An atmosphere of money-grabbing looms over Tottenham Hotspur these days.
Spurs announced in April that season-ticket prices would be frozen for the forthcoming campaign, for the second season in a row. This was cited as being down to the ‘cost of living crisis’, but truth be told, it said more about the build-up of bad transfer buys and the appointment of unsupported coaches that crashed and burned.
The market was unlikely to respond well to a price hike, given Daniel Levy‘s name has been trending negatively on social media for months on end.
Another money-making scheme recently launched has been Spurs Play, a subscription service.
Our friendly games in the preseason tour are all broadcast as part of the paid service, however, the first game against West Ham was a technical farce. The sound of the commentator sounded like a special effects button had been deployed, and the match chat was coming out of the stadium speakers. That lasted for about 15 minutes, then a Korean voice was added to the English one. It was unwatchable.
By the second half, fans didn’t need to reload the stream to shake off the glitch.
Yesterday, Leicester City announced that fans can watch the game online for free, using a digital pass. At first glance, it appears anyone can sign up.
TBH Says: ENIC need to slow down on the commercial revenue streams and start putting all their best endeavours into the football.
The goodwill earned by streaming friendly games for free cannot be underestimated, and it also softens the blow if there are technical issues.
Maybe fans wouldn’t mind paying if the team had adequate defenders.