| Good news for exiles? 15:16 - Mar 30 with 1078 views | mfb_cufc |
Sports broadcaster DAZN wants the “medieval” 3pm Saturday blackout rule removed to allow them to show all 1671 EFL matches live each season from 2024-25.
Sky Sports have held the EFL rights since 2002 and paid £119m-a-year for the exclusive rights in the latest contract showing 138 games-a-season.
But new players such as London-based DAZN and Viaplay are now competing with Sky Sports and BT Sport for the new rights from 2024-25 with the price set to soar.
That would require the removal of the Article 48 of the UEFA Statutes which the FA applies to stop any live broadcast of games between 2:45pm and 5:15pm on Saturday afternoons.
Sources close to the DAZN bid see the rule, introduced in the 1960s, as “medieval” and “anachronistic” and only encourages fans to watch pirate streams.
DAZN will also consider bidding for the Premier League rights when the current deals expire at the end of the 2024-25 season.
DAZN, which claims to be the largest sports broadcaster in Europe, believes the EFL is under-exposed as a product and there is a market to show every match live in the UK and worldwide.
The successful bidders for the new EFL contracts are expected to be announced this summer. |  |
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| Good news for exiles? on 15:57 - Mar 30 with 1008 views | wessex_exile |
Makes perfect sense - removing the 3pm broadcast ban won't make a jot of difference to most EFL clubs, and probably increase their revenue if they get a broadcasting fee as they do currently under iFollow. |  |
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| Good news for exiles? on 17:16 - Mar 30 with 991 views | durham_exile |
Good to hear.
Scrapping the 3pm Saturday blackout was rumoured earlier this season.
Excellent news for Exiles. Although there is no substitute for being at the game!
Up the U's |  |
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| Good news for exiles? on 17:52 - Mar 30 with 984 views | noah4x4 |
The only impact will probably be upon travelling support. I am not convinced that I will spend £100 on tickets, fares and meals for a 20 hour trip to Barrow if I can watch it at home for £10 and drink at my regular boozer. |  | | |
| Good news for exiles? on 20:54 - Mar 30 with 950 views | wessex_exile |
| Good news for exiles? on 17:52 - Mar 30 by noah4x4 |
The only impact will probably be upon travelling support. I am not convinced that I will spend £100 on tickets, fares and meals for a 20 hour trip to Barrow if I can watch it at home for £10 and drink at my regular boozer. |
I can see what you're saying Noah, and you make a good point. Conversely it won't change my travelling habits supporting the U's, because as Durham says, there's nothing that beats the real matchday experience, and whilst my health holds, I will do that wherever I can.
To me, the matchday experience is so much more than just 90 minutes of often forgettable football - it's interacting with strange and interesting people on the journey there and back (in your case they're usually on the CUSA coach), the stadium experience (food included), meeting supporters of other clubs (sometimes not so amicably on rare occasions), just the sense of togetherness with like-minded friends and strangers as part of the U's Faithful...and that's worth the journey even if I could stay at home and watch on the TV for a nominal cash purchase. | |
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| Good news for exiles? on 07:15 - Mar 31 with 923 views | noah4x4 |
I don’t disagree Wessex, albeit four years of being served up Humes inspired dross is making many of us weary. I actually prefer traveling away to some clubs (like Exeter) where fans are better appreciated. I won’t be enthusiastic about returning to Harrogate, £7.50 a pie, dire view, no bar facilities in ground, ghastly stewarding. Similarly at Wimbledon.
Just like the exiles that won’t regularly travel three hundred mile trips to U’s home games, if I can watch the more distant away games for a £tenner on Dazn and support my local real ale pub, I too might be less inclined to travel. I haven’t missed many, home or away, in twenty seasons, but this season, I have been lured into watching on I-Follow on (rare) away day Tuesdays and (again rare) where broadcast on an International Break weekend. Given typical £100+ costs, I reckon away travel will inevitably decline but that’s no different to exiles not travelling to home games. That was my point. | | | |
| Good news for exiles? on 17:07 - Apr 3 with 837 views | noah4x4 |
Looks like it isn’t going to happen. BBC reports….
EFL TV deal: English Football League to negotiate exclusively with Sky Sports | | | |
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