New EFL/Sky deal

248 League Two games is quite remarkable, especially considering the Saturday 3pm 'blackout' will be continuing.
Can only imagine this will cause a fair amount of fixtures to be move to Friday's, early and late Saturdays?

Also, i hate to be a sceptic, but are we assuming that this will mean a minimum of 46 Wrexham and the rest for the other 23?

More money for clubs = clubs just spend more do they not ?

We saw what can happen with ITV digital , doubtful it will ever happen with sky though;  but can't see how the clubs are ever going to reach 'sustainable ' level .

And we know know some clubs without a fallback will go s*it or bust with it +more and end up in a mess .

All midweeks, BH, the final game and adjusted KO times live on Sky then as it equates to 20 matchdays roughly. IFollow pretty much finished.

If the money is starting to trickle down from the billionaires then that’s good, but, is it enough? I hope the pot is evenly spread and just doesn’t focus on the likes of Wrexham, Salford and whichever club becomes the ‘de rigueur’ team of the moment. *





* am I going mad or was there a clothes shop called de rigueur in Grimsby years ago 🤷🏻‍♂️

I have a feeling that Wrexham (USA) of League 2 will become the Man Utd of the premier league as far as TV coverage is concerned, am I jealous no not in the slightest. We are Town UTM

Quoted from Mappers

More money for clubs = clubs just spend more do they not ?

We saw what can happen with ITV digital , doubtful it will ever happen with sky though;  but can't see how the clubs are ever going to reach 'sustainable ' level .

And we know know some clubs without a fallback will go s*it or bust with it +more and end up in a mess .

Realistically, yes. It just inflates financial expectations down the pyramid and merely exacerbates the kinds of problems we’ve seen lower league clubs suffer in recent years.

As good as this deal looks on paper, the reality is that a flattening out of club revenues thanks to a hefty TV deal accounting for the bulk of club incomes really plays in to the hands of bank rolled clubs as gate money becomes less relevant. The same reason that Bournemouth have been able to faulty consistently survive as a Premier League club ahead of tens of better supported clubs.

Good news on the surface, but probably better news in reality for the likes of Fleetwood, Forest Green and Salford than it is for this level’s more traditional clubs.

This was voted by the clubs btw.

Good Friday, Easter Monday, Boxing Day, New Years Day, first and last games is 72 of the 248 games to be shown. The original fixture list released last June had us playing 4 midweek games so that's another 48. 120 of the 248 games are already factored in which means an average of 3.5 games each week televised outside of that.

Do clubs get paid for their games being chosen? If so, I have an even bigger problem with the likely selection of Wrexham and Salford more often than not. Hopefully the selection of TV games is fair but it certainly starts to kick iFollow and it's alternatives into the long grass.

Clubs have unanimously approved the deal which is an increase but were they made aware of what others such as DAZN bid or just presented this offer?

Quoted Text

    Will matches still be available to watch via iFollow, or Clubs’ alternative streaming services?

    From the 2024/25 season onward, this new deal with Sky Sports will effectively replace the EFL’s domestic video streaming option provided via iFollow and club streaming services

    Audio services will remain alongside existing audio-visual arrangements for international audiences.

The EFL is effectively abandoning streaming in favour of traditional broadcasting for the time being then. This is probably a good thing in the short term but we'll have to figure out a way to embrace streaming at some point.

Doesn't it mean you just have to use the international streaming and a VPN in order to stream?

Quoted Text

Domestic streaming audio services will remain alongside existing audio-visual arrangements for international audiences via iFollow and club streaming services.  

Quoted Text

The EFL and Sky Sports will continue to work together to innovate, seeking opportunities to improve coverage and take viewers closer to the action, while the EFL will be investing significantly in production infrastructure to enhance the viewing experience. Sky Sports will have a minimum of eight cameras for each game broadcast on existing channels. For matches available to stream, Sky commentary will be provided and a minimum of four cameras will be used at Championship and League One matches, and a minimum of two cameras in League Two.

Bit confusing. Wonder how this affects MarinersTV.

I think this means that selected games by Sky Sports will be produced by Sky with more than 2 or more cameras and Sky commentary (e.g. weekday games). Likely exclusive to Sky's own service.

I'm guessing 'VPN' (international) MarinersTV (iFollow) games on a 3pm Saturday kick-off will be the same situation of Humberside Commentary overlaid over the single camera footage we've had this season. Or will they re-use the camera set-up/feed for the Saturday games too? And what happens for games where Sky select it and it's also on MarinersTV on a weekday (or will that not happen?)

Quoted from BenBB

Bit confusing. Wonder how this affects MarinersTV.

I think this means that selected games by Sky Sports will be produced by Sky with more than 2 or more cameras and Sky commentary (e.g. weekday games).

I'm guessing 'VPN' MarinersTV (iFollow) games on a 3pm Saturday kick-off will be the same situation of Humberside Commentary overlaid over the single camera footage we've had this season.

My thoughts are that it devalues MarinersTV somewhat as any game shown live by Sky probably can't be streamed on MarinersTV. I imagine MarinersTV will be a one camera output still because the resource required to optimally broadcast from two cameras will be unviable.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

My thoughts are that it devalues MarinersTV somewhat as any game shown live by Sky probably can't be streamed on MarinersTV. I imagine MarinersTV will be a one camera output still because the resource required to optimally broadcast from two cameras will be unviable.

The sentence "Domestic streaming audio services will remain alongside existing audio-visual arrangements for international audiences via iFollow and club streaming services." is rather ambiguous.

Will wait to see what the club say.

Was happy with my online season pass this season which gave you all the league games & the pizza trophy for a very reasonable fee.

[tweet]1652628865930629120[/tweet]

Think this Luton tweet seems to clarify it somewhat.

If you live in the UK then you can only watch on Sky Sports if it's chosen, or if a local broadcaster is broadcasting it to your country then you can only watch it there.

Otherwise it's available on iFollow internationally/VPN.

Question is what the iFollow coverage will be. Is it iFollow as-is right now (1 camera with Humberside) or the Sky coverage rebroadcast?

Quoted from prestonmariner

248 League Two games is quite remarkable, especially considering the Saturday 3pm 'blackout' will be continuing.
Can only imagine this will cause a fair amount of fixtures to be move to Friday's, early and late Saturdays?

Also, i hate to be a sceptic, but are we assuming that this will mean a minimum of 46 Wrexham and the rest for the other 23?

Salford will get the rest

So each club should be on 20ish times a season.
248 games, 24 clubs, 10 games each, but each game has two teams, so that is doubled to 20  nearly half a season

Hopefully the knock on effect is not diluted attendances ,especially for midweek games , because lets face it this will effectively make every game free if one chooses with streaming . You can argue it is now with Ifollow but that's a less mainstream option so not always easy to locate .

With mainstream TV the free streams per game option will be limitless , so if it is 20 games per team that's 20 free games which is great for armchair fans , but the key will be how many 'in the ground fans ' this takes away , whether the financial reward compensates for this and if it effects matchday atmosphere.

You would hope people on the whole still want to attend for the 'at game' experience ,but if as it looks kick off times are faffed around with it might mean more are unable to attend because of other commitments .

Does anyone know how much we get from sky currently ?

Quoted from WOZOFGRIMSBY

If the money is starting to trickle down from the billionaires then that’s good, but, is it enough? I hope the pot is evenly spread and just doesn’t focus on the likes of Wrexham, Salford and whichever club becomes the ‘de rigueur’ team of the moment. *





* am I going mad or was there a clothes shop called de rigueur in Grimsby years ago 🤷🏻‍♂️

Yeah, de rigueur was Miffys shop, near town Hall.

We certainly picked a good time to get promoted back to the EFL. Imagine if we were still down there now, with our parachute payments ending this season, and now the league clubs pulling further away.

So does this mean we have to subscribe to Sky Sports to watch these games?

Well, you could always turn to pirate sites...

Quoted from SteffiMariner

Well, you could always turn to pirate sites...

I'd rather not do that, I have watched every match this season on Mariners TV, will that still be an option once Sky start broadcasting EFL games?

Terrible deal only 25% increase on previous deal for League 1 and 2 clubs which when considering runs through to 2029 won’t even cover inflation since last deal started for which Sky get 10 times more league 2 games and disruption that brings to kick off times etc.45% of League 2 games will be televised .

Quoted from HerveJosse

Terrible deal only 25% increase on previous deal for League 1 and 2 clubs which when considering runs through to 2029 won’t even cover inflation since last deal started for which Sky get 10 times more league 2 games and disruption that brings to kick off times etc.45% of League 2 games will be televised .

It does not not sound great does it its something like 125k extra per season I think ? They have painted the narative that it's some sort of amazing deal but does not sound it ; but then clubs voted for it so who knows .

I've never paid for sky and never will. I pay a marinerstv subscription but use a proxy app on my TV, PC and phone so this doesn't effect me.
I do have a couple of spare logins going for cheap if anyone is interested (I accept I'll be getting plenty of red Xs but times are hard and for £40 for 12 months it helps massively financially instead of £50+ a month for sky TV etc)

Not happy at all. Was looking forward to watching every game live on streaming and paying a good price (aka matchday prices) to do so.
Missed opportunity to grow the market without affecting match day attendances.
5 years is a long time.

Quoted from lukeo

I've never paid for sky and never will. I pay a marinerstv subscription but use a proxy app on my TV, PC and phone so this doesn't effect me.
I do have a couple of spare logins going for cheap if anyone is interested (I accept I'll be getting plenty of red Xs but times are hard and for £40 for 12 months it helps massively financially instead of £50+ a month for sky TV etc)

What’s your reason for not paying for sky? I understand the financial impact but, is there another reason? Who’s your internet with? Do you disagree having to pay for that? And, isn’t it slightly hypocritical that you are trying to resell ‘your’ log in and therefore depriving the club of money from potential subscribers?

I work for a subsidiary of sky and, for me at least, I don’t mind paying for the service (albeit through Virgin). I get to watch programmes when/where I want. Plus, my kids and mrs can watch what they want to.

Quoted from WOZOFGRIMSBY

What’s your reason for not paying for sky? I understand the financial impact but, is there another reason? Who’s your internet with? Do you disagree having to pay for that? And, isn’t it slightly hypocritical that you are trying to resell ‘your’ log in and therefore depriving the club of money from potential subscribers?

I work for a subsidiary of sky and, for me at least, I don’t mind paying for the service (albeit through Virgin). I get to watch programmes when/where I want. Plus, my kids and mrs can watch what they want to.

It's not really an issue is it if you want/can pay for it then it's there and you get relatively add free and gauranteed glitch free coverage .

If you choose not to then it's free but the trade off is possible lag , glitches and frustration from time to time .


Just personal choice much like in the 90's with 'chipped' games you sometimes got a dodgy one but for the volume you could get you would take it . Did buy ISS soccer un chipped though as that was my regular .

I do get your first paragraph seems a contradiction ,you would have thought he would be giving it out for free -all Town are we not ?

The Mrs doesn't watch TV and I'm not that arsed, if I didn't have the app I wouldn't watch it. Millions do it.

Quoted from lukeo

The Mrs doesn't watch TV and I'm not that arsed, if I didn't have the app I wouldn't watch it. Millions do it.

Am not saying that ‘millions’ don’t do it. What am saying is I don’t get the reasoning behind what you were saying. It all seemed rather contradictory. I bit like saying there’s a woman round the corner that does home teaching. It’s not as good but you don’t have to pay for school uniform so you save yourself a few quid, but I’ll tell you what, if you want to go there, you can borrow the kids clothes for a few quid

Maybe I explained it poorly. My apologise. utm

Quoted from coddy60

Yeah, de rigueur was Miffys shop, near town Hall.

I thought De Rigueur was Holmesy's initial shop in the High Street, Cleethorpes before he switched over to Milan ?

It's going to make it harder for fans to watch games with lots of lunchtime kickoffs. As usual little thought has been given to the paying spectator. Away crowds are likely to drop and season ticket holders facing long journeys will have to make a decision. Likely to have an impact on games at BP. 8 camera angles will be much better than what we can now watch online. But without an atmosphere the games are not as enjoyable. Much better at BP with a big vocal away following.

Quoted from GrimRob

It's going to make it harder for fans to watch games with lots of lunchtime kickoffs. As usual little thought has been given to the paying spectator. Away crowds are likely to drop and season ticket holders facing long journeys will have to make a decision. Likely to have an impact on games at BP. 8 camera angles will be much better than what we can now watch online. But without an atmosphere the games are not as enjoyable. Much better at BP with a big vocal away following.

It does worry me that we are moving towards a more and more digital world with little thought for in person entertainment  in general - ironically our custodian was ahead of our time in that field so it might be something that if he has input can be beneficial to us .

I’ve got both , I pay for sky and I’ve got a dodgy firestick  purely for BT Sport games because their add on is a rip off

Quoted from coddy60

Yeah, de rigueur was Miffys shop, near town Hall.

Thought so, next to a knitting shop at the entrance to top town market.

Absolutely nothing could replace watching football live, in the flesh.

You can’t understand football through a TV.

It’s even better at our level because you’re even closer to the action.

The thrill of a new ground. That parking ticket. Watching the players instead of what the camera is showing you. The sounds. The smells. The threat of violence - both externally and internally. Sue from Bradford - our bodies intertwined like Bradford and Mansfield’s play-off hopes. Those Man Utd ‘fans’ at Salford who called Hunt a c*nt just as he swung a corner kick against the crossbar for Richardson to gobble up the rebound. Richo’s butt cheek vs Burton - the sound of Callaway on Titleist. Wearne channelling his inner Fury vs Odoh. Sly ear cuppage. Kieran Green in faux human form - a slight gash on his arm revealing wires, PCBs and the carburettor from a Massey-Ferguson. Horse shït on Stone Island. Train strikes. Splashback on poorly calibrated urinals. Embarrassing chino stains. Wave to JT. Has Crofty got a semi? Who’s got the Deep Heat. Waterfall’s jaw line. Clifton throwing out the megs, crazy penalty claims and Liam Emmerson jumping the shark.

Quoted from Knut Anders Fosters Voles

Absolutely nothing could replace watching football live, in the flesh.

You can’t understand football through a TV.

It’s even better at our level because you’re even closer to the action.

The thrill of a new ground. That parking ticket. Watching the players instead of what the camera is showing you. The sounds. The smells. The threat of violence - both externally and internally. Sue from Bradford - our bodies intertwined like Bradford and Mansfield’s play-off hopes. Those Man Utd ‘fans’ at Salford who called Hunt a c*nt just as he swung a corner kick against the crossbar for Richardson to gobble up the rebound. Richo’s butt cheek vs Burton - the sound of Callaway on Titleist. Wearne channelling his inner Fury vs Odoh. Sly ear cuppage. Kieran Green in faux human form - a slight gash on his arm revealing wires, PCBs and the carburettor from a Massey-Ferguson. Horse shït on Stone Island. Train strikes. Splashback on poorly calibrated urinals. Embarrassing chino stains. Wave to JT. Has Crofty got a semi? Who’s got the Deep Heat. Waterfall’s jaw line. Clifton throwing out the megs, crazy penalty claims and Liam Emmerson jumping the shark.

Wait a minute - DID Crofty have a semi?!

Quoted from Heisenberg

Wait a minute - DID Crofty have a semi?!

Double fronted

It’s on Crofty’s Facebook page. Tried to tag him but he beat me to it.

Quoted from GrimRob

It's going to make it harder for fans to watch games with lots of lunchtime kickoffs. As usual little thought has been given to the paying spectator. Away crowds are likely to drop and season ticket holders facing long journeys will have to make a decision. Likely to have an impact on games at BP. 8 camera angles will be much better than what we can now watch online. But without an atmosphere the games are not as enjoyable. Much better at BP with a big vocal away following.

If we want to be glass half full, it may make the new STHs who don't show up, not buy them for next season and watch from home instead. Those seats are then bought by fans who want to be there, creating a better atmosphere for the team to feed off.

This could actually solve the current empty STH seat issue as we continue to suffer paralysis over a new ground

[b][/b]

Quoted from Yarborough Vaults

If we want to be glass half full, it may make the new STHs who don't show up, not buy them for next season and watch from home instead. Those seats are then bought by fans who want to be there, creating a better atmosphere for the team to feed off.

This could actually solve the current empty STH seat issue as we continue to suffer paralysis over a new ground

When will you understand we can’t afford a new ground?

As I assume that as you get more money for the more times you’re on TV this feels like it makes an even bigger division within a division.

It would sit better with me if the revenue was split evenly but I guess it never works that way.

All I know is Wrexham will be the first game shown on the opening day.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

As I assume that as you get more money for the more times you’re on TV this feels like it makes an even bigger division within a division.

It would sit better with me if the revenue was split evenly but I guess it never works that way.

All I know is Wrexham will be the first game shown on the opening day.

All teams are shown on the opening and final day. You would imagine one game (Wrexham) will be on TV with the others behind the red button or online. The TV game will probably get more money than those behind the red button or online.

Not really sure how excited I can get over this, the extra money is great but every club in the league gets exactly the same benefit. As a result it’s only likely to inflate wages/transfer fees once again for everybody, and now it’s more difficult to get to a few more games instead.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

All teams are shown on the opening and final day. You would imagine one game (Wrexham) will be on TV with the others behind the red button or online. The TV game will probably get more money than those behind the red button or online.

Sounds like that’s going to be the way.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

[b][/b]

When will you understand we can’t afford a new ground?

Actually, we can't afford not to have one

Quoted from Yarborough Vaults

If we want to be glass half full, it may make the new STHs who don't show up, not buy them for next season and watch from home instead. Those seats are then bought by fans who want to be there, creating a better atmosphere for the team to feed off.

This could actually solve the current empty STH seat issue as we continue to suffer paralysis over a new ground

You could argue the more and more % income that gets taken away from Matchday revenue could push the possibility of a new ground away further than ever , it seems like it will go that way and attendances will become more and more irrelevant .

This is until 2028 ,how long until every game is streamed even 3pm kick offs  ? i don't think it's beyond the realms that it could be once this deal finishes

Quoted from Mappers

You could argue the more and more % income that gets taken away from Matchday revenue could push the possibility of a new ground away further than ever , it seems like it will go that way and attendances will become more and more irrelevant .

This is until 2028 ,how long until every game is streamed even 3pm kick offs  ? i don't think it's beyond the realms that it could be once this deal finishes

It's a good point. The TV deal is great for exiles though, and there will always be excuses why a new ground is impossible.

Attendances are already financially irrelevant at Premier League clubs but vital to the experience of those watching at home. Maybe TV cash could lead to ticket price cuts to make sure seats are filled for the cameras.

It’s not more revenue for League 2 clubs barely covers inflation over the time periods of the the previous deal to the new deal period 2024-2029. Think beyond the press release.

Quoted from HerveJosse

It’s not more revenue for League 2 clubs barely covers inflation over the time periods of the the previous deal to the new deal period 2024-2029. Think beyond the press release.

That's what I think in terms of this deal , it seems like the trade off of income gained versus income lost will be detrimental to clubs lower down , but then why did they vote it through ?

Quoted from Yarborough Vaults

Actually, we can't afford not to have one

Long term nobody disagrees with you but at the moment due to cost it can’t be the priority some believe it should be.

Quoted from Yarborough Vaults

It's a good point. The TV deal is great for exiles though, and there will always be excuses why a new ground is impossible.

Attendances are already financially irrelevant at Premier League clubs but vital to the experience of those watching at home. Maybe TV cash could lead to ticket price cuts to make sure seats are filled for the cameras.

Funding isn't an excuse, it's a very valid reason. That ship has long sailed and blame isn't at the door of 1878 for that.

I'm yet to see a viable solution to funding a stadium, so we have to make do with what we have.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Long term nobody disagrees with you but at the moment due to cost it can’t be the priority some believe it should be.

I know ours would be totally different proposal but read the other day that Everton are seeking an extra £250 Million funding just to FINISH off their new stadium !!!

Quoted from moosey_club

I know ours would be totally different proposal but read the other day that Everton are seeking an extra £250 Million funding just to FINISH off their new stadium !!!

Wow, I’m sure it’s harder to get that kind of money when you’re a championship club.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Wow, I’m sure it’s harder to get that kind of money when you’re a championship club.

I imagine the main contractors forgot to add in a scally contingency for missing materials when originally tendering. 😆

If only we could bring Goodison Park over on a couple of pallet trucks once they've got the new one done

Quoted from Mappers

That's what I think in terms of this deal , it seems like the trade off of income gained versus income lost will be detrimental to clubs lower down , but then why did they vote it through ?

Championship clubs have a veto on all EFLVoting matters they are getting a bigger percentage increase then a league 1  and 2 . I imagine the conversation went something like nobody wants to watch League 2 football unless they support the club so be grateful for what you get.

Quoted from HerveJosse

Championship clubs have a veto on all EFLVoting matters they are getting a bigger percentage increase then a league 1  and 2 . I imagine the conversation went something like nobody wants to watch League 2 football unless they support the club so be grateful for what you get.

But they’re not wrong really are they? Aside from fat yanks in Arkansas and a few not real football fans that saw a documentary about Salford, nobody does want to watch league 2 football.

You kgint pick the odd football nerd but but in truth, the championship clubs aren’t wrong.

Someone mentioned about cheaper ticket prices to fill grounds…nice idea but won’t happen. Premier attendances are some of the most consistent in Europe and are full every week so no worry there, although in Spain they do have to fill the stands visible to the camera.

I know it’s cool for lower league fans to hate the premier league etc but whatever anyones opinion, they’ve built a huge brand that sees sellouts even for non entity games…

If nobody wants to watch lower league football why have BT Sport been televising National League football for the last 10 years? Sorry but I don't buy the argument that nobody would bother watching it - it's clearly viable otherwise BT wouldn't be sending a presenter, two pundits, commentators and multiple camera operators off to Woking / Chesterfield / Solihull etc practically every week.

Quoted from aldi_01

But they’re not wrong really are they? Aside from fat yanks in Arkansas and a few not real football fans that saw a documentary about Salford, nobody does want to watch league 2 football.

You kgint pick the odd football nerd but but in truth, the championship clubs aren’t wrong.

Someone mentioned about cheaper ticket prices to fill grounds…nice idea but won’t happen. Premier attendances are some of the most consistent in Europe and are full every week so no worry there, although in Spain they do have to fill the stands visible to the camera.

I know it’s cool for lower league fans to hate the premier league etc but whatever anyones opinion, they’ve built a huge brand that sees sellouts even for non entity games…

I must be a nerd then ,i have preferred lower league and non league for about 10 years - been to a good few Premiership games as a neutral and it just does not do it for me .

I honestly had a better time at Weymouth than i than I have had at any of those souless glory seeking places , i just enjoy that it's more real i think .

Wouldn't discount viewing figures from Asia either because of gambling.

Quoted from Chrisblor

If nobody wants to watch lower league football why have BT Sport been televising National League football for the last 10 years? Sorry but I don't buy the argument that nobody would bother watching it - it's clearly viable otherwise BT wouldn't be sending a presenter, two pundits, commentators and multiple camera operators off to Woking / Chesterfield / Solihull etc practically every week.

Because they get the whole package including fees to clubs for games covered for peanuts less then. £0.5m a season compared to the £900m to be paid  by Sky for EFL. Presumambly because that is all it’s worth.
With BT sports now owned by WarnerBrothers/ Duscovery would be suprised if they continue coverage when the current deal expires . The National League is putting together it’s own streaming platform which is where all football will end up eventually

Quoted from Chrisblor

If nobody wants to watch lower league football why have BT Sport been televising National League football for the last 10 years? Sorry but I don't buy the argument that nobody would bother watching it - it's clearly viable otherwise BT wouldn't be sending a presenter, two pundits, commentators and multiple camera operators off to Woking / Chesterfield / Solihull etc practically every week.

It’s costs them mere pennies to buy the rights to conference football. They just use it as a marketing platform, didn’t we work out the GTFC essentially lost money by having a game moved last year? You get about £6.50 and some bottles of pop to be on the telly if you’re down there.

The cost is showing conference football is no doubt completely offset against the cash made from their investment in exclusive champions league rights alone…

No doubt people enjoy lower league football and I watch as much of that as anything else but let’s not kid ourselves that TV people see big numbers…I’d be interested to see the viewing figures for our playoff final, probably similar to our semi final I’d imagine but even with yanks and random bods in the far east betting on it, I can’t imagine it was 6 figures, if it was I’d be amazed if it’s anymore than 300k…

It’s great that lower league does get shown on TV but the money that cascades down isn’t millions and unlike the top two divisions that can make big use of tv money, I don’t think it’ll be adding too much to our kitty…

Quoted from aldi_01

It’s costs them mere pennies to buy the rights to conference football. They just use it as a marketing platform, didn’t we work out the GTFC essentially lost money by having a game moved last year? You get about £6.50 and some bottles of pop to be on the telly if you’re down there.

The cost is showing conference football is no doubt completely offset against the cash made from their investment in exclusive champions league rights alone…

No doubt people enjoy lower league football and I watch as much of that as anything else but let’s not kid ourselves that TV people see big numbers…I’d be interested to see the viewing figures for our playoff final, probably similar to our semi final I’d imagine but even with yanks and random bods in the far east betting on it, I can’t imagine it was 6 figures, if it was I’d be amazed if it’s anymore than 300k…

It’s great that lower league does get shown on TV but the money that cascades down isn’t millions and unlike the top two divisions that can make big use of tv money, I don’t think it’ll be adding too much to our kitty…

300k is 6 figures. But I'd be amazed if it was even that high without Wrexham

Quoted from pen penfras

300k is 6 figures. But I'd be amazed if it was even that high without Wrexham

Exactly. That’s kinda my point, even with the media machine behind Reynolds FC you’d be hard pushed to hit 300k.

We all love our clubs and we all love lower league football but we need to take off the rose tinted goggles when looking at stuff like this.

Quoted from GrimRob

It's going to make it harder for fans to watch games with lots of lunchtime kickoffs. As usual little thought has been given to the paying spectator. Away crowds are likely to drop and season ticket holders facing long journeys will have to make a decision. Likely to have an impact on games at BP. 8 camera angles will be much better than what we can now watch online. But without an atmosphere the games are not as enjoyable. Much better at BP with a big vocal away following.

How many big vocal away followings do we get? not many.

Quoted from The Yard Dog

How many big vocal away followings do we get? not many.

Stockport, Bradford and Hartlepool are the ones that come to mind this season. The others I thought may have had decent followings , Donny and Swindon, I can’t remember so couldn’t have been that good

Quoted from WOZOFGRIMSBY

Stockport, Bradford and Hartlepool are the ones that come to mind this season. The others I thought may have had decent followings , Donny and Swindon, I can’t remember so couldn’t have been that good

Donny sold out, but Swindon nowhere near.

Here’s a theoretical League 2 calendar for 2024/25 season and how many live games might be on Sky for each round…

Sat 3 Aug - 12
Sat 10 Aug - 1+
Sat 17 Aug - 1+
Tue 20 Aug - 12
Sat 24 Aug - 1+
Sat 31 Aug - 1+
Sat 7 Sep - 12 (International)
Sat 14 Sep - 1+
Tue 17 Sep - 12
Sat 21 Sep - 1+
Sat 28 Sep - 1+
Sat 5 Oct - 1+
Sat 12 Oct - 12 (International)
Sat 19 Oct - 1+
Tue 22 Oct - 12
Sat 26 Oct - 1+
Sat 2 Nov - 1+
Sat 16 Nov - 12 (International)
Sat 23 Nov - 1+
Sat 7 Dec - 1+
Sat 14 Dec - 1+
Sat 21 Dec - 1+
Thu 26 Dec - 12
Sun 29 Dec - 12
Wed 1 Jan - 12
Sat 4 Jan - 3+ (FAC 3)
Sat 11 Jan - 1+
Sat 18 Jan - 1+
Sat 25 Jan - 3+ (FAC 4)
Sat 1 Feb - 1+
Sat 8 Feb - 1+
Tue 11 Feb - 12
Sat 15 Feb - 1+
Sat 22 Feb - 1+
Sat 1 Mar - 1+
Sat 8 Mar - 1+
Sat 15 Mar - 2+ (FAC QF)
Tue 18 Mar - 12
Sat 22 Mar - 1+
Sat 29 Mar - 12 (International)
Sat 5 Apr - 1+
Sat 12 Apr - 2+ (FAC SF)
Fri 18 Apr - 12
Mon 21 Apr - 12
Sat 26 Apr - 1+
Sat 3 May - 12
Play-offs - 5

This adds up to at least 233 games (including the 5 play-off matches).

So only 15 or 20 (if you count the play-off games in the 24 off the quoted minimum live games from League 2. And most of them could come from Saturday 3PM games that are postponed and rearranged for midweek slots.

EFL fans need to get used to 12:30 kick-offs. We’re all going to be getting 3 or 4 of them a season. And even more if you’re in the Championship.

And then you don’t know how the games will be spread on international weekends. You would expect Sky will want games Saturday & Sunday at 12:30 & 15:00 with the international matches generally having a kick-off time of either 17:00 or 19:45.

You can’t help but wonder whether it would make more sense to just scrap the 14:45-17:15 blackout to avoid all the 12:30 kick-offs and just show all 552 matches in all 3 divisions.

Quoted from Spurn boy

I have a feeling that Wrexham (USA) of League 2 will become the Man Utd of the premier league as far as TV coverage is concerned, am I jealous no not in the slightest. We are Town UTM

Saturday 12:30 kick-off times will be no use to them. That’s 4:30AM in LA.

I think the clubs wanted/voted for this deal for a few reasons - £125k extra a year is probably more than ifollow brings in currently, plus it's guaranteed you don't have to hope x amount of fans will buy a pass to watch certain games. You can make plans with guaranteed income.

The bigger picture is the amount of games on tv - my brother is one of these digital media guru's and he tried to explain it to me in an idiot-friendly manner as : 'most companies see value for their money in the amount of seconds their logo appears in the media, and the more seconds you can guarantee to the largest audience possible allows you to charge a higher price for the advertising space'  so basically when teams renew their shirt sponsors from now on they should get more money for the deal as a knock-on consequence

Quoted from OddShapedBalls

I think the clubs wanted/voted for this deal for a few reasons - £125k extra a year is probably more than ifollow brings in currently, plus it's guaranteed you don't have to hope x amount of fans will buy a pass to watch certain games. You can make plans with guaranteed income.

The bigger picture is the amount of games on tv - my brother is one of these digital media guru's and he tried to explain it to me in an idiot-friendly manner as : 'most companies see value for their money in the amount of seconds their logo appears in the media, and the more seconds you can guarantee to the largest audience possible allows you to charge a higher price for the advertising space'  so basically when teams renew their shirt sponsors from now on they should get more money for the deal as a knock-on consequence

Very cr@p guesstimate :

£125000 / 23 games = £5434

£5434 / £20 (approx price of ticket ) = 272

So judging by that , the ‘x’ amount of fans buying a pass or not going to the game is just under 300. Then of course you have to factor in the commercial side and how much each person would potentially be spending at the ground.

For me though, nothing beats spending an afternoon with your mates. Supping a couple of pints and berating the dodgy linesman for 90 minutes.

Quoted from WOZOFGRIMSBY

Very cr@p guesstimate :

£125000 / 23 games = £5434

£5434 / £20 (approx price of ticket ) = 272

So judging by that , the ‘x’ amount of fans buying a pass or not going to the game is just under 300. Then of course you have to factor in the commercial side and how much each person would potentially be spending at the ground.

For me though, nothing beats spending an afternoon with your mates. Supping a couple of pints and berating the dodgy linesman for 90 minutes.

I don't really follow your argument, we're talking about what ifollow currently brings in not matchday attendance??? - a standalone matchday pass being £10 at most with no opportunity to sell scotch eggs to the people buying one so your numbers should be 543.4 people buying full cost matchday passes every game - not every game is available to purchase etc so actually for Ifollow to compete you then need even more online purchases, As ifollow /marines tv whatever you want to call it is also a hosted service I assume we pay for it and don't see all of that £10 per ticket anyway, and then of course there will be a transaction fee on the payments made so even less of the £10 reaches the club........  Largely, when you use mariners tv it's because you can't get to the game not because you'd rather watch an awful 1 camera angle showpiece. If you want an extra 272 fans lets get the osmond opened up but that's a separate issue.  You're also discounting the value of increased advertising and the fact that the £125k is guaranteed not speculative and affected by how well the team are doing....