EFL planning to scrap the 3 pm Blackout

It's been a long time coming.

I do think it will inevitably diminish attendances, especially for away fans, but I don't think it could be avoided forever.
 
On balance, I would keep the blackout.

Fans that want to can easily watch games currently using a VPN if they really want to and ultimately, if 3pm games are really easy to watch online then it will hit attendances hard and I can't see that gate money being made up with lots more people paying to watch online.
 
I can understand this for the Premier League as the vast majority of games are complete sell outs and i'm sure will continue to be but it will cause more pain for clubs the further down the leagues you go.
 
Not the prem though just EFL so the argument of putting off casual fans from attending lower league games is prob still there.

Be a game changer though if it happens.
 
As someone who supports the team but lives away I'd naturally be in favour of this. Not sure my local non-league team would thank me though as I'd be likely to attend fewer of their games.

It's obviously been the direction of travel for a while now and I'm pretty sure a sensible commercial model could be worked out?

Interesting that a number of those companies mooted are subscription services, could be that there's very little direct impact to existing cost for end users but a league-by-league commercial deal is struck with the EFL? Showing the "foreign broadcast" Championship game would be a good place to start?

If I think back to Prime showing EPL, I don't think there was a direct increase in price related to this?
 
As above I can’t see the sites named charging for additional games as they are subscription fees. They will use the games to entice others to do then up to their service not by charging for games individually.

That’s how prime does the prem.
 
I guess the games are so accessible now through dodgy sticks and streams etc, that it probably benefits the teams to get some share of the revenue rather than people doing it illegally.

I don't think it will affect attendances in Championship or Premier League. Anyone who wants to watch the games at 3pm can do now without too much effort.
 
indeedido said:
Is that really true Corcaigh?
Genuine question as crowds are not down in EFL that I'm aware of.
Are crowds really so strong in non league?
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They're generally up, not at all clubs but overall they're pretty healthy, there's some very good crowds at Stockton, Marske and Redcar Athletic locally.

Funnily enough at Billy Town the crowds are down, despite them playing their best football in a long, long time and scoring goals for fun. Last season was a total disaster which hasn't helped.
 
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