[RANT] Interesting read.

[StefanWolves]

http://footballwatcher.blogspot.com/...ack-in-uk.html

Read it all.

But this part is what I am mostly interested in:

What I do support is the black-out which continues in the UK at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon, and keeps attendances high at lower league football. The English second tier, for instance, is the eight most watched league in Europe, which would surely dimish should more Premier League football be available on a Saturday afternoon. As a fan of Morecambe, when we play on Tuesday night and go up against a Champion's League matchnight, 500 can easily be knocked off our attendance. It doesn't sound like much, but on average attendances of 2500, it's a significant downturn in revenue. I'm sure most clubs at a lower level realise that not everyone that comes through the gate is a dyed-in-the-wool supporter, and may have loyalties elsewhere, but are grateful for their custom regardless.

People often make the argument that other leagues in Europe survive, despite having all their top flight matches screened live. They have a point, but often in Europe the top flight matches are played at a time when they don't affect lower league matches. For instance, in Spain, lower flight football is often played in the morning, whilst La Liga is screened in the evening. Other leagues also don't charge the extortionate entrance fees charged in the Premier League - it may be that the masses of empty seats in the like of the Reebok Stadium or Middlesbrough's Roverside are not because people are watching down the pub on a foreign station, but because the price is too high. Half the admission cost, and watch attendances rise. German football is the perfect example - almost capacity stadiums all over the Bundesliga, great atmosphere and all down to being able to turn up on a match day, hand over less than a tenner and watch top flight football.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against all the Premier League matches being on TV, and I'm sure it will happen one day. But lower flight football must be protected at all costs, and put first for a change rather than letting the Premier League extend it's grip further. Perhaps move all the Premier League matches bar the lunchtime and evening Saturday kick-offs to Sunday, and let the part-time fans help keep the lower league teams afloat.

The other interesting aspect to this situation that I find is that it shows the attitude of a lot of English football "fans" to foreign football, who find it incomprehensible that anyone would want to watch anything other than the Premier League. I don't expect anyone to get up and start supporting their local team on the back of this, but given that there are regularly four live matches each weekend in the Premier League in the UK, why not give something else a go on a Saturday afternoon?

What jumps out most is a comment on the bottom of that page; Sky Sports Germany shows ALL Bundesliga games, and then shows ALL Championship games (Equivalent to out Championship, e.g; West Brom V Newcastle) ~ they show every single game live:

Since Germany started showing every Championship (Second German Bundesliga) match live the league has been able to achieve record attendances. The 3pm black-out is a joke. I don't want to watch other people watching the footie on Sky Sports News. I want the choice of at least three different 3pm kick-offs!

So, some of you are probably thinking, WELL YEHHHH, BUT IT PROTECTS OUR LOWER LEAGUE FOOTBALL! ~ simply answer (included in the paragraphs above) - move all Premier League matches to the Sunday, and let the Football League play all their games on the Saturday, and then show every Premier League game live via Sky, but I suppose you're stil saying, yeah but, it'll still affect Premier League stadium attendances! no, what clubs would do is lower their seat prices, as they would be able to because they'd be recieving extra funding from Sky/ESPN, to show their game, so it wouldn't affect them, a stat to back this up is that since German TV started showing ALL Bundesliga and Championship football, there stadium attendances have hit a RECORD HIGH.

So, why is there still a need for a 3pm black out of live TV on British TV? when the rest of Europe gets to watch ALL of the Premier League games LIVE, even Saturday 3PM kick offs, Sky Italia gets every single Premier League game life, So does Canal in France, and so does Sky Germany, yet it's us, the English, the country of where the football is broadcast from, doesn't get to watch this.

If you're wondering what the hell I'm on about, and what the blackout rule is, it's simple; UEFA offers every countries football accosiation (ours being The FA) a blackout rule, which stops live footballing being broadcast in the country it's being played, The FA set a black out time of 2:55pm - 5.00pm so no live football can be shown between that time in this country, but it doesn't apply for other countries, they can show what they like.

See here for ALL countries that blackout football in their country, interestingly, The Premier League is the ONLY major league in Europe that doesn't show EVERY Premier League game live in it's native country, which is disgusting; http://www.uefa.com/uefa/News/Kind=8...sId=19817.html

So yes, that is yet another rant at the pathetic FA.

I can only hope, that one day, we will get the same priveledges as what they do in France, Spain, Italy, Greece, and EVEN ALBANIA - the poorest country in Europe.

Sorry if none of you care, but this is something I feel very passionately about, we don't get nothing good in this country, in terms of live sport, we also miss out on most of the boxing... but don't even get me started on that.

Sorry if you don't care about this, if you don't, then I'm sorry for wasting your time if you read this.

[Mexel]

He makes a few intresting points, but the bit about knocking 500 fans off there attendance due to champions league football, i just dont see how that works at all, do all fans in league 2 support the top 4 aswell? :rolleyes:

[StefanWolves]

He makes a few intresting points, but the bit about knocking 500 fans off there attendance due to champions league football, i just dont see how that works at all, do all fans in league 2 support the top 4 aswell? :rolleyes:

I'm sure some are tempted by staying in or going down the pub and saving money, rather than buying an over priced ticket.

Which is why The Football League should be played on Saturdays at 3PM like normal, none live at all, which will encourage fans to go and keep attendances up.

Have all Premier League games live on a Sunday at 3PM, Sunday is the crap day of the week, and people are also off work, so more fans will be able to get to matches, all these matches should be shown live on Sky Sports/ESPN, like ALL other major leagues. The Premier League should make football clubs lower ticket prices, the FA should offer all Premier League clubs more money, to make up for the loss on ticket prices, as they would be able to afford it, seeing as though if all PL games are shown live, would mean more money from Sky and ESPN coming their way, as they'd have to pay for the rights to screen more matches.

That's my view anyway.

[adaym]

He makes a few intresting points, but the bit about knocking 500 fans off there attendance due to champions league football, i just dont see how that works at all, do all fans in league 2 support the top 4 aswell? :rolleyes:

Funnily enough it's a true point, we get ****e attendances on Champs Lg nights.

[StefanWolves]

Funnily enough it's a true point, we get ****e attendances on Champs Lg nights.

how much are your ticket prices on those nights?

[adaym]

how much are your ticket prices on those nights?

Same as the always are, £23-5. The thing is, they shouldn't have to lower ticket prices.

[StefanWolves]

They would have to on Champions League nights, but that's besides the point anyway, the whole point is, if all PL games were to be shown on Sunday, all at once at 3PM, and all Football League games on Saturday 3PM, you wouldn't have to lower prices, because fans would be getting best of both worlds.

[adaym]

It makes no sense, at all - what happens to all the clubs that receive £30m from Sky/ESPN/other broadcasters in the PL? Where will they get their money from? Don't say ticket sales because they all mostly get full houses anyway.. It'll never happen, and nor should it. Ticket prices are not going to lowered and nor should they be.

[Mexel]

Wow, i cant believe it makes a differnce. Whats happened to BBC1 showing championship matches btw? Hasnt it only show West Brom v Newcastle so far :S?

[StefanWolves]

Wow, i cant believe it makes a differnce. Whats happened to BBC1 showing championship matches btw? Hasnt it only show West Brom v Newcastle so far :S?

They only show 15 a year I think. They broadcast the Newcastle game at Saturday at 5:05pm.