iFollow

[Tippy Tappy Football]

The Premier League clubs will use it as an excuse to broadcast one of their games at 3.00pm which will affect the attendance at EFL games.

[oldweststander]

Not keen on the idea personally.

We should be encouraging as many as possible to attend in person. Clubs probably need the gate receipts more than ever and away fans are what create the atmosphere at games. Giving clubs the option to beam back and therefore take away sections of the travelling support would damage the match day experience in my opinion.

Any money into the club is better than no money should supporters not want to travel, Covid anxiety isn't dead you know?

[west country stag]

Not keen on the idea personally.

We should be encouraging as many as possible to attend in person. Clubs probably need the gate receipts more than ever and away fans are what create the atmosphere at games. Giving clubs the option to beam back and therefore take away sections of the travelling support would damage the match day experience in my opinion.

Good to keep it going , as ive seen every home & away game , via ifollow this season & is a bonus for us fans who have a 700 mile round trip .

[yorkstag]

I’ve missed one game on I follow this year but will be back on the road when I can.

I think this is well intentioned but we need to get fans back to attending games asap. It’s a habit and many will now see I follow as the norm

[chip63]

What about if the cost of watching on ifollow was more than the entrance fee for games.
Would £30.00 be acceptable? Let's be honest the £10.00 was an absolute bargain last season.

[bear 73]

ifellow is a life line to supporters who cannot attend games, and should be available for home games but only for those who have season tickets, making the club more money from those living far away from the area, and those who have health issues and cannot attend live games, if this brings more revenue to the club then i like it.
You will never beat a match day experience, to break the 3pm sat ruling only if you are a season ticket holder, and at a given address.
Away matches on a match by match basis in mid week, providing the game is more than 50 miles away.

[Bradders]

I'm not sure what the "beam-back" term means exactly, but assuming it's just broadcasting the match, certainly it's a good idea for next season. Even if travel restrictions have been completely lifted and fans have full access to stadiums, there will be a proportion unwilling to take what they see as a risk. Moving on from that, it's been obvious that watching the match on TV is no substitute for attending in person. So those that enjoy a day out in Bradford or wherever, with the excitement of the football experience as a centrepiece, are going to make the effort. And a lot of others wouldn't have gone anyway, so why not pick up a bit of extra revenue and allow them to see the team in action, thus helping build a wider loyal fan base.
But it would have to remain cheap.

[ian23]

Beam back means broadcasting at field mill for an away game i believe

[northern stag]

Ifollow served a purpose , but there is no comparison with watching live action, far too many drawbacks, however I hope they can do something with it as i imagine it’s preferable to driving 400 miles on a wet Tuesday night to somewhere like Exeter (not that I would )

[Rob]

They should keep it for midweek games only.

[adamstag]

If away fans can get to games it should be stopped on saturdays

[Tippy Tappy Football]

They are going to keep showing the midweek games on ifollow.

[adamstag]

They are going to keep showing the midweek games on ifollow.

midweeks shouldn’t be a bother, but weekends nah

[Rob]

They are going to keep showing the midweek games on ifollow.

Do you know what the split is between home and away? Will it remain 1st 500 to home club, rest to away?

[bellwhiff]

Wouldn’t this result in lost revenue for the home clubs ?

[Rob]

Wouldn’t this result in lost revenue for the home clubs ?

Perhaps, but balanced by increase for away clubs who normally get nothing. I think we need a statistician to work it out, anyone know one

[diablo]

ifellow is a life line to supporters who cannot attend games, and should be available for home games but only for those who have season tickets, making the club more money from those living far away from the area, and those who have health issues and cannot attend live games, if this brings more revenue to the club then i like it.
You will never beat a match day experience, to break the 3pm sat ruling only if you are a season ticket holder, and at a given address.
Away matches on a match by match basis in mid week, providing the game is more than 50 miles away.

What a good idea..

[wardy12345]

Will Ifollow auto renew each year or do I have to resubscribe I’ve forgot what happened last year

[Martin Shaw]

Will Ifollow auto renew each year or do I have to resubscribe I’ve forgot what happened last year

if you log in on the website, click on your name, and click on purchased packages, it will tell you when your current subscription expires.
For example mine says
audio season pass, expires 2/9/21

I think it will probably depend on how you paid as to whether it auto renews. But at least you will know what date you need to look out for.

[bear 73]

If i-Follow did away games for away fans at the full ticket price next season, while clubs are only admitting home fans I think they'd get a lot takers.

If the service was improved count me in, i feel ifollow could fill a role but only if the clubs benefited

[Torrystag]

If i-Follow did away games for away fans at the full ticket price next season, while clubs are only admitting home fans I think they'd get a lot takers.

Cant really see how they could make it work fairly though ,if they are only charging me so much for a seasons pass how could they then expect fans in the uk to stump up the full price ,or if they go down that road they would have to charge me the full price which would make it uneconomical for most people abroad to watch it hopefully somewhere between the two

[Martin Shaw]

I don't think it's feasible to do iFollow live streaming of matches for "away fans" only. Suppose team A is playing at home team B. If the live stream is only available for fans of team B, then fans of team A who want to watch the stream can just register as a fan of team B.

I would expect that whilst there is any restriction on fans attending, matches will still be available for live streaming.

Once there is no restriction, I would expect to return to where we were two years ago (ie only live streaming of midweek games for UK viewers, not Saturday games).

see also viewtopic.php?p=890636#p890636

[sunray]

Surely away games could be made available to home season ticket holders and registered home fans at the full match day price. How would home fans be able to access home games?

As someone who attends half a dozen away games a season this would benefit 17 more clubs.

[Martin Shaw]

Surely away games could be made available to home season ticket holders and registered home fans at the full match day price. How would home fans be able to access home games?

As someone who attends half a dozen away games a season this would benefit 17 more clubs.

I suppose that approach could work for season ticket holders.

But I'm not sure about "registered home fans". I have an iFollow account for most clubs in League Two, as does Tippy Tappy Football, to enable me to buy match passes for League Two games not involving Mansfield. I don't see how that could realistically work in terms of genuinely restricting it to a particular club.

In any case, I think it's highly unlikely this approach will be followed by EFL.

[Martin Shaw]

from https://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/2021 ... et-prices/

I wish to buy a season ticket to support the club but would prefer to watch the games online from home via iFollow Stags. Is this possible?
This has not yet been determined by the EFL, but we expect it to be highly unlikely under normal circumstances. Prior to the pandemic, fans inside the UK and Ireland could watch games on iFollow Stags provided that:
- They fall outside of UEFA’s Article 48 Blocked Hours (14:45-17:15 on a Saturday). Please note matches that kick-off at 1pm fall into the blocked hours category and are not available for live viewing
- They fall outside Bank Holidays
- They have not been selected for broadcast on Sky Sports