing clash, are sufficiently rich not to be deserving of regulatory protection by way of the 3pm blackout. Indeed, the idea that the 3pm blackout protects the plucky little clubs is romantic but fundamentally flawed. By seeking to protect gate receipts (i.e. profits), the 3pm blackout is arguably a regressive measure, with individual fans being deprived of the opportunity to watch their (Premier League) clubs, in order to insulate the profits of the mega-rich owners of clubs whose teams – in part due to poor stewardship – are outside the top flight, such as Vincent Tan (Cardiff), Shahid Khan (Fulham) and Tony Fernandes (QPR). This is not fair.
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And actually nine, it would totally be possible to trial the blackout before next tv deals, just like in lockdown.
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“No of course not nine, nothing can be done until at least 2025.”
“And actually nine, it would totally be possible to trial the blackout before next tv deals, just like in lockdown.”
Two different opinions within 16 minutes of each other Lucky?😊
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……..”The EFL’s existing TV partners Sky Sports are opposed to lifting the 3pm Saturday blackout, which could lead to multiple channels buying the rights to show live matches from the 2024-25 season.
The EFL are making all of their 1,656 matches available in a new strategy pitched to broadcasters this week, and are willing to televise Saturday afternoon kick-offs for the first time.
Sky Sports’ opposition to dumping the broadcast blackout, which has been in place since the 1960s, stems from their close alignment with the Premier League. The top flight have no wish to see 3pm kick-offs on TV as their broadcast model is based on having multiple must-see matches at different times across the weekend. They also believe only televising around half of the games makes their rights more valuable.”
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Nine, I’m not for a trial, and it won’t happen that way. For the 3pm blackout to be lifted permanently would require a complete change to broadcast deals.
What I added though was that we have already seen that all games can be shown live without this as we did during lockdown.
All of which is besides the point of the debate that you see no point in having 😉
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“I’m not for a trial, and it won’t happen that way. For the 3pm blackout to be lifted permanently would require a complete change to broadcast deals.”
Very true Lucky and that requires carrying the broadcasters the biggest of which in Sky is opposed to the black out. PL football is the jewel in Sky’s crown they can’t afford too much disruption to that.
Very difficult to predict how this all might turn out it did work in lockdown but personally I struggled with it as there was just too much football. I like Chocolates but I don’t want to eat a box of Chocolates every night.😊
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Nine, Sky can kiss my ass. Sure they can be cited as an obstacle in that they will do anything to maintain the status quo but I could not care less about what is best for them.
The Premier league is a collection of 20 owners and as soon as they are confident they have the infrastructure to deliver their product directly they will cut out the middle man.
Their model of moving big games to separate slots for exposure will remain whether 2 or 10 games are broadcast live.
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“I struggled with it as there was just too much football. I like Chocolates but I don’t want to eat a box of Chocolates every night.😊”
Hey forest, footie is like a box of chocolates, you will have what you are given! 😆
Honestly nine I don’t know how I can be clearer or why you don’t see that there is only one thing I care about here buddie..
I WANT TO WARCH EVERY CHELSEA MATCH LIVE WITHOUT NEEDING TO WATCH PIRATE STREAMS! 🤣 Boehly will agree with me, that’s 1 of the 20 owners on side 😀
If there are 10 games you don’t need to watch them, no one does, it’s all about giving fans the choice to watch their teams every weekend and any other games on at different times if they want.
No one is forcing you to eat all that chocolate!
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That’s what I find funny see, I mean I do watch chelsea at 3pm on Saturday, many do. Many watch other teams at 3pm on Saturday too. Many of us, and many of the fans that miss out altogether, would be happy to pay for legit top quality stream.
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I get sky sports via now TV. The set price is 33.99 per month and its just the sports.
I don’t pay 33.99 because I have a cycle that has worked like a charm for 3 seasons. If you cancel as soon as footie season ends, then ahead of new season you will get an offer for 3 to 6 months at 19.99. If you then cancel when price goes up at end of offer period, it goes through this automated BS of asking why you are leaving and if you persist that you are cancelling it will eventually offer you the 19.99 again. I never pay more.
They have a hell of a margin here and are taking the piss. I am sure the prem don’t see reductions on payments due to these reductions to people like me and so why dont the prem just give sky the boot eventually? There is no answer to that and sky will be given the boot sooner or later, the Premier league will need time to adapt to the new landscape but it will and the owners of the prem clubs will maximise their revenue’s.
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Lucky, seemingly the PL don’t won’t to go in the direction of rescinding the 3 pm black out games until that changes nothing will happen.
Equally if anything is going to happen it won’t happen until the current TV deals run out at the end of the 2024/25 season. Lots of water to flow under the Bridge yet.
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Plenty of time for prem to think about it before next deal 👍
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And supporting the blackout will always be the outward stance of premier league while they have agreed to it and are in business with sky and bt.
It will only change once it actually changes.
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Actually Lucky it will only change if the Club’s want it to change and 14 of them vote for it to change. Given that it’s not even on the agenda currently that looks a way off imo and the Football Supporters Association are urging caution to the EFL.
I appreciate your desire and passion for it to happen let’s wait and see whether the PL put it on its agenda for consideration so far all we’ve got is the EFL investigating a potential change. £2.8 billion a season from Sky,BT Sport, Amazon and the BBC will take some beating and that is likely to increase further next time around.
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Well of course nine, that’s how it works, will only happen if the prem owners vote for it.
You know the prem have had to give away more and more games for the deals to have risen to where they have done over the years in uk, and they had to give more away in the last round as the UK market is flattening, as you pointed out the growth is in overseas revenue.
I totally accept your conditional opinion on this, that being that as long as it doesn’t affect attendances you are for it. That’s fair enough.
You know my opinion too.
But what will happen is independent of that and I think what we can both probably agree is as soon as the Premier league clubs have the infrastructure in place and confidence that they can grow revenue by cutting out the middle men and showing all games live, they will do it, and attendances at lower league grounds will not be a consideration at all.
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But they won’t be cutting out the middleman they would just be doing a deal with other broadcasters.
My views on it are providing it’s affordable to the fans and it doesn’t affect attendances I would be for it but currently there is nothing to discuss as seemingly it’s not under consideration by the PL and what we’re discussing is your desire for the PL to go in the same direction as the EFL who are awaiting proposals.
My concerns are if too many Broadcasters get involved the costs will accelerate to the fans if you want to watch Chelsea on Wednesday v Brentford for instance it will cost an additional £7:99 if you don’t have Amazon Prime and with BT coming into the PL and CL if you want to watch those games that’s an additional cost too to the Sky subscription.
Anyway let’s park it for now until there’s something concrete from a PL perspective to discuss.
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The broadcasters have always been necessary but that is changing.
Your concern re broadcasters inflating the cost to the fans is 100% justified , it has already happened, is happening now and will continue to happen until better alternatives are understood. I think better alternatives will be identified and we will see an increase in viewership and prem league revenue once the cost per unit is reduced but more games are sold.
Like I said I will watch every chelsea game regardless so I will just watch for free until they decide to charge 😆
Anyway, I think I am done with this one too,
👍
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