EFL EFL considering ending Sat 3pm blackout

[OUFCGav]

EFL will consider lifting Saturday 3pm blackout in next TV deal

Lifting the Saturday 3pm blackout is one option the English Football League will consider in the sale of its next television and media rights

www.theguardian.com

 

[Malc]

Preferably a broadcaster with more than 1 camera.

 

[OUFCGav]

Preferably a broadcaster with more than 1 camera.

i wouldn't imagine it would ever be for L1/2

 

[MarkG]

It's something that needs sorting to avoid fans having to use VPNs to stream Saturday 3pm games, when there is clearly a willing market to pay the £10 streaming fee.

For an extreme example in the current season, what if for instance there is a choice of
Saturday 14 Jan 2023 3pm,
Man United vs Man City,
or
Fleetwood vs Oxford United.

If the former is then available on Sky/ BT sports, I'd imagine the match day attendance at Fleetwood would drop if fans could watch the Manchester derby in the pub or at home.
If people had the choice of a pay-per-view, how many would choose the Oxford game?

 

[ZeroTheHero]

It's something that needs sorting to avoid fans having to use VPNs to stream Saturday 3pm games, when there is clearly a willing market to pay the £10 streaming fee.

For an extreme example in the current season, what if for instance there is a choice of
Saturday 14 Jan 2023 3pm,
Man United vs Man City,
or
Fleetwood vs Oxford United.

If the former is then available on Sky/ BT sports, I'd imagine the match day attendance at Fleetwood would drop if fans could watch the Manchester derby in the pub or at home.
If people had the choice of a pay-per-view, how many would choose the Oxford game?

I'm not sure that's the case. I should think they are two very different markets. If you are an Oxford fan who can't get to the game at Fleetwood (and kudos to those who do make it to games like that) then you'd obviously pay to watch that game rather than a Manchester derby. I suspect those that are lukewarm in their support of Oxford might watch the Manchester derby by 'other means' anyway! So the availability of a stream for our game should provide a bit more cash to the club - although I *can* see people choosing to stream the game rather than slog all the way up there (for both time and cost reasons). If you aren't an Oxford or Fleetwood fan, then yes you'd choose the Manchester derby to watch in preference - but then that sort of person was never going to watch the Oxford game at all anyway.

The only question in my mind is whether the extra receipts generated by the PPV will offset the lost away gate revenue of those who decide to watch rather than attend. It seems to me to be likely that it would (I personally pick and choose my away trips, and I'd pay my tenner - I am sure many others are in the same boat) . Of course, the less away fans that turn up (and surely it will be more away support that is affected) the less atmosphere there is likely to be, which could certainly be a downside.

 

[MarkG]

It looks like nothing is changing for two seasons anyway.

 

[werthersoriginal]

It's something that needs sorting to avoid fans having to use VPNs to stream Saturday 3pm games, when there is clearly a willing market to pay the £10 streaming fee.

For an extreme example in the current season, what if for instance there is a choice of
Saturday 14 Jan 2023 3pm,
Man United vs Man City,
or
Fleetwood vs Oxford United.

If the former is then available on Sky/ BT sports, I'd imagine the match day attendance at Fleetwood would drop if fans could watch the Manchester derby in the pub or at home.
If people had the choice of a pay-per-view, how many would choose the Oxford game?

Oxford fans would choose the Oxford game - I have no interest in Man U apart from idly watching MOTD, and realistically I'm not going to go to Fleetwood

 

[tonyw]

I also don't think that the broadcasters would schedule the biggest Premier League fixtures for 3pm on a Saturday either.

They want to draw in every football fan for the biggest games so they can make the most advertising revenue; they don't want to lose every die hard football league fan because they schedule it to clash with their clubs' fixtures.

So I'm almost certain that you'll still see your Man U/Man City/Liverpool/Arsenal/Chelsea/Spurs clashes continuing to be shown on a Sunday or maybe Saturday early evening.

What will happen is that you'll get fixtures like Fulham vs. Bournemouth or Wolves vs. Forest (just looking at this weekend's fixtures) being shown live at 3pm on a Saturday as well as everything else. The sort of game that isn't going to tempt anyone other than the most casual Oxford fan from skipping the game.


The only thing that would bring down attendances is if fans decide to stream the Oxford game via PPV rather than travelling to watch live.......

 

[Essexyellows]

I also don't think that the broadcasters would schedule the biggest Premier League fixtures for 3pm on a Saturday either.

They want to draw in every football fan for the biggest games so they can make the most advertising revenue; they don't want to lose every die hard football league fan because they schedule it to clash with their clubs' fixtures.

So I'm almost certain that you'll still see your Man U/Man City/Liverpool/Arsenal/Chelsea/Spurs clashes continuing to be shown on a Sunday or maybe Saturday early evening.

What will happen is that you'll get fixtures like Fulham vs. Bournemouth or Wolves vs. Forest (just looking at this weekend's fixtures) being shown live at 3pm on a Saturday as well as everything else. The sort of game that isn't going to tempt anyone other than the most casual Oxford fan from skipping the game.


The only thing that would bring down attendances is if fans decide to stream the Oxford game via PPV rather than travelling to watch live.......

Flipside - saving £50+ on petrol, food, drink etc, only taking 90 minutes out of the day so free to do other things, no getting stressed on the M40, no freezing your bits off in a 3 sided concrete tip.

Dangerous side - it`ll be hard to attract people back even with a new stadium once the genie is out of the bottle - same as some said when PPV started....

 

[MarkG]

Flipside - saving £50+ on petrol, food, drink etc, only taking 90 minutes out of the day so free to do other things, no getting stressed on the M40, no freezing your bits off in a 3 sided concrete tip.

Dangerous side - it`ll be hard to attract people back even with a new stadium once the genie is out of the bottle - same as some said when PPV started....

Is it fair to say that in aggregate across the leagues attendances have increased since ppv was first introduced in the early 90s?

It’s already being reported that online shopping is now in decline following the covid increase, many of the “at home” FAANG stocks (Facebook Amazon Apple Netflix Google) have all gone down.

I think people want to interact and meet friends to watch sports at a match , not sit at home and watch on the tv or laptop . Of course many might live far away or have financial or health reasons that hinder that.

 

[oldabingdonian]

There's a broader question about what EFL clubs do with any extra money they make. If it simply goes straight back out again on wages and agent's fees, then the fans haven't really gained anything, and in fact have lost. It is marketing nonsense (I'm being polite) to somehow claim that it respects the traditions of the game simply because a few rich championship clubs are now able to pay wages closer to those in the premiership.

 

[Essexyellows]

Is it fair to say that in aggregate across the leagues attendances have increased since ppv was first introduced in the early 90s?

It’s already being reported that online shopping is now in decline following the covid increase, many of the “at home” FAANG stocks (Facebook Amazon Apple Netflix Google) have all gone down.

I think people want to interact and meet friends to watch sports at a match , not sit at home and watch on the tv or laptop . Of course many might live far away or have financial or health reasons that hinder that.

Probably because of the 3pm blackout being retained?

Yep - as C19 taught us human interaction is not to be underestimated or dismissed.

Then you get the external influences such as cost of living, pay rises etc which may lead people to make sacrifices and use alternatives? Its a long time since that glorious 0-0 vs Sunderland!

 

[SteMerritt]

I think people want to interact and meet friends to watch sports at a match , not sit at home and watch on the tv or laptop . Of course many might live far away or have financial or health reasons that hinder that.

Completely agree. The 90mins is just a small part of the day. And at the moment the worst part of it as well. It is like saying people would stop going to see bands if they could watch the show on YouTube, the experience just isn't remotely the same.

 

[Northstandboy]

I would NEVER miss a LIVE OUFC match in a stadium for any other footballing event on a TV!

 

[RyanioBirdio]

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Completely agree. The 90mins is just a small part of the day. And at the moment the worst part of it as well. It is like saying people would stop going to see bands if they could watch the show on YouTube, the experience just isn't remotely the same.

Agreed entirely. But if you cannot get to the gig for one reason or another, then watching it on YouTube is better than nothing - and if you have to pay for the privilege the band might get a few more quid.

 

[tonyw]

You could do something like what the NFL used to do with it's blackout rules.

It used to be the case that if a team hadn't sold 85% of the tickets for a game at least 72 hours before kickoff, then the game was 'blacked out' and you couldn't watch it on TV in the local area.

With modern technology, it would be easy enough to have a similar rule in the UK.
You can't watch the 3pm Saturday game on iFollow if you're within 100 miles of the stadium unless most of the tickets for the game are already sold; but anyone further afield can.
Yes, you could get around that with a VPN......but you already can because all the 3pm Saturday kickoffs are streamed live overseas.

 

[Essexyellows]

You could do something like what the NFL used to do with it's blackout rules.

It used to be the case that if a team hadn't sold 85% of the tickets for a game at least 72 hours before kickoff, then the game was 'blacked out' and you couldn't watch it on TV in the local area.

With modern technology, it would be easy enough to have a similar rule in the UK.
You can't watch the 3pm Saturday game on iFollow if you're within 100 miles of the stadium unless most of the tickets for the game are already sold; but anyone further afield can.
Yes, you could get around that with a VPN......but you already can because all the 3pm Saturday kickoffs are streamed live overseas.

Smaller country, tech (and avoiding it) has improved eg: VPN.
Think the NFL ditched the blackout rules a while ago...... possibly for similar reasons.

 

[tonyw]

Smaller country, tech (and avoiding it) has improved eg: VPN.
Think the NFL ditched the blackout rules a while ago...... possibly for similar reasons.

I think they ditched it because a) the TV deals became so big that the teams didn't really care about attendance any more, b) very few teams were struggling to sell out their stadiums anyway and c) the politicians got involved because getting NFL games broadcast on TV was a simple bread-and-circuses vote winner!

I think that would all be true of the Premier League, but not League One/Two, where 1000 people deciding to stream rather than attend at 3pm on a Saturday would make a significant financial difference (unless they made streaming 25 quid a game, and had that all go to the home team).

 

[Northstandboy]

They should use Geo location.

If OUFC are at home and you’re in an area within x miles from Oxford it should be £20 to stream.

If you live x miles away or it’s and away game then it’s £10.

But then the iFollow service really needs to improve if they were to charge customers more.