EFL planning to scrap the 3 pm Blackout

If attendances dip due to this, maybe the whole financial structure of football should finally be looked at.....starting with players wages, agents fees and then ticket prices. There is a certain point in time where fans will be priced out, will be fed up being rinsed for tickets, merchandise, food+drink and will look for alternatives.

Lot of fans will pay £10 to watch on Netflix rather than pay £30+ to go to the stadium. Simple economics. Factor a family of 4........😬
 
They could help clubs by empowering them to make their own decisions which will reduce huge overheads - like using floodlights.
Goodness knows what it costs to have the floodlights turned on at the Riverside - but it would help if we could kick off earlier.
It must cost 1000`s £.
 
Capybara said:
Lazy ******* who want to watch football on telly at 3 on a Saturday afternoon have the opportunity to do so now so I'm not convinced it would unduly affect attendances. But there's an important principle here. The telly companies want it so for that reason it shouldn't happen.
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Lazy *****, people who don't live in a location they can easily get to the stadium or people who can't afford their team's ridiculous ticket prices*
 
People will still go to games, just perhaps not every week. You might find season ticket offers (or even matchday pricing) are improved to make sure some/more fans continue to subscribe annually. You can watch all your favourite bands stuff on youtube these days, but people still like to go and watch them.

The EFL made the decision to allow people in other countries to watch all their team's games, but block fans from the British Isles from doing so, penalising them purely for not living further afield (not really fair). But if they think about this decision a bit more carefully there's no doubt clubs can grow their revenue and also keep stadia reasonably well attended. It was Sky who started this obsession with 'full houses' etc.

And to be fair, if it doesn't seem to be working or is affecting attendances, they can always go back on it like they did after covid.
 
I'm sure about Leagues 1 and 2 but at non-league/local level it seems like a different "type" of supporter if that makes sense? Yes, they're there to support the team but, in a quite a few cases, these are people who have "dropped out" of elite football, or were never interested in the first place. Some may have an elite team as well but probably don't attend every match.

To some extent this has been my journey over the last 10 years or so, from regularly attending Boro games home and away to largely following local non-league teams (admittedly I don't live in the area, although I didn't when I would attend Boro games regularly either). This has been driven by, imo, an improved experience at non-league football.
 
B_G said:
Lazy *****, people who don't live in a location they can easily get to the stadium or people who can't afford their team's ridiculous ticket prices*
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There is a football ground in almost every town and likely most decent size villages in the uk. Their ticket prices will likely be far lower than a sky/bt subscription
 
The people who watch illegal streams of 3pm kick offs will continue to do so, rather than pay say, £10 for a legitimate stream.
It will certainly entice the more casual fan though. Probably the ones who don't or cant afford to go to the stadium. Also fans with health issues or disabilities.

The net result probably being that stadium attendances would remain roughly the same but the clubs will get some financial benefit from having their games shown on a ppv basis.

I'm evaluating this on myself being a boro fan in the championship. I can't get my head round how this theory cascades down the pyramid though. But talking it to the theoretical extreme - my local team is Billingham Town, if I had the option to either watch on TV or go to the ground with my son for a few quid more, I'd probably still go to the game. Its about the experience of live football as much as anything else. My elderly parents who can't get to the games may now pay to sit in the comfort of their living room to watch it.
 
JM14 said:
There is a football ground in almost every town and likely most decent size villages in the uk. Their ticket prices will likely be far lower than a sky/bt subscription
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Just because someone doesn't want to watch non-league football or a team they don't support doesn't make them a lazy ****
 
The non-league teams could change their kick-off times so that they wouldn't miss out. At some they could even show the local team in the club bar if they have one, making them more money.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
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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Where as at Thornaby who had their best season ever last season, the crowds still seem well down over last couple of seasons and not many derby games anymore with both Billinghams and Stockton disappearing for different reasons
 
junos_boots said:
Where as at Thornaby who had their best season ever last season, the crowds still seem well down over last couple of seasons and not many derby games anymore with both Billinghams and Stockton disappearing for different reasons
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Thornaby is a strange one, their gate this season is down a third, they're struggling which doesn't help and yes, the derbies kept it interesting, there's still Redcar Athletic and Guisborough though and with luck Billy Town next season.
 
BigAl76 said:
The people who watch illegal streams of 3pm kick offs will continue to do so, rather than pay say, £10 for a legitimate stream.
It will certainly entice the more casual fan though. Probably the ones who don't or cant afford to go to the stadium. Also fans with health issues or disabilities.

The net result probably being that stadium attendances would remain roughly the same but the clubs will get some financial benefit from having their games shown on a ppv basis.

I'm evaluating this on myself being a boro fan in the championship. I can't get my head round how this theory cascades down the pyramid though. But talking it to the theoretical extreme - my local team is Billingham Town, if I had the option to either watch on TV or go to the ground with my son for a few quid more, I'd probably still go to the game. Its about the experience of live football as much as anything else. My elderly parents who can't get to the games may now pay to sit in the comfort of their living room to watch it.
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Our £10 legitimate stream is totally dump.. better off with the dodgy stream!
 
Joninho said:
The non-league teams could change their kick-off times so that they wouldn't miss out. At some they could even show the local team in the club bar if they have one, making them more money.
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Change it to what time? Games shown at 12, soon to be 3 and 5 on a Saturday. Sky charge about 1k every month for pubs to show sky, doubt many can even afford that
 
At £10 a match it’s a decent revenue stream for the club, if a couple of thousand people who currently listen on the radio pay to watch it.

£30+ is a bit expensive for walk-ups. But going to the match is still a better experience. Doubt it would change attendances all that much. If anything ticket prices might/should come down a bit, since they’d be making extra ‘attendance’ money elsewhere.

There’s very little extra cost for the club, games are already being filmed for broadcast and streaming already exists with iFollow/matchday live. Any person who pays to watch it is pure profit for the club.

I don’t think this is the death of football at all. I’d watch Barca-Real Madrid on the telly, and happily pay for a stream, but I’d much rather go.
 
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