[Football] TV fixtures for December

[chaileyjem]

Sorry to quote post you again, but when you say 'multiple' you mean two.

There's only been 2 x Boxing Day fixtures at The Amex since it opened. Reading in the Championship and Arsenal in the Premier League.

Neither have kicked off at 8pm. In fact I wonder how many games at The Amex have kicked off at not 745, but 8pm. It's a pig of ground to get away from at night when there's multiple trains running, let alone when relying on an emergency bus operation.

The ground won't be 'empty' because for many the Boxing Day fixture is a must do, and we do have some fans in Brighton lucky enough to have an easy commute to the ground. But when you consider how many vacant seats there have been at games so far, an unattractive kick off time is definitely going to put a lot of people off, you can tell that from the hundreds of posts on here, Facebook and Twitter saying so. It is not controversial to say it's a total pain in the arse for many supporters.

As has been said, the sums must work for this to make it viable for the club, because the additional bus drivers prepared to work until midnight on Boxing Day won't come cheap. I expect the catering could be fun too, we've already had one apology from Barbs about short staffing because of a lack of students and that was in August. Maybe the reduced crowd will help them out there...

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Again - I’m really not trying to downplay the inconvenience of some fans trying to get to matches at Christmas due to TV, or frustration that they won’t be able to make it because it’s an evening kick off. Or trying to get to a Boxing Day match at all if you are a long distance fan. This is relatively rare for us and relying on trains at any time is expensive and unreliable. Clearly there will be fans who can’t make it for personal reasons, and then some who want to get there but the transport makes it impossible.

However I wanted to remind many that actually there will be an extensive transport operation offered by the clubs to get people there (plenty of posters had predicted otherwise) , it worked well three years ago for a 5.15 KO, and that it’s fair to assume it will work like that this time - or approval for the match wouldn’t have gone ahead with the police. It’s perhaps a bit early also to suggest that a transport operation not even announced yet is going to struggle because of lack of drivers or staff etc

As for no shows or empty seats - who knows ? There’s still plenty of people who want to watch PL football at the Amex regardless of Covid, TV, price and sharing schemes. - Man City sold out weeks ago, Arsenal looked fairly full and you can’t tell everything from a NSC thread but of course there’s a lot of pissed off fans out there. I’d prefer it to be 3pm as well.

 

[A1X]

I understand that, and to an extent I could see this would make sense IF it were a Big Game, with a world wide TV audience but lets be honest who other than Brighton and Brentford fans are going to be tuning in. By Boxing Day this will almost certainly be a mid table clash, of two relatively small clubs with relatively small fan bases.

If it were a big six clash, then it would get a good sized audience, but we are kidding ourselves if we think any one outside our two respective local areas will give a toss.

Not only will this have a small physical attendance, the TV audience will be miniscule, advertisers wont be wanting to spend mega bucks for a game no one is watching

Seems a strange choice for the late game on Boxing day

However it does present a nice opportunity (with both teams) to get one out of the way for their contractual requirements to show every team a certain number of times in a live game, the TV equivalent of taking this one to the corner flag for a bit. Means they can store up their big 6 games for later in the season.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

I've always enjoyed a good stroll on boxing day. In this case it will be a very very long stroll, from Hove to the Amex and back

 

[Is it PotG?]

I've always enjoyed a good stroll on boxing day. In this case it will be a very very long stroll, from Hove to the Amex and back

Alas not everyone is at the peak of their physical well-being.

 

[pb21]

it worked well three years ago for a 5.15 KO

This one is essentially 3-hours later, a different kettle of fish altogether, not only because of potential transport issues.

 

[BNthree]

Alas not everyone is at the peak of their physical well-being.

I'll be too full of cold cuts and cheese but someone could probably roll me there.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

However it does present a nice opportunity (with both teams) to get one out of the way for their contractual requirements to show every team a certain number of times in a live game, the TV equivalent of taking this one to the corner flag for a bit. Means they can store up their big 6 games for later in the season.

The way this season is going, Brighton v Brentford might actually be a big 6 game. Oops, I meant top 6

 

[AZ Gull]

No doubt our North American fans are happy with the Boxing Day lunchtime kick off for them. But 8pm for us

As a "North American fan", I am indeed quite happy with a 1pm kick-off on Boxing Day. However, as a English football fan and fellow Albion supporter, I empathise that this is just about the shittest kick-off time possible for a Boxing Day fixture at the Amex.