Fans will fight against EFL’s plan to end the 3pm Saturday blackout

Outraged supporters say they will fight the Football League’s plans to end the 3 p.m. football blackout, fearing it will “kill football as we know it”.

The EFL is considering lifting the blackout rule, which prohibits football matches from broadcasting at 3 p.m. on Saturdays, as part of upcoming negotiations over their broadcasting rights.

There are serious concerns that overturning the law will affect footfall further down the league at clubs that rely much more on ticket sales for their livelihood.

“We have to fight this with everything we have, it will destroy football as we know it,” a member of Walsall Supporter’s Trust told The Mail on Sunday.

Trust Secretary Ray Dale added: “However, I have a feeling this will become a fait accompli. The great danger is that fewer people go to matches, which reduces both the atmosphere and the income.’

It is clear that EFL chiefs would only commit to such a momentous move if the broadcast package were hugely lucrative for the affected clubs. The hope is to attract streaming services such as Amazon Prime and Netflix to buy rights to show live matches from the 2024-25 season.

An invitation to bid for live TV rights in the EFL will be distributed to interested parties

A League One club chief told The Mail on Sunday that there is a sense of caution at the prospect of opening Pandora’s Box, but also a fear of falling behind and turning the Football League into the defunct Blockbusters.

“Once you’ve opened the door to this, you can’t close it,” a League One club chief told The Mail on Sunday. “But we have to be careful we’re not dinosaurs, sitting there, stuck in our ways, saying, you know, it’s the English game. This is how it’s always been. This is how it will always be. That’s a surefire way to see yourself slowly fading into oblivion. We don’t want to be the idiots who missed the opportunity, but that doesn’t mean we’re opening the floodgates either.’

Sportsmail revealed this week that Sky Sports, the EFL’s current broadcaster, opposes lifting the blackout, which has been in place since the 1960s, of their close association with the Premier League, as well as the potential impact on ratings. for Soccer Saturday.

If a deal is made, all matches in England’s bottom three professional leagues will be shown

“Football is more than a TV show,” Steve Freestone, secretary of the Lincoln City Red Imps Community Trust, told The Mail on Sunday. “It is a cultural and social event that always takes place on Saturdays at 3 p.m. The priority should always be with the fans who go to the game and not with those who are at home.’

EFL clubs are breaking the blackout for matches on Saturday at 3 p.m. during the World Cup, which the bosses see as a good test for future decisions.

Reuben Watt, chairman of the Crawley Town Supporters Alliance, told The Mail on Sunday: “If fans could always see their team on TV, those lower in the football pyramid would be sorely missed. There is a good chance that we will be playing at the same time as other Premier League teams and so we could lose fans who would rather watch them than us.”

The hope is to attract streaming services such as Amazon Prime and Netflix to buy rights to show live matches from the 2024-25 season

However, not all supporters are against the move. “I am in favor of ending the blackout at 3 p.m. if conditions are acceptable,” said Plymouth Argyle Fans’ Trust Chair Virginia Pike. “We have a lot of exiles all over the country who can’t travel to many home games and they would go to the nearest away game anyway for the live experience.”

Kevin Miles, the chief executive of the Football Supporters’ Association, said the EFL must exercise “extreme caution” before ending the blackout.

“The lifting of the blackout would have dramatic consequences for the pyramid, much unforeseen, which is why FSA members up and down the pyramid have strongly opposed any relaxation of this protection.”