[Football] Should the 3pm Saturday blackout of televised football stay in place?

[Guinness Boy]

I've just raised this on another thread but it would be good to see if my views are out of touch.

Should the 3pm Saturday blackout of televising football stay in place? Pros - arguably gets people to non league, EFL and stops 'pay per view'. Cons - out of date. Anyone with access to the internet can now watch these games and yet non league is more popular than ever. Will also allow the number of TV games to increase without messing with kickoff days and times.

Vote away!

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I voted no but after reading your post I'm now not so sure....

Edit: I wish the supermarkets didn't shut a 4 on a Sunday. Certain about that.

 

[amexer]

Would thousands of away supporters travel hundreds of miles if games were on TV

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

I've just raised this on another thread but it would be good to see if my views are out of touch.

Should the 3pm Saturday blackout of televising football stay in place? Pros - arguably gets people to non league, EFL and stops 'pay per view'. Cons - out of date. Anyone with access to the internet can now watch these games and yet non league is more popular than ever. Will also allow the number of TV games to increase without messing with kickoff days and times.

Vote away!

I am on the fence for the reasons you mention.

But with firesticks etc how many people watch 3pm kick offs anyway.

 

[Arthur]

Would thousands of away supporters travel hundreds of miles if games were on TV

Well we've sold out Villa away during a train strike with the game kicking off at 12:30 for television.....so I'd say yeah!

 

[Guinness Boy]

I am on the fence for the reasons you mention.

But with firesticks etc how many people watch 3pm kick offs anyway?

That was my point, Pretty much anyone can. You don't even need a firestick, just a vpn and a reddit account.

 

[Lenny Rider]

Would thousands of away supporters travel hundreds of miles if games were on TV

Good point, and would some fans choose not to go to a non league game on a cold, wet November Saturday afternoon?

I'm old enough to remember the fist ever televised league game in 1983, Spurs vs Forest, I doubt 40 years later anyone could have forseen the saturation coverage we have of live games now.

Chris Cattlin made a great point about the amount of live football on TV, "I love fish and chips, but I couldn't eat them every day."

 

[Wozza]

Well we've sold out Villa away during a train strike with the game kicking off at 12:30 for television.....so I'd say yeah!

Having amazing form kinda helps though!

 

[Wozza]

Edit: I wish the supermarkets didn't shut a 4 on a Sunday. Certain about that.

See I would have said that until I found myself in Olso on a Sunday recently.

I think I liked shops being shut, making the day different and leaving time/space for more-essential things (like sport).

 

[Arthur]

Having amazing form kinda helps though!

This is also true, but looking at it beyond ourselves you don't often see many empty seats in away ends regardless of the club......accept when you play in Marseille.

I've voted no but it wasn't an easy choice. It would probably be the grass roots clubs that would suffer the most but in this day and age if you want to watch a 3pm kick off you can pretty easily. Saturday myself and a Luton supporting chum watched Crowborough rather than watching our respective teams who were playing at the same time. Ok it's easy to say would we have done that in January and hand being honest I probably would. Granted that isn't the case for everyone but those people probably already have a dodgy firestick now.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

I suspect that it would impact on the number of people wanting to attend matches but wouldn’t impact on PL and championship attendances as I think enough people would want to be there. Probably impact on lower divisions. Personally I’d like to see a system where teams that have full houses can offer matches live on tv at a premium.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Keep it.

How about only allowing non-League clubs to show Saturday 3pm kos in their clubhouses. Get some money back to grassroots clubs.

 

[Arthur]

How about only allowing non-League clubs to show Saturday 3pm kos in their clubhouses. Get some money back to grassroots clubs.

Been saying this for years. Or even giving sports clubs free/heavily subsidised Sky Sports/BT.

 

[kelvinnewman]

Connected to this there should be a TV option that's basically "Only Brighton's matches"

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

I've just raised this on another thread but it would be good to see if my views are out of touch.

Should the 3pm Saturday blackout of televising football stay in place? Pros - arguably gets people to non league, EFL and stops 'pay per view'. Cons - out of date. Anyone with access to the internet can now watch these games and yet non league is more popular than ever. Will also allow the number of TV games to increase without messing with kickoff days and times.

Vote away!

Well l wouldn't say that non-league football is more popular than EVER, after all un til the 1960's the Amateur Cup Final used to sell out Wembley Stadium season upon season.

That said though l take your point, the last few years has certainly seen a renaissance of the non-league game as a whole.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Keep it.

How about only allowing non-League clubs to show Saturday 3pm kos in their clubhouses. Get some money back to grassroots clubs.

Absolutely this.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Good point, and would some fans choose not to go to a non league game on a cold, wet November Saturday afternoon?

I'm old enough to remember the fist ever televised league game in 1983, Spurs vs Forest, I doubt 40 years later anyone could have forseen the saturation coverage we have of live games now.

Chris Cattlin made a great point about the amount of live football on TV, "I love fish and chips, but I couldn't eat them every day."

I bet Chris couldn't eat rock every day either.

All but forgotten by many fans but l used to really like Chris, always only too willing to say a cheery hello when seeing Albion fans and engaging with them when stepping off the team coach at away games.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

The blackout should remain.

If we were still in Div 4, surviving week to week, would a single Brighton fan advocate for it?

I take the point about firesticks etc. But I think given the huge amounts of money involved, the TV companies will increasingly clamp down on illegal streaming, most likely by refusing to sell live rights to foreign TV stations.

 

[keaton]

I voted no. If the PL want to televise all the games they could kick off at a different time. If this was that bigger thing they could for example televise all midweek games and league cup games but they've only done this with the Prime or BT weeks.

The bigger question is what happens if there's so much added on time to the lunchtime kick off that it gets to 14.59 and they're still playing?

 

[studio150]

Assuming the blackout was removed, what would be the knock-on effect for televised games.

Would it remove the silly kick off times, where away fans are unable to use trains to get back home after the game, or would these stay just that the number of live games shown increases.

If TV companies still want the varied kick off times, then we are still left with the moving of kick off times and day played that we currently have.

Will the number of broadcasters increase, so that those that want to watch games at home (legally) have to take out further costly subscriptions.

Would any increased TV revenue just be taken by the PL, thereby further increasing the gulf between the PL and EFL.

Once the genie is out, there is no putting the genie back in the bottle on this.

I voted to retain, as I'm not sure that it would be good for the overall game in the UK.