Breaking news from the Daily Mail this morning that 160 Premier League games won’t be broadcast next season – which is a serious chunk of top flight games – in anyone’s estimation.
Trying to understand why English football fans are being short-changed wasn’t obvious, but the closest answer came from trawling through the Swiss Ramble feed which revealed that domestic rights in the UK have been in decline, by 7% last season.
Based on the 7% fall in domestic rights and 34% increase in overseas rights, domestic revenue will drop by £110m, but overseas revenue will rise by £295m, resulting in a net increase of £185m a year to be shared among the 20 clubs in the Premier League.
Swiss Ramble
The trouble is, while the broadcasters play fast and loose, in the midst of global pandemic, people are changing their habits. Fewer games broadcast means another nail in the coffin of pubs with commercial subscriptions.
A cultural change has swept the nation, with people altering the way they shop, the work, even the way they get their hair cut.
As far as paying up to 3 different broadcast rights holders through the eyeballs for the privilege of watching games, against a background of redundancies sweeping the nation, TV subscriptions are rapidly looking like expensive luxuries.
The piece in the Mail remarks that the Premier League are conscious of not over exposing their product. Which has to one of the most detached and cavalier things I’ve ever heard.
While football’s chief executives ponder their portfolio, I predict a boom in the sale of dodgy fire sticks.
It isn’t only footballers, it is every profession so I disagree and believe the top top players do deserve it. It’s the hanger ons, agents etc who don’t earn their peice.
The top movie stars make huge money
The top doctors make huge money
The top lawyers, builders etc etc. You become the best in the world at something and you’re on the same as Bale.
As per your point below, if it was affordable to watch then the masses could do so and there would actually be more money in the game and then these players would earn even more, and rightly so
Usual streams should work because the overseas rights include all games – for example when I was back home in NZ we can watch every game – admittedly at 2am – so yes, streaming will be fine
Spot on. However you’re wasting your time, unless you’re 100% positive about everything he gets wound up. I have no idea why…
No, you’re the one who’s got it twisted. If they’re passing through and they aren’t ‘us’ then why do you get so worked up when we slag them off? You’re not making sense, although I had noticed before…
Oh well.
If it carries on the way it is, you can bet your a**e…
No.
You can’t understand what people are saying about this? Really?
When I say ‘empty l’ I mean comparatively so compared to now (not literally but you would say that wouldn’t you). Will football be affected as much as music, probably not. Very good chance numbers could well be down, certainly on ST sales and on match by match sales. Certainly the prices clubs charge will be affected by any reduction in demand. You can work the rest out for yourself.
If the people that run the game start to change now then they’ll find an altered or different model. But as HH says, most are on six figure salaries and are only a few years off retirement. Do they really care?
They’ve had their feeding frenzy over the last 20-30 years but there’s a good chance the golden age of Sky subscriptions and astronomical ticket prices will have been the peak rather than a point on an upward curve.
Do you understand now? People pay less for stuff the game shrinks and if streaming becomes the preferred experience for a lot of younger fans then 62k will be a lot of people to find to fill a stadium for every game. 40K might end up being a stretch… unless you make it too cheap to turn down.
What doesn’t bode well for the new gaff then?
Oh yeah, sorry. It’s all gonna be fine! 😂
Empty? No don’t be f**cking stupid, I’m not saying that at all.
There’s always Little Mix.
Absolutely Mike. Herein the problem lies. Sorry, but there’s nobody on this planet who should be commanding a hundred thousand pound plus plus plus a week for anything (don’t even get me started on Gareth Bale).
We as spectators/fans are being milked from the ground up for – frankly – ludicrous wages, and anybody who tells me I should stop winging and put my my hand in my pocket for the good of the club needs to give their head a wobble. Tappaspur said earlier that ENIC and Spurs aren’t the same.
Reity check. The Spurs fan base are feeding an unfathomable fortune to Joe Lewis and Daniel Levy, who couldn’t care less about 140 years of club history or identity.
Dude you’re getting the whole wrong end of the stick. My original point was that part of the whole reason why ST prices and merchandise prices and Sky/BT prices are going up and up and up is because of the loss of revenue from people who want to watch their club but who cant afford it anymore, and so ditch their mainstream subs for a more affordable option. So in effect, costs are rising BECAUSE people cant afford it. This is bonkers. It cant continue.
How about a complete reconstruction of the wage system within the professional game, and weeding out those people earning fortunes who offer absolutely nothing to the benefit of the game itself. Football at the top level generates such vast amounts of money, millions of pounds are squandered year in year out and nobody complains, because those in that position are very happy with their lot. From top to bottom the game needs an intervention from somewhere, so that all monies are distributed in a much fairer way, instead of to those chosen few.
You never know , you just might get your club and game back so that everyone including fans benefit long term.
Perhaps not quite in the same way but it does feel that football will “eat itself” and a big crash will eventually happen…..
So what you saying? In 15 years time its possible football stadiums will be empty?
Cha. You’ve got the whole ting twisted. You’re a vet as well. Dem ENIC man just passing through our history. Stop trying to make out they are us. They just own us. I own a brompton but that doesn’t make me a fkin push bike. WE ARE TOTTENHAM not them
because one isn’t the same as the other, Spurs is my love not some property developer…
It p!$$€$ me off when people call my club with nearly 140 years of history (that you all keep banging on about) ENIC. have some fckin respect for the club man
Problem with ENIC it always feels disingenuous, if it was a tenner for all 3 games maybe? Because I’m no longer a ST holder I did log on to pay (as I said, I would rather pay than stream) but it was impossible to do so…
Bwooooy. We Tottenham can’t afford to do the free ting right now breda
Bwooooy. We Tottenham can’t afford to do the free ting right now breda
I hear that about the those who can’t (£10 spent wisely can feed) but what about the those who can afford to pay that and don’t want anything to do with illegal streams yet wanna watch their team. Those that don’t mind putting a few quid into their clubs pockets.
spot on, I’m happy to pay rather than watching a stream but they want to rip you off at every corner….I hate paying my Sky subs and every year I threaten to cancel but never do…I also dont want to be a hypocrite and not pay my way, same as the film industry (if people don’t pay to watch films soon there won’t be any to watch)…pre-season friendlies should be streamed on Spurs YouTube channel, as you say, for all to watch for free..
The one’s who still live at home can but then again if they keep spending £2 large a year on Tottenham they’ll be at home forever🌚 parents thinking nooooooooo🌚
It’s the proverbial vicious circle. Take for example yesterday. Spurs TV charging a tenner to watch a pre-season friendly against Ipswich. A tenner per stream. That’s outrageous. There are a lot of people – myself included – who cant afford or justify £10 on the last week of the month to watch 90 minutes of football practice. The solution? Live YouTube stream. Free.
Similarly, BT and Sky packages rising and rising. Solution? IPTV on your firestick for 50 quid a year.
And as more and more people opt for these illicit solutions, the more traditional subscriptions rise and rise, and round and round we go until the whole situation becomes unsustainable. Ripping off the fans is not the way forward, and the sooner the big media corporations realise this the better.
What’s that a score a game (60 games) the price of a take away. Not bad actually and for the waist line too🌚 for below
I’m sure that’s right, whatever’s around the corner let the next lot deal with it.
Sorry to keep drawing comparisons with the music biz, but I see a lot of parallels. It’s like these big music festivals, how many more Dolly Partons and Shirley Bassey’s do we have left to wheel on at 75 years old to pull the crowds? Unless they create big acts now and build a following these fields and venues will be empty in 15 years time, maybe less.
Which also doesn’t bode well for the new gaff…
problem is the young-uns cant afford Levy’s prices..
That’s brilliant. 10% new season tickets to hopefully younger fans who won’t spend most of their time at games moaning and will roar on the team. A lot of old moaners at Tottenham
That would be $3000Aud odd for 60 Spurs games a year. Not friggin likely, I’ll keep watching Illegal catch up since I’m not with Optus.
Football bosses are only holding out for their pensions. Can’t see further than their twilight years on some foreign coastline.
It’s yet to be confirmed – as I understand it
tbh I would be happy to pay 1200quid a year if they gave me all Spurs games in HD live
Sky £960 & BT £240.00 a year, so thats the price of a Spurs ST anyway..
Sky know that people like me would cancel the subscription I guess as watching Spurs is the only reason I keep it these days, and my boy watches cricket, but other than that its a complete waste of money..
Having a Season Ticket TV deal is a great idea, especially as more people will go less (me included) but I can see why they wouldn’t do it..
I did read somewhere (could’ve been here) that 90% of ST holders renewed (Spurs) which I was surprised at..
So the PL teams get more money but fans lose out again…right, makes sense…..Levy’s business model is not looking so good at the moment….same as trying to watch yesterdays game..you couldn’t get (or pay) on THFC website even if you wanted to so everyone goes straight to an illegal stream…I used to think that if more people cancelled their subscriptions (Sky, BT etc) it would panic them into providing better prices or better content…well theres obviously enough money coming in around the world for them to not give a crap about us British fans watching our own sport…..
Reference your last sentence,isn’t that largely the case now.I am fortunate enough to have access to Sky and BT and in truth most of the matches are not worth watching.Even some of the eagerly anticipated matches can turn into dire stalemates.
There is some dross served up by the leagues lower half teams that only diehard supporters could like.Quite a few of our games have fallen into that catagory if I’m honest particularly last season.
The point being made about people changing how they lead their lives now could mean season ticket and subscription take ups will be drastically reduced for the coming season.
What’s a fire stick. Will the usual streams work? Worries
£10mil for Jack Clark. Ric€. How has Jose turned gedson into a half decent right back so quickly. Its the long legs see. 🌚
Oh. I see.
Things have shifted from the club loyalty thing for much younger fans. They’re becoming more likely to have favorite teams but sometimes not only one. They might like certain players or that way a team plays etc. I don’t think locking subscribers into a one club thing is a long term prospect.
It’s like music being very cheap to stream and access to millions of tracks etc for one subscription fee. It not right that it’s become so cheap as the artist receives a pittance unless they get streamed loads. Football is trying to resist it but why should an endeavor like creating music be so made so throw away and cheaper at the point of sale, while watching 90 mins of people kicking a ball about is still pricey?
All entertainment has become more accessible and more affordable to get the volume in the digital world. Decisions need to be made, do we start paying more for everything or keep this constant discounting going?
It’s not changing yet and why should football be immune to it? I think the only answer is for the whole of the entertainment and the content to be harder to get and back to the concept of paying £12 for a CD as we once did. The same content now costs you pennies when streaming.
For things to survive, it probably has to become more expensive and harder to access. Presently and in the meantime, footy is way out of step.
It’s like big stadiums, people are looking to Zoom meetings more, stay at home more to work etc. when you can access it at home, why would you trek often hundreds of miles, pay for travel and other expenses and it might be a 0-0 bore draw. I’m not sure the latest generation are going to be that taken with the whole thing.
20 years ago golf was on the up, courses popping up everywhere until Gen X got to the golfing age demographic and had other things to do and the older golfers went less or stopped because of age.
Football will be at a crossroads sooner than we think…
Said, they are old men, and know business the old way. Selling rights is simpler and it’s the model they always used. Plus channels are not cheap, so can seem daunting. You have to think BT TV have spent around £12bln on football broadcasts including rights.
Makes no sense to me
Set up their own Chanel and exclusively stream” you’re right you know. I never thought of that. Why don’t they d’ya think?
This is astonishing. Football is entertainment and if fans are not allowed into stadia, what is the point of not showing them on TV? It’s just denying us the opportunity to see our team play.
If memory serves, one mate who still does a lot of this stuff told me there was once a suggestion of a club season ticket. So spurs fans could subscribe to watch only spurs games (think was a suggestion of a premium to be paid on away games). This idea I think was shot down as would be too detrimental to attendances, and would cause clubs with larger subscriptions demanding more money, risking the PL turning into la Liga with only the big sides worth watching.
If the PL had any sense they would set up their own channel and exclusively stream. We are talking about a bunch of old men with no concept of the changing world. I had the luxury of being party to a bid team in 2003 looking into PL broadcast rights, and even now,I am reliably informed the model has not changed considerably. The PL board even struggled to understand how international rights could be exploited back then, and got told they felt Amazon streaming should not be included in the Sky/BT traditional package as was not competion as only a select few choose to stream football.