Because the people at the top are stupid and old.
BBC: Premier League winter break under discussion before new TV deal
- Thread starter Paxi
- Start date
In an ideal world we'd have this already but I think we're a good few years away from this. First, the logistics of doing something like this on this scale are incredibly complex. The only providers currently really capable of delivering a "reliable" live stream to millions of people at a time are YouTube and the BBC (and even then iPlayer live streams have been known to suffer when viewership numbers get high).
We're also in the attempted "4K revolution". Sky have their Q service and are using sports as part of their big push to get people to make the switch, they NEED Premier League football - they're not giving it up anytime soon. The average telly watcher likes their football in HD/4K at 50fps with no delay and are willing to pay good money for it.
Until a service comes along that can guarantee the same level of service/quality, then we're stuck with Sky and BT. Why would the PL go to such a financial risk then they know they can get a new deal worth billions every few years?
Small clubs like Newport where their share of the gate at Wembley will be very significant to them financially. That's my one reluctance of scrapping replays, it craps on the little teams.
If they sorted that out somehow then I don't think even the small clubs would object. Perhaps a rule where if a lower league team is facing a higher one they get all the gate money whether it's home or away? Would probably end up with more smaller teams getting more money in the long run.
Currently if they earned a replay they might get half a 5k (as an example) gate and half of a 50k gate = 27.5k. If you offered them all of a 5k if drawn at home or all of the 50k gate if playing away with no replays it might work out better overall. Even when drawn at home, most lose now so they get 2.5k of the home ticket sales and that's it. Guaranteeing them the full home gate would make them better off than if they were to be drawn at home now and lose. All of the away gate if drawn away would be more than they'd currently get for earning a replay and playing the two games.
If the bigger clubs want a winter break at the expense of FA Cup replays they could, maybe should be prepared to give up thieir share of the FA Cup gate money.
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That's a very good suggestion, although the big wigs in the Football League/FA are very unlikely to apply that sort of common sense and logic to any situation.
Says all you need to know about how football is run these days when a winter break is not decided by the clubs or the FA, but TV. Sky et al make their money (and pay for the deal with the Premier League to have the rights to screen football) from subscribers and advertising, so do you really think they'll agree to have a period of 3 weeks where they have no football and low viewership figures, and therefore low advertising revenue. This will have the knock on effect of their potential profit going down, and therefore they can't afford the rights to the football because they earn less. Of course they're not going to agree to it.
Time for the clubs to get together and decide what's best, not TV.
Time for the clubs to get together and decide what's best, not TV.
No winter break, I like watching all the football over the Christmas period and the quick turnaround between matches, makes it more interesting and that's why teams nowadays have squads.
For the first time ever I'm behind a winter break, our run over Christmas this year has put a real dent in our season and while yes you can easily have a run of 3 PL games in a week at any stage (more likely if you're having a winter break) the time to recover from injuries over Christmas will surely be a benefit
The dreaded 3 draws kind of sums up the ridiculousness of the Xmas period. We had a one day break in between 2 of those fixtures. Then in January we had a 10 day break before playing Yeovil in the FA cup. Makes no sense.
No thanks
Weather here is unpredictable, it might be hot in jan and snow all the way through December.
Not to mention January is the worst month of the year. Footy needs to stay as it's the best distraction to have.
Weather here is unpredictable, it might be hot in jan and snow all the way through December.
Not to mention January is the worst month of the year. Footy needs to stay as it's the best distraction to have.
Loads of football over Christmas is great. Don't see the need to have a break at all. Isn't that the point of having a 25 man squad, so players can have a rest when needed?
If the focus of small clubs getting additional money is the main concern. How about a seeding system then, where the small teams will play the top teams away and get a big slice of the pie.
Course it goes against the romance of the cup but we're talking solely about small clubs getting money here.
Yes please.
Will definitely help us out and Klopp's style of football
Will definitely help us out and Klopp's style of football
I really cannot understand why Utd fans would be in favour of a winters break, though might be different in the future. For a start I don't think a winters break would have any real difference on players fitness, which is more to do with the competitiveness of the league compared to others. I having nothing against having one, as long as two key points are agreed. Firstly, this mustn't have any effect of the Christmas & New Year period which is on of the most exciting periods in the calendar, & as entertainers (presumably) footballers should be in the forefront of entertaining the public during the holidays. Secondly, a break means a break, & doesn't mean clubs send their teams half way around the world playing lucrative tours. Any that do this should have points docked.
The real winners would be teams like City, Spurs, & Liverpool due to the pressing/intense styles they play, & would certainly gain from a break. Whilst the losers would be smaller teams & funny enough us as Mourinho's sides hardly break sweat compared to most of our rivals, so would lose out. When I mention this might change in the future, is if we actually had a manager using intense tactics like Man Utd teams of old.
The real winners would be teams like City, Spurs, & Liverpool due to the pressing/intense styles they play, & would certainly gain from a break. Whilst the losers would be smaller teams & funny enough us as Mourinho's sides hardly break sweat compared to most of our rivals, so would lose out. When I mention this might change in the future, is if we actually had a manager using intense tactics like Man Utd teams of old.
Scrap extra time too up until QF stages.
You have a point, your lot are getting visibly more knackered by the week. No winter break, I say!Yes please.
Will definitely help us out and Klopp's style of football
Out of interest why do you (and many others) automatically assume a winter break would be in December?
There is no logic given the unpredictable climate in the U.K to take out 3-4 games in that period when bad weather could strike in March and take out another week's fixtures. Then you have a massive problem.
Italy had their winter break in January. There is no law stating leagues have to enforce a break in December.
As others have stated the logic time for premier league is to have it in January. Play FA cup 3rd round (all ties on the Saturday like the good old days) and then come back two weeks later.
All you miss in that period are one weeks league fixtures, FA cup replays (play them the week play resumes) and two legged league cup semi finals. Just make them one off semi finals like in the FA cup. You could move the final to later in the season, never understood why it's so early in February.
Big problem with fixture congestion is UEFA few years back deciding to stagger out the last 16 so it was played over four weeks rather than two. They also insist you can't play league fixtures on the same nights as CL anymore.
If Uefa and Premier league worked closer you could easily fit in a winter break into the schedule.
Heck no, the international breaks are brutal, add this in and the stop start will suck yet more joy out of the sport. They need to think of ways of making the game more exciting, not more boring.
Where the sport is now, this, & VAR, and think I might just turn off.
Where the sport is now, this, & VAR, and think I might just turn off.
To me it just seems like the most likely time to have it, could well be start of January.