Every professional football match should be televised or streamed

[Glass ankles]

I'd be keen to watch other prem teams too.

Think I near enough watched every prem game televised during lockdown. It's entertainment. Better than some of the ****e on TV normally.

I'd take Watford vs Norwich over a repeat of ****ing Homes under the hammer

 

[Deleted member 7041]

Televised football is ok, but even when its wolves it's not as good as actually being there. International football is soul less. Could we have streams without the inane useless commentary we now get, and pundits who comment on players and events other than those that concern the perceived big 6

 

[OLDGOLD]

Yes. Being able to watch all 20 teams across the weekend sounds awesome but after a month or two, Burnley v Watford at 8pm on a Saturday night isn’t as fun.

Burnley Vs Watford is never my idea of fun!

 

[MasWolf]

As it’s the international break and I’m bored I thought I would throw a pleasant and polite discussion into the mix.

When fans were banned from stadiums due to the pandemic every Premier League match was either televised or streamed online. Now fans are back and stadiums are full to capacity we have naturally reverted back to the situation before the pandemic with a select few games on the telly each week.

In my opinion, this is the wrong decision. Where feasible, every professional match in the English football pyramid, including 3 o’clock Saturday games, should be televised or legally streamed. At the very least every club should be given the opportunity to stream its games if broadcasters don’t want to televise them.

If I can watch the Wolves under-23s play on a YouTube stream on a Friday afternoon I should be able to watch a legal stream of Wolves playing Watford on the 11th September or any other match.

Give fans more choice. It is the logical next step. I think it is a matter of time before it happens.

Do you agree?

I think you can already do this through Optus Sports. It's an Australian company where you pay a monthly subscription and can stream all PL games live. Not sure if it works The UK, but in theory it should.

 

[George AlooGobi]

I think you can already do this through Optus Sports. It's an Australian company where you pay a monthly subscription and can stream all PL games live. Not sure if it works The UK, but in theory it should.

I think something like that would only work here using a proxy server. Same with DAZN, who iirc have a fairly cheap subscription cost according to our US/Canadian members

 

[George AlooGobi]

Yes, peeps will happily pay for a legal stream service so its a win win.

The counter argument used to be it would affect attendance.

I think it would depend on where the money is going. People may be more likely to pay if the club were getting a good chunk of it

Personally I'd never pay for a stream or ppv event given the number of good quality cost free streams available

 

[Mutchy]

I might as well get this in early... don't turn the thread into a discussion of unofficial ways to watch.

...

 

[Bossworld]

I think a streaming seasonal service for your own club (only) has some merit - I'm sure I'd not be alone in willingly handing over ~£5 a game (so £190 for the season) given I'm 210 miles from Molineux.

But, it would kill off many things, not least the money maker that is a Sky Sports subscription. I get BT Sports as part of my Virgin package and have loved watching the Champions League/Europa League games (not least while we were in it), but to Jade's point, I've no desire to go back to watching every single fixture across a gameweek back to back, it got to the point it had become mind numbing.

They'd also have to figure out how to speed up the stream - the likes of Sky Go lags behind live TV by a good minute or so, so you have to remove notifications from your phone and ignore any messages from someone at the match.

The final thing is whether distant fans would ever bother making the trip again. Look at the Man Utd marketing machine; the pitchside hoardings make regular mention of the 'Old Trafford experience', the stadium announcer prefixes every goalscorer accouncement with 'Old Trafford, Manchester'. People will have their own opinions on out-of-towners, glory hunters and all the rest but from a growth and marketing perspective, the club needs people outside the local catchment area (buying memberships, tickets, replica kit etc.)

 

[JonahWolf]

I’ve always thought clubs could make massive amounts of money with this. Yes it would effect attendances but I’d say it would only come into effect once a percentage of tickets are sold. Football is so much more than local fans now as much as some don’t care to admit. It’s really sad that this country can’t get games but some country over the other side of the word can get everything! We want the product the most.

Yes it would, but….there are a number of worm-filled cans opened with this premise.
Vast majority of most PL clubs’ income is via the huge broadcast deals from sky and BT, which is mostly distributed evenly. A big part of why they pay so much, is exclusivity in the UK, plus a chunk made on the side selling them to overseas broadcasters.
Take away the exclusivity, Sky and BT aren’t paying as much. Meaning 3/4 of the league aren’t getting anywhere near as much.
Then you’re relying on how much each club can sell each individual game….which only widens the gap with the Yaniteds of the world.
They already make over £400m more than us per season, so you really want to stretch that by a considerable amount by them selling individual games to a vastly larger global plastic audience than we could ever dream of?

 

[pacamac]

Football is not a tv show, international break bores you? Go to a local non league game

 

[lostwolf]

Nah.

A lot of people, me included, go down their local non league side when they can't get Wolves away games. Although I love having a beer, bovril, hot dog and cig on the terraces at grassroots grounds (when I was in Southend I adopted Canvey Island, the ships went past on the Thames higher than the end terrace; now I'm in Sheffield I've been up to Stocksbridge a few times, there's views of the Peaks and the bar's nice; back home it was Birmingham City... joking) I'd be tempted to stay home and watch us.

 

[Newbridge Wolf]

Televise all PL/FL games, ditch the concept of everyone kicking off at 3pm (it was never traditional prior to the 60’s anyway), allow non league/lower league clubs to kick off at 12/1pm and show PL games at 3pm in the bar or whatever suits to the local audiences.

Ticket prices will become subject to the normal rules of economics.

 

[The Wolf Of Wombourne]

I think clubs should be able to stream away games that are not on telly to their sth’s/ members for a fee. Away capped at 3k so only 10% (ish) of those who attend Molineux can go to each away game.

To not be able to watch at all due to ticket supply seems counter productive to me.

 

[JohnMatrix]

People always mention the attendance being effected. I disagree, I think there would definitely be a mad scramble for tickets still got molineux. If anything I think the pandemic showed that people much prefer being there in the ground than watching it on TV. Some of the teams who are more arm chair fan based may see an effect on attendance though. Isn't every NFL game aired? I'm sure they still get massive attendances.

 

[GY Wolf]

Didn't we have enough of football being made into a TV show last year? Give me strength

 

[Spitfire]

People always mention the attendance being effected. I disagree, I think there would definitely be a mad scramble for tickets still got molineux. If anything I think the pandemic showed that people much prefer being there in the ground than watching it on TV. Some of the teams who are more arm chair fan based may see an effect on attendance though. Isn't every NFL game aired? I'm sure they still get massive attendances.

I think most American sports are subject to a local tv blackout unless enough tickets are sold.

 

[Keith maniac]

All professional games? That’s a lot of matches, our professional game goes a long way down the tiers, and we would have to include the women’s football into that. Top two divisions maybe!.

 

[whitnash wolf ex.dewsbury]

Televise all PL/FL games, ditch the concept of everyone kicking off at 3pm (it was never traditional prior to the 60’s anyway), allow non league/lower league clubs to kick off at 12/1pm and show PL games at 3pm in the bar or whatever suits to the local audiences.

Ticket prices will become subject to the normal rules of economics.

football kicked of at 3pm before floodlights during late summer and early autumn
the kick was then moved back to 2/2.15 until early spring
evening kick offs would be 5.15/5.30
after floodlights came along evening games were at 7.30 with 10 min half time.
a few clubs did try slightly different times(cov.was 3.15)

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

I don’t agree with Saturday 3pm kick-offs being televised or streamed due to the impact on attendances at lower league and non-league matches.

Surely its a very small percentage these days, of fans who aren't already watching 3 o clocks. Surely?

 

[LythamWolf]

Nah.

A lot of people, me included, go down their local non league side when they can't get Wolves away games. Although I love having a beer, bovril, hot dog and cig on the terraces at grassroots grounds (when I was in Southend I adopted Canvey Island, the ships went past on the Thames higher than the end terrace; now I'm in Sheffield I've been up to Stocksbridge a few times, there's views of the Peaks and the bar's nice; back home it was Birmingham City... joking) I'd be tempted to stay home and watch us.

Same here. It’s rare for us to play at 3pm on a Saturday so I usually go to watch the local football team, it’s enjoyable to catch up with people and have a few pints stood watching the football. This season they were at home when we played Leicester and I was torn and I ended up staying at home to watch the Wolves game. Result was my local team lost out on my £10 attendance and £20 beer money.

 

[Sussex Wolf]

Yes, I’d be in favour of it. If I had the choice every week, I would be there in person, even if it’s considerably more experience. But I can’t, so a paid legal stream would be best alternative. I enjoyed the preseason games I watched on Wolves TV, but I enjoyed going to Molineux with my son for the last one more, even though I’d already paid the for stream as part of then preseason package.

However the elephant in the room are free illegal streams. If there is to be any credible business plan around legal streaming of all games, then the free illegal streams need to be stopped. As it stands, anyone with a modicum of internet savvy can watch Wolves for free every PL game.

 

[SuperGran]

You might see an exception this week as man Utd play Newcastle and the return of some footballer called Ronaldo. The media think that everyone is as obsessed with Man Utd as they are therefore a bit like a royal wedding Ronaldos Man Utd maybe on mainstream tv at 3pm so tha no one misses out,!

 

[Brockmoorwolf]

All professional games? That’s a lot of matches, our professional game goes a long way down the tiers, and we would have to include the women’s football into that. Top two divisions maybe!.

Nah top two divisions only. You subscribe to your team of choice.

 

[Newbridge Wolf]

Yes, I’d be in favour of it. If I had the choice every week, I would be there in person, even if it’s considerably more experience. But I can’t, so a paid legal stream would be best alternative. I enjoyed the preseason games I watched on Wolves TV, but I enjoyed going to Molineux with my son for the last one more, even though I’d already paid the for stream as part of then preseason package.

However the elephant in the room are free illegal streams. If there is to be any credible business plan around legal streaming of all games, then the free illegal streams need to be stopped. As it stands, anyone with a modicum of internet savvy can watch Wolves for free every PL game.

You’ll never stop the free streams, you just need to make a legal version attractive enough, i.e. not restrictively expensive (like Sky) for people to be happy to pay for that extra reliability and quality

 

[JohnMatrix]

I think most American sports are subject to a local tv blackout unless enough tickets are sold.

Didn't NFL suspend that though and don't apply it now? I'm not sure myself though.

 

[Nige]

I never Listen to the pundits or the commentary when i watch Football on TV. they all have an agenda.
I do think in the Premier League away matches for each club could be legally streamed by the club. Only the Elite of course get the 3000 tickets (off their mates in a lot of cases) so it would be a good way of generating income. I suppose the PL wont allow that unless they get a large slice of the pie and there lies the problem.
The issue doesn't exist in the lower leagues as all games are legally shown on ifollow, It is not controlled by the PL and it doesn't seem to affect attendances in the EFL.

 

[Contrarian]

I don’t agree with Saturday 3pm kick-offs being televised or streamed due to the impact on attendances at lower league and non-league matches.

Some percentage of the revenue could go to the non-league clubs? Unfortunately the big clubs are not known for their egalitarian generosity.

Failing that, I'm not sure how many league 1 and league 2 club supporters really would skip watching their club so they could stay home and watch Man U? These days, many would just go and watch the stream on their phones anyway.

 

[BlahBlah]

I guess part of the question is going to come down to numbers and finances

realistically if matches were available how big is the market for a particular match how may would watch it. and how many of those would be people who would otherwise have gone to the game and home many would be additional viewers. I guess this would be mostly for domestic UK market as the majority of matches including 3pm kickoffs are already available abroad (for prem anyway)

I would be interested if anybody has been able to get viewing figures out of Sky, BT and Amazon for matches, they usually guard those very carefully for domestic matches and can be a lot lower than you'd expect, god know what the overseas figures are. I guess the clubs themselves know, especially the ones like Man United and Liverpool pushing for a bigger slice of the pie.

In Australia we have again got a season deal for $99 (£50?) including every EPL game, all World Cup Qualifiers, and we got Euro 2020 on it as well. If you get a mobile phone contract with Optus, they chuck the football in for free. They cannot be earning much from us watching over here, but the TV box/IPTV setup is extremely high quality and just reproduces Sky, Amazon and BT coverage

For the other TV stations and non-sports channels, some satellite and radio channels have very tiny numbers of viewers and some program losses are covered by advertising revenue, or accepted as loss leaders to cover a contractual requirement to show news/weather etc.

I see that the GB News channel has recorded some listening figures of Zero recently and is now lurching further to the right wing to try and vacuum up the Fox News bigot audience to stay in business, and i remember a Wolves match many years ago on Central TV that only triggered an audience of around 25,000 viewers, which explained why Championship TV deals were so poor for earning money from. You need to follow the money trail to see what's happening, but it can be very tricky to get access to the figures.

 

[Nige]

You’ll never stop the free streams, you just need to make a legal version attractive enough, i.e. not restrictively expensive (like Sky) for people to be happy to pay for that extra reliability and quality

I agree completely The only reason Illegal streams exist and profit are because the legal ones are too expensive. Unfortunately that's the greed of the PL and will never change.
Although if you support say Man City or Liverpool etc The Sky package is far cheaper than a season ticket and you get to watch virtually all their games.

 

[Super Ted]

I enjoyed the Lichfield City v Nuneaton Boro FA Cup match today on BBC Red Button.

First two goals from Nuneaton were stunning.

I’m from Lichfield so it was great to see them on TV.

 

[Sussex Wolf]

You’ll never stop the free streams, you just need to make a legal version attractive enough, i.e. not restrictively expensive (like Sky) for people to be happy to pay for that extra reliability and quality

I broadly agree, but think there will be some who will always plump for the free stream over even a relatively cheap ( say £5/game) legal option. If the paid service meant all the revenue flowed to the club, then perhaps you’d get a higher rate of legal followers.

Trouble is should club services largely replace the package deals with Sky/BT/others, then it would likely reinforce the dominance of the big six since they would generate much higher streaming revenue than the PL also rans and the central tv distribution would shrink significantly.

 

[CelebrityWolf]

The coverage of English football is archaic

 

[Will Wolf]

I agree with all games being available to watch online. Would raise a lot of revenue for the clubs. Plus a win for fans who can’t get to games or get tickets, particularly away games.

Impact on attendance would be minimal if at all in my opinion. You get a better experience going to the game than watching at home which is what you pay for.
It’s already happening online and the profits aren’t benefiting the clubs.

 

[Newbridge Wolf]

I broadly agree, but think there will be some who will always plump for the free stream over even a relatively cheap ( say £5/game) legal option. If the paid service meant all the revenue flowed to the club, then perhaps you’d get a higher rate of legal followers.

Trouble is should club services largely replace the package deals with Sky/BT/others, then it would likely reinforce the dominance of the big six since they would generate much higher streaming revenue than the PL also rans and the central tv distribution would shrink significantly.

I subscribe to Watch NRL (Australian Rugby League), it’s the NRL’s official app, and you get every game live, on demand reruns and the Fox Rugby League channel, works out at just under £11 per month (£130 annually). I think the NFL in America do something similar.

The Athletic did an article a while ago and I think the general surmise was that if the Premier League did something similar at £15 a month where you could see every game, then they could blitz the income they get now from the traditional broadcasters, like completely blow it out of the water.

Price would be key though. £10-15 a month and you’d get millions of subscribers, people happy to spend a negligible level of income. Unfortunately we all know they’d probably launch it at somewhere in the region of £50, price people out and never solve the issue of illegal streams.

Something like that though rather than pay to watch each game would keep income central and evenly distributed (or the potential for it).

 

[thetwistedsock]

I enjoyed the Lichfield City v Nuneaton Boro FA Cup match today on BBC Red Button.

First two goals from Nuneaton were stunning.

I’m from Lichfield so it was great to see them on TV.

Ah knackers I said to a fella at work that I'd watch that, but forgot. He said there's a memorial bench there for his dad and I said I'd look out for it. Balls.

 

[Tony]

It is anyway.

 

[Tony]

I don't subscribe to anything illegal but still watch most games if not all. I am minted mind you!

 

[whitnash wolf ex.dewsbury]

I would be interested if anybody has been able to get viewing figures out of Sky, BT and Amazon for matches, they usually guard those very carefully for domestic matches and can be a lot lower than you'd expect, god know what the overseas figures are. I guess the clubs themselves know, especially the ones like Man United and Liverpool pushing for a bigger slice of the pie.

In Australia we have again got a season deal for $99 (£50?) including every EPL game, all World Cup Qualifiers, and we got Euro 2020 on it as well. If you get a mobile phone contract with Optus, they chuck the football in for free. They cannot be earning much from us watching over here, but the TV box/IPTV setup is extremely high quality and just reproduces Sky, Amazon and BT coverage

For the other TV stations and non-sports channels, some satellite and radio channels have very tiny numbers of viewers and some program losses are covered by advertising revenue, or accepted as loss leaders to cover a contractual requirement to show news/weather etc.

I see that the GB News channel has recorded some listening figures of Zero recently and is now lurching further to the right wing to try and vacuum up the Fox News bigot audience to stay in business, and i remember a Wolves match many years ago on Central TV that only triggered an audience of around 25,000 viewers, which explained why Championship TV deals were so poor for earning money from. You need to follow the money trail to see what's happening, but it can be very tricky to get access to the figures.

a match getting 1.5 mill.viewers would be about right for sky.
think a manure match had a peak of 3.3mill viewers
bt would be overjoyed if they had a million for one of their games

 

[Fenrir_]

With respect, I think that is a poor argument. If fans want to watch a different match they should be given that choice. If fans want to watch a live match in the lower league they also have that choice. The lower league clubs would have to adapt to attract fans.

Lower league clubs have enough to do to attract fans as it is. I think televising all games would be the death of lower league/non league. You can either stay at home and watch top level football all afternoon for a pittance or donate £15-£18 to a non-league side that really need the money, no prizes for guessing what most would choose.

It was nice when we had every game on TV but they shouldn't all be readily available, it'll kill football

 

[DJW]

Could you not make all games PPV at a price low enough to tempt people away from buffering illegal streams, at the same time lowering ticket prices to ensure full stadiums. Pitched right the clubs could potentially make more money and illiminate the need for illegal streams. Win-win-win.