General 3pm "blackout" Yes, No or Maybe?

Saturday 3pm "blackout" yes, no or maybe

  • Yes

    Votes: 21 30.0%

  • No

    Votes: 37 52.9%

  • Maybe

    Votes: 12 17.1%
  • Total voters
    70
  • Poll closed .
Essexyellows

Essexyellows

Well-known member
Joined
7 Dec 2017
Messages
17,215
www.oxfordmail.co.uk

Oxford United MD has say on football's TV 'blackout' debate

FOOTBALL’s 3pm ‘blackout’ is still necessary to protect the game, says Oxford United’s managing director.
www.oxfordmail.co.uk www.oxfordmail.co.uk

Personally, I think the technology is there to enable folk to buy a Virtual/ifollow ticket.
Creates extra income for the hosting Club and who needs those drunk, lairy hooligans in the ground anyway? :) .

Yes I`m being facetious but feel it should be an option in this new world we live in.... discuss & vote
 
You know, they could do a radical idea like trying it for a month and see what happens...

Just as its better going to a gig than watching on TV, the same will prove to be for football. You may lose a few away fans, but I think a lot of home fans go for way more than just the 90mins on the pitch.
 
If controlled by the club and aimed at those who can't make home games easily, fans living outside Oxon, people with mobility issues etc. and maybe for away fans as I can't imagine it would have a big impact on the numbers travelling, as talking for myself it is as much about the travelling, the atmosphere of being the minority in a stadium and trying to make more noise then the home fans etc. and not just purely to see a football match!
 
The lock down showed the joy of going to a game and nothing beats that experience, but I believe there is room for a streaming service to add revenue to the club for people who can’t attend, for medical, travel or other commitments on match days.
 
given the choice, Id guess most supporters of English football clubs would prefer to watch their team play in person... there's nothing that compares with being there in person

However, limited tickets for away club support, work schedules, location of the individual, and a plethora of other valid reasons, mean , in reality, its not possible for quite a number to attend in person. If , (big IF) ifollow was available for all EFL matches, it would not only put extra cash in the coffers of clubs, it would also provide a valuable service for the fans too
 
Many events are available to view on TV as well as to attend in person. Heck, people even travel a long way to see particular paintings in the flesh rather than look at very accurate reproductions of them. I would certainly not refrain from going to a game just because I could watch it online, any more than I would do so because I could hear it on Radio Oxford. However I don't go to away games but would certainly pay to see some online.
 
Niall NcWilliams has done a lot of good for this club, and I've often backed his opinions - but he is totally wrong with this one. This forum last season was filled with people wishing they could be at the games because watching on TV does not compare. Will attendances see a minor drop for your bog standard L1 games like Gillingham? Possibly. But you will absolutely make more money from those that can't go to games but can watch at home than you'll lose from day trippers not going to the ground. As an exile, by not streaming games they're losing £380 a season from me just on league games - a similar price to a season ticket. And I'd guess that the numbers lost by streaming the games would be far outweighed by others like me. On top of that, when teams like AFC Wimbledon can only give us 1000 tickets for a game close enough for most fans to travel to, that's a lot of people who could be streaming the game and putting more money into the clubs. So from my perspective the financial angle doesn't add up.

The other thing that I think has been wildly overlooked is the impact to those less abled than us. By not allowing streaming, they are completely excluding people with mobility issues who cannot go to games, people with anxiety who wouldn't cope in a crowd, people with autism, especially children, who love the game but would struggle in the stadium environment, the elderly fans who were on the terraces in the Manor for decades who loved their club for so long but can no longer travel, young families with children not old enough to go to games, people who can only afford one game a season as a treat because of travel/ticket costs etc etc etc.

We don't go to the football just to watch the game. We go to the football for the atmosphere, the comradery, the opportunity to see friends you wouldn't normally see outside of football, the battles of songs and chants between home and away supporters, the pre match rituals and the post match drinks, the passion, the love, the joy and the heartbreak. Football isn't just "something to watch on the TV" for most people - it's a lifestyle. And our clubs are integral to that. The vast majority of fans, if given the choice, would choose to watch and support their own club from home over whatever millionaires are prancing around in the Prem.

Football is ready to move on. Let the fans show that they'll back their clubs even without the blackout. Don't tell the fans that something that is a detriment to many of them is for their own good. Let the fans decide what's best for them, not the TV companies and the powers at the top. We are, after all, the only reason football is what it is.
 
Anyone care to put together a list of our past TV games, the attendances, and the average for that season? That'd give a good starting point for the discussion.
 
SteMerritt said:
That is all hypothetical though. Why not actually try it, instead of falling back on old thinking and Guesswork?
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I'm not an advocate for it either way.

I enjoyed the access last season and was able to watch far more games that usual. However I'd much rather be in the grounds and with the buzz that comes from being there in person I'm not missing the lack of TV access as much as I thought.

However, this thread goes into far more detail about the potential loss in revenue that lower league sides could have. The example given is that 4 people attending a game creates £100+ in revenue whilst the same 4 sat around one TV brings in £6.66 from iFollow. At the moment we are riding the wave of excitement to be back at games and numbers will not be hit. But get a cold and windy night in December and the opportunity to sit at home may deter the casual fans, and that will be the reason clubs will be reluctant to open up access.

I think Oxford United would be ok. We have a very strong and loyal fan base that would see us maintaining most of our home support. We also travel exceptionally well, and that experience can't be replicated sat around a laptop. We also have a number of fans leaving further afield who would add to our matchday revenue by buying passes rather than listening on iFollow for free (ish).

But there will be clubs that could be hit hard. The biggest threat to lower league football is the financial stability of each club. Even a small drop in revenue could put clubs in financial difficulty and that opens up the chances of these clubs being replace by PL B teams etc.

I would love to have the choice for how we watch games as much as the vast majority on here, but not at the expense of the league structure as it is. This will not be an easy decision for clubs to make, but I can understand why they have made this collective decision at this time.
 
Scotchegg said:
I'm not an advocate for it either way.

I enjoyed the access last season and was able to watch far more games that usual. However I'd much rather be in the grounds and with the buzz that comes from being there in person I'm not missing the lack of TV access as much as I thought.

However, this thread goes into far more detail about the potential loss in revenue that lower league sides could have. The example given is that 4 people attending a game creates £100+ in revenue whilst the same 4 sat around one TV brings in £6.66 from iFollow. At the moment we are riding the wave of excitement to be back at games and numbers will not be hit. But get a cold and windy night in December and the opportunity to sit at home may deter the casual fans, and that will be the reason clubs will be reluctant to open up access.

I think Oxford United would be ok. We have a very strong and loyal fan base that would see us maintaining most of our home support. We also travel exceptionally well, and that experience can't be replicated sat around a laptop. We also have a number of fans leaving further afield who would add to our matchday revenue by buying passes rather than listening on iFollow for free (ish).

But there will be clubs that could be hit hard. The biggest threat to lower league football is the financial stability of each club. Even a small drop in revenue could put clubs in financial difficulty and that opens up the chances of these clubs being replace by PL B teams etc.

I would love to have the choice for how we watch games as much as the vast majority on here, but not at the expense of the league structure as it is. This will not be an easy decision for clubs to make, but I can understand why they have made this collective decision at this time.
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Which is all fair comment, but again it's speculation until we actually try it out.
 
SteMerritt said:
That is all hypothetical though. Why not actually try it, instead of falling back on old thinking and Guesswork?
Click to expand...

It's the letting the genie out of the bottle mentality.

The impression I get is that the Football league clubs are scared of having Premier League games available through TV/streaming at the same time as "local" matches and should the PL clubs have an increase in revenue, at the detriment of the lower league clubs, that this would not reversed.
 
Scotchegg said:
I'm not an advocate for it either way.

I enjoyed the access last season and was able to watch far more games that usual. However I'd much rather be in the grounds and with the buzz that comes from being there in person I'm not missing the lack of TV access as much as I thought.

However, this thread goes into far more detail about the potential loss in revenue that lower league sides could have. The example given is that 4 people attending a game creates £100+ in revenue whilst the same 4 sat around one TV brings in £6.66 from iFollow. At the moment we are riding the wave of excitement to be back at games and numbers will not be hit. But get a cold and windy night in December and the opportunity to sit at home may deter the casual fans, and that will be the reason clubs will be reluctant to open up access.

I think Oxford United would be ok. We have a very strong and loyal fan base that would see us maintaining most of our home support. We also travel exceptionally well, and that experience can't be replicated sat around a laptop. We also have a number of fans leaving further afield who would add to our matchday revenue by buying passes rather than listening on iFollow for free (ish).

But there will be clubs that could be hit hard. The biggest threat to lower league football is the financial stability of each club. Even a small drop in revenue could put clubs in financial difficulty and that opens up the chances of these clubs being replace by PL B teams etc.

I would love to have the choice for how we watch games as much as the vast majority on here, but not at the expense of the league structure as it is. This will not be an easy decision for clubs to make, but I can understand why they have made this collective decision at this time.
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I'm not sure I buy this 'OUFC exceptionalism' - 'we'll be OK cos we're great, but supporters of crappy clubs won't bother going'. I'm sure every club thinks they're special. Also I suspect many clubs based in poorer or more far flung areas actually have more exiles than we do, who have maybe come to London or the southeast to work.
 
Jolteon said:
Niall NcWilliams has done a lot of good for this club, and I've often backed his opinions - but he is totally wrong with this one.
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I don't disagree with most of what you said, and although not an exile it us easier for me to justify a tenner and hiding away from the kids for a couple of hours rather than the expense and (more importantly) the time to travel all over the country.

However, I would say that this decision would not have been NMcW's alone and he will just be making a comment on behalf of the club. My understanding was that the question about streaming all games live was brought up in the closed season, but very few supported it. It's all well and good that the Plymouth chair is talking about have an in-house channel but even that can't get around the 3pm blackout.

I hope that there is a way to change this whilst also protecting match day attendance, but think that it needs to be carefully put together to prevent a number of Sunderland social club streaming to several hundred fans who would otherwise travel away etc.
 
werthersoriginal said:
I'm not sure I buy this 'OUFC exceptionalism' - 'we'll be OK cos we're great, but supporters of crappy clubs won't bother going'. I'm sure every club thinks they're special. Also I suspect many clubs based in poorer or more far flung areas actually have more exiles than we do, who have maybe come to London or the southeast to work.
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I'm not saying that we're better than other clubs, just that we've pretty much seen 4000+ season ticket holders through thick and thin. That level of loyalty is hard to break, and therefore I think that we'd still get decent numbers at home games regardless of streaming options.

But there are no guarantees and a 10% drop off in match day attendance would need to see a 25% increase in iFollow passes to maintain the same level of income.

It's not impossible to find a solution, but equally it's not as easy to take a risk on one of our only revenue sources.
 
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