Following the latest round of televised EFL fixtures being announced by Sky Sports, the discussion has arisen once more whether there is any point to the 3pm blackout with games so easily accessible.
With illegal streaming on firesticks becoming the new norm from fans within the game meaning they are still watching the 3pm kickoffs with ease.
After the introduction of Sky Sports+ at the start of the 2024/25 season, it caused uproar across several clubs in the Championship with travelling nightmares.
Often the Sky schedule has been a Friday night game, three games at 12.30pm and the odd games on Sunday and Monday meant travelling fans have struggled to get to and from the grounds.
The 3pm blackout prevents live football being shown in England between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturday afternoons.
This rule was introduced in the 1960’s to be encourage fans of bigger clubs to go and watch their smaller, local clubs – so their in-person viewing figures don’t drop.
However, with games being so accessible now, albeit illegally a lot of the time, many PL and EFL fans are suggesting that the blackout is removed instead of moving games to ridiculous kick-off times.
This is what is up for debate depending on who you ask.
Premier League and Championship fans would say no – they are fed up of having game after game moved by TV broadcasters just to suit them with no thought for the fans who travel to games.
If the top two flights had their games shown live at 3pm on a Saturday, it would mean the regular attending fans can go, with no early kick-off and those who don’t go can stay at home freely to watch.
However, those who support a lower league team or non-league may say that the blackout is key to their survival as a football club.
A BBC article in 2023 stated that non-league clubs within a close radius of a big Premier League attracts more fans when they don’t play or are away from home and this can differ from 200 to 700.
If fans are given the choice between watching their team at 3pm on the TV and going to a non-league game – the majority are going to pick tuning into the live TV game, especially on a cold wintery day.
Well – the current contract between Sky Sports and the PL/EFL is set to expire in the summer of 2029, meaning it is almost impossible for the blackout to be removed until then due to the agreement.
There is a somewhat decent chance that the blackout could be removed when the new contract is agreed between broadcasters and the clubs in the top four tiers of football.
If this were to happen, it would mean that clubs would get a lot more money from the broadcasters as almost every game would be watchable in England compared to under half of games now in the Championship.
I have been able to get some feedback from lower-league EFL fans as well as some non-league fans on whether the 3pm blackout should remain or be abolished.
Lewis, a Rotherham United fan, said: “The 3pm blackout does mean that more fans are coming to the stadium to watch the games for a Saturday 3pm kick-off.
“Whereas the 7.45pm midweek games and 12.30pm Saturday kick-offs have shown significantly reduced attendances with the game being shown on Sky.
“The lack of support in these games have not helped the on-field issues where the club are battling relegation and there are too many empty seats at home for the televised games.”
However, Brenden, a Dartford fan, said: “With the 3pm blackout rule in place, the club gets a sustainable amount of fans most weeks as the club is big enough with a big enough fanbase.
“Despite this, if Charlton are playing at the same time – the amount of fans does drop, especially the younger fans who create the atmosphere who are supporting their main club instead and dropping the 3pm blackout may support that even more for away games too.“
If the 3pm blackout is in place to protect lower-league and non-league clubs attendances – you have to ask yourself, why is every midweek game shown live on Sky then?
Non-league clubs play in the week, just the same as EFL teams do, at the same time and they don’t consider the lower clubs then when there is no blackout that they are forced to follow.
If there was no rule preventing broadcasters showing games at 3pm on a Saturday, in a flash, they would ignore and forget the whole non-league pyramid to prioritise PL and EFL being shown every week.
