Should Premier League Saturday 3pm matches should be shown live on TV

[nicdic]

Don't Germany broadcast all their games and boast rather impressive attendance figures, and low ticket prices? Sounds like the dream really.

 

[Gb160]

They could still negotiate a league wide price for showing all of their games and then leave the clubs to decide their pricing for each ticket. Although ultimately it is just supply and demand though right? I'm sure the bigger clubs could also have some system where after x number of tickets sold a percentage of that is filtered down to the clubs who sell less than that or something. It's more than doable.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for it, but it has to be arranged that the clubs can't negotiate their own deals, otherwise we'd end up like Spain.
No reason why Sky can't do what NBC currently do, they buy the rights to and then stream every single Prem match.
As long as the money is split equally between clubs then the league stays competitive.
Just the small matter of changing the Saturday broadcasting laws to make this a possibility.

 

[Gassin's finest]

I'm a grumpy old sod, and I hate change, so my answer is no. Bah!

In reality though, they may as well. Most people I know will watch their teams' Sat 3pm match via whatever online streaming source they prefer, so may as well make it legit and do it properly. That way the coverage rights go through the roof... as long as (as has been said) that the actual matchday experience is not compromised, and that ticket prices benefit.

 

[hellava_tough]

Don't Germany broadcast all their games and boast rather impressive attendance figures, and low ticket prices? Sounds like the dream really.

I'm guessing they don't have the same support and history for their lower league clubs, that we do in this country.

Could be wrong, but I don't think any country in Europe has that. Think about it. The national press will quite happily talk about clubs in the 4th or even 5th tier of football in this country, like it's a big story with all the respect due to the club in question's culture and traditions.

Certainly it would help the top clubs though. From a selfish point of view I'd love to buy an online season ticket, to watch all the Spurs' games. But I'm well aware it might destroy English football as we know it in the process.

 

[mcnspur]

Sky bought the rights to show 3pm games here in Ireland from next season. It's only a matter of time before it happens imo.

 

[theShiznit]

It was talked about years ago by the Prem Hierarchy, but they wanted to Geo block it so you could only watch your team's away games like an away season ticket. But in the end the felt it would be too open to abuse, and attendances would suffer in all leagues (thinking that those that can't watch their Prem teams tend to go to lower league local games)

edit, was just answering the op title, had not read first post.

The above was discussed about 5 years Ago by the Premier League.

 

[yankspurs]

It is absolutely ridiculous that I can legally watch every PL match live here on the other side of the Atlantic, but you can't in England.

 

[beats1]

No, it shouldn't the lower leagues is what makes england great imo.

Nowhere else in the world do you see 30k fans watching second division games or have 5k average fans for 5th tier football

The premier league in many ways is ruining english football, for a start clubs in the lower leagues are no longer running academies as its not worth the money as they will lose a top player for peanuts anyway due to the new rules brought in by the top club a couple of years ago

 

[Riandor]

Yes please...
Works in Germany just fine. Show all EPL games and just have it so you either have one per channel or a selection option (by pushing the red button, blah blah).

I agree with not selling it per club due to disparaging revenues.

If worried about attendance and lower leagues, I would accept a delayed broadcast of say 30 minutes to promote being there live as well as having a Repeat viewing later on. But whilst I prefer live, living with kids means I'm OK recording it and watching it later.

 

[hugrr]

It's ridiculous that you can't watch the games live on UK channels in the very country where they're going on, yet you can watch them anywhere else on the planet.

My memory's hazy, but I'm sure I remember them showing Saturday 3pm matches on terestrial TV before the premier league began (correct me if I'm wrong), I assume that didn't have an adverse affect on attendances.

 

[SpursManChris]

Mockridge suggested amending that to a “regional blackout”, which would prevent Saturday 3pm Manchester United games being shown in the Greater Manchester area and Arsenal fixtures being shown in London.

“We have the technology,” he said, pointing out the National Football League employs a similar system in the United States.

Technology? I'm assuming it would be a simple case of going by subscriber addresses. i.e, If someone's address was Manchester, then they would have a restriction on their account and the satellite signal would have a condition attached to it and certain subscribers' smart cards wouldn't be able to decrypt it.

Mockridge branded the current arrangements as “an analogue deal in a digital age” and “a bit nanny state”, arguing consumers should have the choice whether to attend games or watch them on TV.

Well no actually, because if everyone decided to stay at home, their would be no one at the game.

 

[SpursManChris]

Why the blackout at all? Seeing football live is different to watching it on TV, it's more of an experience.

Given the choice I can't imagine many people would opt to watch on tv and not go to games.

You realise it is referring to lower league matches? It's not out of fear that people won't go to the match that is on TV because it is on TV, it is out of fear that people who would previously go to their local non league team, no longer will because an EPL clash is on TV involving their EPL club.

 

[SpursManChris]

Blackout's a bad idea. Correct me if I'm wrong but in Aus they show aussie rules live if the match is sold out and if it's not they don't (at least was the case in WA)

Maybe in years gone by, but now we have every game live.

 

[Lufti]

No, it shouldn't the lower leagues is what makes england great imo.

Nowhere else in the world do you see 30k fans watching second division games or have 5k average fans for 5th tier football

The premier league in many ways is ruining english football, for a start clubs in the lower leagues are no longer running academies as its not worth the money as they will lose a top player for peanuts anyway due to the new rules brought in by the top club a couple of years ago

What about 29k watching a third division game?



Dated August 2014:

No//League//Country//Average attendance//League leader (rank / attendance)
1//Bundesliga

.........................43,490 (+866) Borussia Dortmund (1st / 80,291)
2//Barclays Premier League

..36,607 (-1,052) Manchester United (2nd / 75,207)
3//Primera División

................26,843 (-1,406) FC Barcelona (3rd / 71,958)
4//Serie A

..............................23,385 (+85) FC Inter (18th / 46,246)
5//Ligue 1

..............................21,092 (+1,852) Paris Saint-Germain (21. / 45,420)
6//Eredivisie

.......................... 19,434 (-162) AFC Ajax (11th / 50,871)
7//2. Bundesliga

.....................17,888 (+649) 1. FC Köln (19th / 46,235)
8//SkyBet Championship

........16,608 (-885) Brighton and Hove Albion (68th / 27,283)
9//Spor Toto Super Lig

...........14,520 (+1,446) Fenerbahçe (26th / 42,270)
10//Jupiler Pro League

............11,836 (+415) KV Club Brugge (74th / 25,728)
11//Premier Liga

..................... 11,510 (-1,478) Zenit Sankt Petersburg (111th / 18,942)
12//Premier Liga

......................11,082 (-1,456) Shakhtar Donetsk (47th / 33,335)
13//Raiffeisen Super League

...10,772 (-1,247) FC Basel (66th / 27,841)
14//Primeira Liga .....................10,238 (+435) SL Benfica (24th / 43,613)
15//Scottish Premier League

...10,010 (-2,024) Celtic FC (16th / 46,808)

Don't Germany broadcast all their games and boast rather impressive attendance figures, and low ticket prices? Sounds like the dream really.

They also have a rule whereby one game a week has to be available for everyone to watch

 

[beats1]

What about 29k watching a third division game?



Dated August 2014:

No//League//Country//Average attendance//League leader (rank / attendance)
1//Bundesliga

.........................43,490 (+866) Borussia Dortmund (1st / 80,291)
2//Barclays Premier League

..36,607 (-1,052) Manchester United (2nd / 75,207)
3//Primera División

................26,843 (-1,406) FC Barcelona (3rd / 71,958)
4//Serie A

..............................23,385 (+85) FC Inter (18th / 46,246)
5//Ligue 1

..............................21,092 (+1,852) Paris Saint-Germain (21. / 45,420)
6//Eredivisie

.......................... 19,434 (-162) AFC Ajax (11th / 50,871)
7//2. Bundesliga

.....................17,888 (+649) 1. FC Köln (19th / 46,235)
8//SkyBet Championship

........16,608 (-885) Brighton and Hove Albion (68th / 27,283)
9//Spor Toto Super Lig

...........14,520 (+1,446) Fenerbahçe (26th / 42,270)
10//Jupiler Pro League

............11,836 (+415) KV Club Brugge (74th / 25,728)
11//Premier Liga

..................... 11,510 (-1,478) Zenit Sankt Petersburg (111th / 18,942)
12//Premier Liga

......................11,082 (-1,456) Shakhtar Donetsk (47th / 33,335)
13//Raiffeisen Super League

...10,772 (-1,247) FC Basel (66th / 27,841)
14//Primeira Liga .....................10,238 (+435) SL Benfica (24th / 43,613)
15//Scottish Premier League

...10,010 (-2,024) Celtic FC (16th / 46,808)



They also have a rule whereby one game a week has to be available for everyone to watch

Part of my family are german and Im surprised by the fact that german attendances have just pipped the championship as it was lower before

TBF you could argue the reason behind the high attendances in the bundesliga 3 is because it is a league of a different country, as 3. bundesliga is becoming more of a east german league and the bundesliga 1 and 2 west german league. Hopefully some east german teams do break that glass ceiling and do get promotion

The championship has gone downhill with the financial trouble of bigger teams with smaller teams from the lower leagues being in financial state and arguably more likely to go up.

 

[SpursManChris]

10 years ago it made a difference but there are so few of them now it doesn't matter.

so few of what?

 

[Wick3d]

Don't Germany broadcast all their games and boast rather impressive attendance figures, and low ticket prices? Sounds like the dream really.

They will bang on how showing every game will effect teams in the lower leagues and grass roots football in general. It's just all about money, which is why the clubs will never agree to showing every game live in the UK. More live games domestically means you won't have Sky and BT spending billions in order to secure the premium games. So it just boils down to greed, which also explains the high ticket prices as well. Unfortunately that particular German dream is out of reach.

 

[nailsy]

so few of what?

Games on a Saturday... I think.

 

[shelfboy68]

Answer for me is yes but then have 3pm saturday/ sunday games on my tv every weekend anyway.

 

[BuryMeInEngland]

Out of curiosity, what feed do we get the matches over here from? We get every PL match every week, either on satellite or cable channels or online through a streaming app. I'd always assumed (wrongly apparently) that it was some feed from UK tv.