The big sell on the new Sky Sports deal with the EFL is the money. It’s £895 million in rights fees for a five-year deal that will pretty much revolutionise how the Championship, League One and League Two are watched.
The idea is that half of Stoke City’s matches, as long as they stay in the Championship, will be screened live on TV from next season. That is compared to six so far this term – at home vs Hull, Southampton and Leeds, away to West Brom, Birmingham and Swansea, plus the mid-week games shown on the red button.
What is coming is on an unprecedented scale, even for the clubs who have been picked most this season. Leeds United have been shown live on a main Sky Sports channel 20 times so far in 2023/24, for Leicester it’s 16, for Southampton it’s 14, Sunderland, West Brom and Ipswich Town are on 12.
But the Saturday afternoon TV match blackout, which has been in place since the 1960s to protect attendance levels and will remain, means that an incredible number of fixtures will be moved from the traditional 3pm kick-off slot if and when they are picked for coverage.
New times have not been confirmed yet but games are expected to be spread across Friday evenings, Saturday lunchtimes, Sunday afternoons and Monday nights.
For context, Stoke have played 164 of their 273 league games since relegation on a Saturday. There have been 31 on a Wednesday, 35 on a Tuesday, 14 on a Friday, 13 on a Sunday, 12 on a Monday and four on a Thursday.
The EFL is confident that the changes won’t affect crowd figures but they are heading into uncharted waters and not all clubs have frozen season ticket prices since 2008 like Stoke have done – and Stoke are the only club in the country to offer free coach travel to all away league games.
Our research this week into away ticket prices show that 11 clubs in the Championship have charged Stoke fans £30 or more this season, with Coventry and Queens Park Rangers setting their prices at £37. In comparison, a day pass to watch Sky Sports via Now TV will cost £11.99.
Radical change is never particularly popular in a sport that has roots deep in the 19th century but this really hasn’t gone down well with the Stoke faithful and you would have to search hard for any positive feedback.
To give a flavour of the replies to our story:
“As usual, the genuine fans are the ones that suffer,” said Matt Robinson.
Steve Parker said: “This will cripple lower league clubs and force the less well off away from the game.”
Andy Amos said: “All the travelling and effort we’ve put in just to have it thrown in our faces.”
Vanessa Barnes said: “(The EFL says) ‘we also know that there is a large demand from fans that cannot always get to games’ so let’s make them even more difficult to attend for the average fan by having Friday night, Sunday and Monday night matches.”
Tim Gallimore said: “Where’s the consultation with supporters? They don’t care about those who actually go to games. The arrogance of those who run the game never ceases to amaze me.”
Mick Yates said: “Another point on this is how it affects local businesses. I can think of two pubs that probably take more for a Saturday 3pm kick-off that they would do in seven nights.”
Christopher Daplyn said: “Half of me is happy that I’ll see more away games, the other half is worried about the impact on me getting to watch home games (I’ve already renewed my season ticket). I’m not from Stoke so Monday night games will be a challenge (I very rarely get to midweek games as it is).”
Neil Selman said: “As a Vale fan I know that many of our games won’t be covered but those that are will impact the supporters. If there are too many unusual kick off times and I have to miss these games I would have to reconsider spending over £300 on a season ticket.”
Karl Holmes said: “It will affect the games at stoke as most people in this area work shifts and weekend’s as its hard enough as it is now that’s without moving even more games to Friday and Mondays.”
Robert West said: “I work outside the city Mon-Friday and commute by train. Season ticket holder. Mid-week games are simply a no go for me impossible to attend so any shift to games from weekends and that’s more games my seat will be empty.”
Steve Knowles said: “Time to remove the Saturday 3pm to 5pm TV blackout in Championship and below now, I think there’s far more people who struggle with Monday/Friday night travel than there is people who ‘just don’t fancy it today it’s on the tele’ Your L1 & L2 supporters will turn up no matter what.”
Liam Birks said: “The thought of going to watch Stoke at home on a Sunday afternoon sounds grim, never mind for any away fans. This is just another knife wound into the already dying body of football for the fans who want to actually attend live games.”
Ian Davies said: “Football Authorities: you can’t televise the 3.00 pm games it’ll ruin attendances Football Authorities: it’s fine you can move half of them to random days to televise them Do they ever think before they act? If I can only make ten games, guess what’ll happen to my season card.”
Interesting times.
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