Next Season- New EFL Sky Sports TV deal

Let's be positive and imagine we're still in L2 next season...

I've been having a look at the details of the new EFL domestic TV deal with Sky Sports. From a League Two point of view the headline detail was that "at least 248 League Two regular season matches would be broadcast live by Sky Sports". But what does it actually mean for Grimsby Town fans?

In simplistic terms Sky Sports have bought the domestic iFollow service which will cease to exist at the end of this season.

Firstly, an explainer where the figure of 248 live games come from. The TV deal assumes there will be 32 standard weekend fixtures (i.e. weekends with the 3PM Saturday black-out in place). On those 32 fixture dates there will be a combined 5 League One & League Two fixtures broadcast by Sky Sports requiring those matches to be moved from 3PM Saturday split equally between the two divisions (the Atletic think there will be 2 each from L1 & L2 at Lunchtime on Saturday (12:30?) and a further game on the Sunday. So an average of 2.5 matches for each division over 32 standard weekends means there will be 80 League Two fixtures broadcast over those weekends (32 weekends x 2.5 live games). The other 14 fixture dates (assumed by the contract to be 4 international weekends, 6 midweeks and 4 bank holidays) will see all matches broadcast live by Sky Sports. 14 matchdays multiplied by 12 game = 168 League Two fixtures broadcast over those 14 rounds of fixtures.

Sky Sports will announce their full list of live games requiring a kick-off change before the season begins up to the weekend of the 3rd Round of the FA Cup. So all EFL fans should know which games have been moved for TV until the first week in January when the league fixtures are released (in June).

The calendar for next season doesn't have 32 standard weekend fixture dates for L1 & L2 though. The weekend between Christmas & New Year will see all fixtures in the EFL take place on the Sunday (29th December) to allow 2 rest days after the Boxing Day games & 2 rest days before the New Years' Day games. So all 12 L2 fixtures on that day will be broadcast live on Sky Sports. And the opening and final standard weekend of the season will both see all matches moved away from 3PM Saturday for simultaneous broadcast on Sky Sports.

So next season we already know Grimsby Town will be live on Sky Sports an absolute minimum of 17 times (4 international weekends, 6 midweeks, 4 bank holidays, the opening weekend, Sunday 29th December & the final day of the season).

The remaining 29 "Saturday fixtures" will have an average of 2.5 L1 & L2 games each per weekend live on Sky Sports and moved from 3PM Saturday. The average L1 & L2 club can therefore expect to have an average of 6 games moved from Saturday 3PM and brodcast on Sky Sports.

And that figure is before you take into consideration of the international weekends. Every match will be broadcast. It's hard to believe Sky Sports will just broadcast them all at 3PM on the Saturday. With international football generally 5PM and later it's not unreasonable to expect Sky Sports will want EFL games at 12:30 & 15:00 on both Saturday & Sunday. It's also not unreasonable to deduce that probably half of the games will be moved from 3PM Saturday to give Sky Sports a good spread of games over the weekend.

So in terms of live games on Sky Sports next season we're looking at 15 definite (non black-out Saturday dates) + 6 likely (games chosen on standard Saturday) + 3 definite (Opening weekend, Sunday 29th December & final day of the season) = 24 games pretty much guaranteed to be live on Sky Sports.

But... there will be more. Any Saturday 3PM game which is cancelled for any reason (weather, FA Cup, EFL Trophy Final...) will be rearranged and will automatically be broadcast live on Sky Sports as a consequence. This season off the top of my head we've had Wimbledon, Colchester & Harrogate away all postponed. Next season that would have meant a further 3 matches live on Sky Sports.

So we're likely to have more League Two games live on Sky Sports than not live. And every single EFL Cup & EFL Trophy game will be live on Sky Sports also. So that adds a minimum of 4 games. So we're likely to have 30 matches live on Sky Sports minimum.

And in regards to losing 3PM Saturday kick-offs. There are 36 weekend fixture dates. We're definitely losing 2 (Sunday 29th December & final day of the season), we're likely to lose 7 for broadcast on Sky Sports (black-out weekends) and probably another 2 (international weekends). So we're probably looking at 11 weekend matches out of 36 next season that won't have a Saturday 3PM kick-off.

That 11 is an average. I imagine Sky Sports will favour the teans doing well in the 2nd half of the season. So it could be more if we do well or less if it's a repeat of this season.

As an exile am I going from being able to watch every game to only the ones sky broadcast then?

Quoted from sutton mariner

As an exile am I going from being able to watch every game to only the ones sky broadcast then?

Not necessarily. But I haven't seen a definitive statement on non-UK streaming rights, So I have no idea if iFollow is continuing abroad or being replaced by similar deals in foreign markets.

Quoted from sutton mariner

As an exile am I going from being able to watch every game to only the ones sky broadcast then?

But you can’t watch them this year, Sutton, unless you’ve been a naughty boy with a VPN or dodgy stick? Such skulduggery would be treason, as you know….

Quoted from Heisenberg

But you can’t watch them this year, Sutton, unless you’ve been a naughty boy with a VPN or dodgy stick? Such skulduggery would be treason, as you know….

Racking up the air miles…

Quoted from GollyGTFC

Let's be positive and imagine we're still in L2 next season...

I've been having a look at the details of the new EFL domestic TV deal with Sky Sports. From a League Two point of view the headline detail was that "at least 248 League Two regular season matches would be broadcast live by Sky Sports". But what does it actually mean for Grimsby Town fans?

In simplistic terms Sky Sports have bought the domestic iFollow service which will cease to exist at the end of this season.

Firstly, an explainer where the figure of 248 live games come from. The TV deal assumes there will be 32 standard weekend fixtures (i.e. weekends with the 3PM Saturday black-out in place). On those 32 fixture dates there will be a combined 5 League One & League Two fixtures broadcast by Sky Sports requiring those matches to be moved from 3PM Saturday split equally between the two divisions (the Atletic think there will be 2 each from L1 & L2 at Lunchtime on Saturday (12:30?) and a further game on the Sunday. So an average of 2.5 matches for each division over 32 standard weekends means there will be 80 League Two fixtures broadcast over those weekends (32 weekends x 2.5 live games). The other 14 fixture dates (assumed by the contract to be 4 international weekends, 6 midweeks and 4 bank holidays) will see all matches broadcast live by Sky Sports. 14 matchdays multiplied by 12 game = 168 League Two fixtures broadcast over those 14 rounds of fixtures.

Sky Sports will announce their full list of live games requiring a kick-off change before the season begins up to the weekend of the 3rd Round of the FA Cup. So all EFL fans should know which games have been moved for TV until the first week in January when the league fixtures are released (in June).

The calendar for next season doesn't have 32 standard weekend fixture dates for L1 & L2 though. The weekend between Christmas & New Year will see all fixtures in the EFL take place on the Sunday (29th December) to allow 2 rest days after the Boxing Day games & 2 rest days before the New Years' Day games. So all 12 L2 fixtures on that day will be broadcast live on Sky Sports. And the final standard weekend of the season will see all matches moved away from 3PM Saturday for simultaneous broadcast on Sky Sports.

So next season we already know Grimsby Town will be live on Sky Sports an absolute minimum of 16 times (4 international weekends, 6 midweeks, 4 bank holidays, Sunday 29th December & the final day of the season).

The remaining 30 "Saturday fixtures" will have an average of 2.5 L1 & L2 games each per weekend live on Sky Sports and moved from 3PM Saturday. The average L1 & L2 club can therefore expect to have 6.67 games moved from Saturday 3PM and brodcast on Sky Sports.

And that figure is before you take into consideration of the international weekends. Every match will be broadcast. It's hard to believe Sky Sports will just broadcast them all at 3PM on the Saturday. With international football generally 5PM and later it's not unreasonable to expect Sky Sports will want EFL games at 12:30 & 15:00 on both Saturday & Sunday. It's also not unreasonable to deduce that probably half of the games will be moved from 3PM Saturday to give Sky Sports a good spread of games over the weekend.

So in terms of live games on Sky Sports next season we're looking at 14 definite (non black-out Saturday dates) + 7 likely (games chosen on standard Saturday) + 2 definite (Sunday 29th December & final day of the season) = 23 games pretty much guaranteed to be live on Sky Sports.

But... there will be more. Any Saturday 3PM game which is cancelled for any reason (weather, FA Cup, EFL Trophy Final...) will be rearranged and will automatically be broadcast live on Sky Sports as a consequence. This season off the top of my head we've had Wimbledon, Colchester & Harrogate away all postponed. Next season that would have meant a further 3 matches live on Sky Sports.

So we're likely to have more League Two games live on Sky Sports than not live. And every single EFL Cup & EFL Trophy game will be live on Sky Sports also. So that adds a minimum of 4 games. So we're likely to have 30 matches live on Sky Sports minimum.

And in regards to losing 3PM Saturday kick-offs. There are 36 weekend fixture dates. We're definitely losing 2 (Sunday 29th December & final day of the season), we're likely to lose 7 for broadcast on Sky Sports (black-out weekends) and probably another 2 (international weekends). So we're probably looking at 11 weekend matches out of 36 next season that won't have a Saturday 3PM kick-off.

That 11 is an average. I imagine Sky Sports will favour the teans doing well in the 2nd half of the season. So it could be more if we do well or less if it's a repeat of this season.

Great summary, Golly, by the way. Much appreciated. That post just have been hard work!

Quoted from sutton mariner

As an exile am I going from being able to watch every game to only the ones sky broadcast then?

I've found a Q&A on the EFL website and audio iFollow for UK and audio and visual iFollow for abroad can continue.

I've made an edit to the original post after spotting a further detail on the EFL website (Q&A) - all 36 opening weekend matches will be broadcast live (although 3PM Saturday is allowed apparently)

So in total there are 17 fixture rounds that can be shown in their entirety. 17 x 12 = 204 matches.
And the other 29 rounds will have an average of 2 and a half games shown live = 72 matches
And the likelihood is Saturday 3PM postponements will mean more games being live. Even only 2 games per club works out at 24 matches over a season.

So there are likely to be 300 or so games broadcast on Sky Sports in L2 out of 552 regular season games. So over half of all matches.

Quoted from sutton mariner

Racking up the air miles…

I think that’s still allowed….