by Stag95 » Thu Oct 13, 2022 2:09 pm
From the Athletic:
“ EFL could abolish 3pm TV blackout – next TV deal will be for the digital age.
From the darkness of a blackout come the first shards of light. The English Football League might have spent a generation happily protected by the broadcast laws that prohibit live football from being shown across the UK on a Saturday afternoon but for the right price, they might now be cast aside.
The EFL’s next TV deal, beginning for the 2024-25 season, was destined to be an important one in these austere times and the call for broadcast proposals on Wednesday morning has only heightened its significance.
The rights to every single game — all 1,891 matches across the EFL’s three divisions, the EFL Cup, the EFL Trophy and play-offs — are now being offered up to prospective bidders. Nothing will be off the table, not even for those games that kick off at 3pm on a Saturday.
This is a deal for the digital age. The 72 clubs had expected streaming options to be considered once the arrangement with long-standing partners Sky Sports expired and this is the extreme of that.
It might not yet happen. There can be no guarantees over the interest that is generated among broadcast companies over the next six weeks. But the EFL has played a hand that could make this a watershed moment. No matter when or where your EFL club is playing, there might soon be the option to watch from your front room.
“We are inviting proposals from organisations that can enhance and develop the League’s offering, taking a new and innovative approach to how people consume EFL content,” said Ben Wright, the EFL’s chief commercial officer.
“Alongside the EFL’s rich tradition and distinguished history, there is a desire to evolve and innovate to grow our audience further and we’re looking for a partner or partners who share that vision.”
There are too many imponderables for there to be a clear picture of where the EFL is headed.
Some clubs will have misgivings over the abolition of a blackout to UK audiences, wary of the threat it will pose to matchday attendances if the Premier League broadcasted all its Saturday afternoon games. Others, meanwhile, will be prepared to take the risk in favour of improved TV revenues. Only when financial proposals are put forward will that become clear and shape if a vote can be passed.
Of the handful of EFL club figures to speak with The Athletic on Wednesday, there was a broad agreement that this first step is a proactive one. Minds are universally open to what comes next. A broadcasting hook has been cast off the banks of the river and the EFL’s 72 clubs now wait to see the bites they attract.
Amazon has entered the live domestic sport market since the EFL last struck a TV deal in 2018, and Apple agreed a 10-year broadcast deal with MLS this summer. Netflix and Google are two more giants touted to dip in their toes but continue to watch on from the sidelines. Sky Sports, which pays £119million ($136m) per season to televise 243 games under the EFL’s umbrella, has been the long-standing partner and there will likely be a reluctance to see this relationship end.
The EFL has always maintained its gratitude towards Sky but there is a wish to bring in far more than was agreed with the last deal in 2018. And if that means the EFL ends up supporting the removal of a Saturday afternoon blackout then so be it.
A 53-page brochure, sent out to potential bidders and seen by The Athletic, confirms the EFL’s ambitions for this next deal. All its virtues are extolled — the drama, history and appeal — and among the figures detailed is a cumulative global audience of 404 million every season across 182 territories. It adds there are 14.5 million EFL fans in the UK alone.
The EFL will have banged its drum as it did for its last big domestic deal but there is a telling difference in tone this time around. Everything could be made available. “A major objective of the EFL is to satisfy the demand that is known to exist,” says the brochure.
This deal will have a digital audience firmly in mind. The EFL has done analytical research so potential bidders do not have to and among the telling numbers is that 99 per cent of fans canvassed would be interested in watching their favourite team’s away games via a streaming service. Of the Championship fans asked, 93 per cent said they would be “very interested or mildly interested” in a streaming season pass for their club covering home and away games.
The streaming debate has rumbled on since overseas supporters were first allowed to buy online passes to watch their teams in 2018 but it has been the distribution of funds that has caused the greatest irritation. There is at least common ground that says EFL clubs will readily welcome streaming — and a fresh source of income — from 2024 if terms are amicable.
“People consume entertainment differently now, whether that’s Netflix, Amazon Prime or Disney,” one EFL chief executive, who did not want to be named, told The Athletic.
“If we don’t go with this, are we going to become Blockbuster? I can understand why people might be cautious. I don’t want to just throw the doors wide open on this but we risk being in the stone ages if we sit here and say this is how football is and how it should always be.”
This is undeniably a big juncture for English football. Since 1987, when ITV struck a major television deal with the Football League, article 48 of UEFA’s statutes has been followed by the Football Association that prevents live football from being shown during a two-and-a-half-hour slot on Saturday afternoons.
That has ensured Cristiano Ronaldo’s Manchester United homecoming against Newcastle United was not allowed to be broadcast to a domestic TV audience last August and even denies UK viewers the chance to watch football from other European leagues between 2.45pm and 5.15pm.
The logic is that teams down the football pyramid benefit if those Saturday afternoons are kept sacrosanct. Having live football to watch on TV would, in theory, damage matchday revenues for clubs that depend heavily on gate receipts and money subsequently spent on food and drink.
EFL clubs have historically favoured the retention of a blackout for fear of lost income but recent years have seen the stance soften. The 2020-21 season, played almost entirely in empty stadiums, introduced supporters to streaming services costing £10 every Saturday afternoon. Convenience was king and clubs were grateful for all the money they could find.
The return of supporters in 2021-22 saw the EFL revert to previous rules but the genie was out of the bottle. Change in time for 2024-25 has become inevitable, particularly given the rise in piracy options that have opened the door for fans to illegally watch their teams on a Saturday afternoon.
“COVID, playing without fans for a year, made people think differently about how they watch football,” Brian Caldwell, chief executive of League One side Shrewsbury Town, tells The Athletic.
“I can see in 10 years, all games will be streamed. We’re seeing more and more live football on TV every year and we have to be open-minded on this subject.
“We’ll have to wait for the EFL and their commercial department to report back to us because ultimately it’ll be the clubs that make the decision. If we just went with the same as before, you’re not really moving forward.
“We need to be creative and decide which model suits us all. The options out there might not be to the clubs’ liking but you’ve got to be willing to explore them. You can’t be left behind because you didn’t consider the other options.”
Stewart, the Rotherham owner, says the next TV deal is crucial for clubs like his (Photo: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
It would be up to the FA, as members of UEFA, to lift the Saturday afternoon blackout, with stakeholders canvassed before any decision. The EFL might be moving first but the National League and, more significantly, the Premier League will be watching closely.
The Premier League brings in £1.77billion from domestic deals that see 200 games broadcast live across Sky Sports, BT Sport and Amazon each season. There is a commitment to article 48 until the cycle that ends in 2024-25 but what price for all 380 games and what might the knock-on effects be?
“It’s very difficult to judge what the impact would be,” says Caldwell. “All clubs have got a loyal fanbase but the floating fans might prefer to sit in their house in front of a big Premier League game rather than coming to their local club.
“But live football is such a different experience. Watching games on TV comes second to watching a live game, whoever you support.”
All 72 EFL clubs will have to do the sums once proposals are tabled. The split in revenue sees 80 per cent go to Championship clubs, with 12 per cent to League One clubs and the last eight to those in League Two.
The £119million that comes from Sky’s domestic deal sees each Championship club receive about £4million. In League One, it is just under £600,000 and in League Two it is almost £400,000. Those sums are then topped up by solidarity payments from the Premier League.
That same split of a potential £200million annual TV deal would see income boosted significantly and perhaps negate lost revenues through turnstiles. A lengthy agreement of that magnitude, however, might prove easier said than done. The EFL has told bidders for its rights that any proposals would have to cover between three and five years.
“The next TV deal is important for us all and anything that gives income to clubs has to be considered,” Tony Stewart, the Rotherham United owner, tells The Athletic. “There are 72 clubs mostly being supported by donors.
“I speak with Rick Parry (EFL chair) quite often and I do know he’s trying hard, along with others, to increase revenues from the Premier League. They’re the body of the dog that wags the tail. Something has to change.”
For all that the EFL sees financial value in throwing open its doors for television companies to broadcast its 1,891 games annually, there will be misgivings further down the pyramid.
Non-League clubs, from National League to grassroots, typically see an upturn in attendance when their local Premier League or EFL club plays away from home. Would Altrincham retain their Saturday afternoon support if Manchester United and Manchester City were available to watch home and away on TV every week?
A research paper compiled by the University of Aston in February of this year found that “big clubs can impose a negative constraint on attendance at grassroots games”. It fell short of concluding that scrapping a blackout would further damage footfall but added “our results suggest that if moves are made to televise more top-flight football, it could assist grassroots football if the blackout period was maintained and televised matches were moved to other days of the week”.
The Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) has concerns.
“The UK’s footballing ecosystem is the envy of the world, with matchday attendances running all the way down to non-League and grassroots that dwarf those of elite level games in many other countries,” said FSA chief executive Kevin Miles yesterday.
“Everyone is responsible for maintaining that environment in which football at all levels cannot just survive, but thrive — so the professional game should exercise extreme caution before contemplating the end of the 3pm blackout.
“Removing the blackout would have dramatic consequences for the pyramid, many unforeseen, which is why FSA members up and down the pyramid have strongly resisted any relaxation of this protection.”
The EFL will learn soon enough if it has a willing broadcast partner to break with conventions. The deadline it has set is at 5pm on November 21, the same afternoon England face Iran at the World Cup in Qatar. That game is sure to be televised and so, too, might the EFL’s revolution.”
I agree that all games will eventually be streamed whether we like it or not. But an 8% split for L2 clubs is absolutely rubbish.