You could still do that though?I'm definitely one of those that see the 3pm rule as a good thing.
I often watch the early kick off, nip to the local nonleague game for 3pm then back for the late kick off.
I would never want to see it removed.
I could, but I would be a lot less inclined to, I'm sure many would.You could still do that though?
Thing is, non league watchers are a very small minority, attendances are usually in the hundreds rather than thousands. I'd wager there are many thousands more in this country that would like to see their team at 3pm that don't/wouldn't go to non league matches as it is now.I could, but I would be a lot less inclined to, I'm sure many would.
At the same time with the attendances being hundreds if you show games on Sky and 50 people stay and watch that instead it will have a huge effect on those non-league clubs.Thing is, non league watchers are a very small minority, attendances are usually in the hundreds rather than thousands. I'd wager there are many thousands more in this country that would like to see their team at 3pm that don't/wouldn't go to non league matches as it is now.
It makes no sense to use that as a reason not to have televised 3pm kick offs.
No doubt the 3pm blackout helps boost lower league attendances a little, but as i said in my opinion no where near as much as the people who want to keep it in place would have you believe.Maybe thats thanks to the 3PM rule?
Im sure they could do that, and no doubt Sky has thought about it. But 3pm kickoffs are traditional to move them all would be a real pain for regular match goers. Back when i had a season ticket i loved going to the match at 3, early or late saturday kick offs never quite felt the same.The matches are moved for TV now yes; I'm just stating why the rule was brought in. Taken to the extreme though, could all games not be moved out of this restriction so that they may also be shown? I agree the rule should've been scrapped ages ago, but so far it has been resisted.
I suspect the lower price in India is compensation for the fact that the cable will invariably crap out half way through the match you were staying up til 2AM to watch (Champions League final in Moscow for me) or even when the cable stays on they may decide to switch to the recorded highlights of an India vs England test match from the '80s at half time and forget to ever switch back.In India, we pay even lesser than that for BPL, La liga, Serie A , Bundesliga, French Ligue, UCL, Europa League, Hyundai-A League, all domestic cups and many international games including Euros and World Cup.
Because as others have pointed out, the UK preserves the archaic idea that since 3pm Saturday is the traditional kick off time for all matches (league and non league), showing the big matches at 3pm on a Saturday would eat into the attendances and finances of the smaller clubs. I'd suspect that my local non league club Tonbridge Angels might lose 10% of its 500 strong weekly attendance if that were the case but at £10 a head that's hardly going to break a club that are made up of amateurs and volunteers enjoying themselves at the weekend while more televised matches might bring a little more FA funding their way.So why can NBC buy overseas rights and televise every match live, yet the host country won't permit within its own border?
Wow, what's the service called?In India, we have a season pass to stream all matches throughout the season for 5 pounds. And this is official.
No way. Infact these matches are now shown on HD channels. And it never happened to me during the Moscow final.I suspect the lower price in India is compensation for the fact that the cable will invariably crap out half way through the match you were staying up til 2AM to watch (Champions League final in Moscow for me) or even when the cable stays on they may decide to switch to the recorded highlights of an India vs England test match from the '80s at half time and forget to ever switch back.
All the BPL matches in India are subscribed officially through Starsports.com. Check it if you can do it by changing the IP address.Wow, what's the service called?
It was meant in light spirits but HD or no HD, the fact is that when I lived in Chennai (2006-8) the cable service did crap out almost as often as the electric and late at night it took far longer for them to realise and to fix it, the whole second half and extra time of the Moscow final was relayed to me by text messages from my Sister in the UK as the cable being down meant we also had no internet access to get the commentary on line. I spent much of my time on the road so caught matches on hotel cable in many other cities as well and drop outs of 5 - 10 minutes were fairly commonplace. The match being cut at half time and replaced with a 25 year old cricket match was United v Liverpool IIRC, the only time we'd actually arranged to go out and watch a match in the bar of the Sheraton, myself and my MD just pissed ourselves laughing when it became apparent that it was not the bar staff who had changed the channel but the TV company.No way. Infact these matches are now shown on HD channels. And it never happened to me during the Moscow final.
I can safely say that's never happened to me in all these years. Besides, no one uses cable anymore I don't think.It was meant in light spirits but HD or no HD, the fact is that when I lived in Chennai (2006-8) the cable service did crap out almost as often as the electric and late at night it took far longer for them to realise and to fix it, the whole second half and extra time of the Moscow final was relayed to me by text messages from my Sister in the UK as the cable being down meant we also had no internet access to get the commentary on line. I spent much of my time on the road so caught matches on hotel cable in many other cities as well and drop outs of 5 - 10 minutes were fairly commonplace. The match being cut at half time and replaced with a 25 year old cricket match was United v Liverpool IIRC, the only time we'd actually arranged to go out and watch a match in the bar of the Sheraton, myself and my MD just pissed ourselves laughing when it became apparent that it was not the bar staff who had changed the channel but the TV company.
Football is cheap to watch in India because it's still a minority interest and the money just isn't there, as interest and salaries grow you'll rapidly see the prices rise to the sort of levels they are in Singapore or Hong Kong although even there it was still only £20-30 per month and you got every single game broadcast live.
Don't worry...we're are not taking it in a bad way anyways. Shebby Singh is no more now. We get actual team legends every weekend and the pre and post match discussions are very good now.Guys, we're getting off topic and I'm not attacking India, only recounting personal experiences in a lighthearted way. I envy what you guys pay to watch every game, I don't envy the shoddy service you get though and definitely don't miss Shebby Singh talking shit at halftime (we used to pray they'd switch to the cricket then).
Just because you don't use cable doesn't mean the rest of India don't, to the best of my knowledge it was around 50/50 cable vs satellite in Chennai and it looks like cable is still thriving there given the continuing court arguments over the multiple missed deadlines for cable switching from analogue to digital in Chennai as only 20% of the 3 Million Chennaites subscribed had the right equipment to receive digital signals while I'd assume none of the other 15 Million with dodgy pirate cable boxes were set up properly either.
Yes they're as long as they pay the full sky sports football package for pubs. Its only illegal if they're shown on the foreign channels.what, on an illegal TV subscription? pubs aren't allowed to show 3pm games either.
Except the full Sky Sports package does not have any 3pm kick offs due to the rule we are discussing here. Any pub showing them in the UK must be using foreign channels and Sky have tried to shut it down with some success although a few pubs have won small victories in the European courts.Yes they're as long as they pay the full sky sports football package for pubs. Its only illegal if they're shown on the foreign channels.
Figs from Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attendance_figures_at_domestic_professional_sports_leaguesWhat's the attendance figures for the lower league German teams though? It's the lower league attendances that is the focus of concern not the PL.
Well, that's fairly conclusive.Figs from Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attendance_figures_at_domestic_professional_sports_leagues
Bundesliga 13/14 13,311,145 (18 teams) av att 43,502*
Premier League 13/14 13,929810 (20 teams) av att 36,659
Championship 13/14 9,138,360 (24 teams) av att 16,555
2, Bundesliga 13/14 5,473,728 (18 teams) av att 17,888
English League 1 12/13 3,568,680 (24 teams) av att 6,465
3. Bundesliga 12/13 2,341,685 (20 teams) av att 6162
Must admit that this figure only grew this big after Germany flooded a lot of the money back into the clubs infrastructure to build bigger stadiums when they hosted the 2006 WC.
EDIT: bolder made it easier to read
Not really, Germany has a population of 81 million, in comparison England has a population of 53 million. As well as football, rugby is a well attended game in England which has to be taken into consideration.Well, that's fairly conclusive.
Are you seriously using that to argue that things should stay as they are?Not really, Germany has a population of 81 million, in comparison England has a population of 53 million. As well as football, rugby is a well attended game in England which has to be taken into consideration.
Did I say it should? However it's not a fair comparison, Germany is as football mad if not more so than England, yet has a far higher population. With the exception of Russia it has the biggest population in Europe, we are talking about roughly 30 million more people live in Germany compared to England, or five times the population of the Republic of Ireland if you like. Of course attendances are going to be higher.Are you seriously using that to argue that things should stay as they are?
In the age where you can view or read anything on your mobile phone on the way home from work (after you've turned your heating up and transfered some money from your bank to your betting account) you are saying that it should remain against the law to show live footage of a Premier League game played at 15:00 on a Saturday until 18:00 the same day. Even though we all know we could find those games live on the internet on "illegal" streams if we wanted to???
I actually think if the internet had not made it so easy to see these games live something would have happened to change the rules LONG before now!
BTW: Germany's larger population is no-where near as sport viewing obsessed as we are in England/UK. They have Football, F1, Handball and a couple of other things but compared to us with our mania for Football, Cricket, Rugby, Horse Racing, Golf, etc they do not compare as armchair viewers … lots more actual participants though per capita!
It is a fair comparison if I was asked to supply the figures as a comparison however (even if you feel they are unbalanced due to population).Did I say it should? However it's not a fair comparison, Germany is as football mad if not more so than England, yet has a far higher population. With the exception of Russia it has the biggest population in Europe, we are talking about roughly 30 million more people live in Germany compared to England, or five times the population of the Republic of Ireland if you like. Of course attendances are going to be higher.
Can see more "worldwide" broadcasters coming into play as long as there is not a separate charge for each broadcaster I'd welcome the competition.I hope come the next rights deal that 3pm kickoffs are shown. That block has now become outdated as people tend to stream online nowadays (The Premier League may as well profit from it)
Also hope bEIN Sports come into the UK market at the expense of BT Sport
BT really are making a push, wouldn't rule them out vs. Sky going forward. Their 'core' business (landline phones) will be gone in 10 years, broadband/fibre and TV is a good route out for themI hope come the next rights deal that 3pm kickoffs are shown. That block has now become outdated as people tend to stream online nowadays (The Premier League may as well profit from it)
Also hope bEIN Sports come into the UK market at the expense of BT Sport
No idea why you wrote all that to be fair.It is a fair comparison if I was asked to supply the figures as a comparison however (even if you feel they are unbalanced due to population).
I still think your "argument" attempted to fall on the anti side of things re. the overall debate rather than the pro as you would have worded your original message differently … while I agree that (blah, blah, blah) I feel these figures are misleading - which is what I reacted to.
BTW: I live in Germany and there is nowhere near the crazy-assed football, or general sport (watching) culture that we have in the UK. They are far too busy out there doing it to watch too much of it. Bayern have a fan-base in every town and village (Dortmund are catching up in a reaction to this) but other than that it is regional and very tribal. Where I live I'm the "crazy English guy who always wears shorts and watches football all the time" (I have been known to get vocal on occasion). My neighbours think that United won everything last season because I was so loud!
When the world cup was on my neighbour (a Monchengladbach season ticket holder) watched most of the games over at ours as, apart from my gf's great "cooking" he was amazed at my diverse knowledge of world football (inc. German footballers) … I do not consider myself anywhere near as immersed or passionate about all-things-football as my English friends back home.
I think that from the 2006 WC onwards there has been an increase in interest in Germany on a club level (which is what we're speaking about) but I still think we are more football obsessed, and definitely more sport obsessed in general, in the UK.
All of course IMHO no offence meant!
That's what my TV station offers.They should televise every game and make it available on one channel or through one subscription (like an online streaming pass for a particular team).
BT are here to stay as shown by them getting exclusive CL rights. There'll still be more competition at the next rights auction for the Premier League and ultimately it'll be at the consumer's cost as we'll end up having to pay more just to view the same amount of content/slightly more.I hope come the next rights deal that 3pm kickoffs are shown. That block has now become outdated as people tend to stream online nowadays (The Premier League may as well profit from it)
Also hope bEIN Sports come into the UK market at the expense of BT Sport
… and I wrote in the first line that I was specifically asked to supply them and I even admitted "…they are unbalanced due to population"No idea why you wrote all that to be fair.
If you can't see that having an extra 30 million people living in England would increase the average attendance at football matches, regardless of the 3pm rule, then we live in different worlds.
BT have a lot more money than Sky to play with as well, they could wipe Sky out of it if they wanted to. Obviously it will be a long time before that happens, even if it does happens, as you say, until then we will all be out even more money with costs only going one way.BT are here to stay as shown by them getting exclusive CL rights. There'll still be more competition at the next rights auction for the Premier League and ultimately it'll be at the consumer's cost as we'll end up having to pay more just to view the same amount of content/slightly more.