Winter fixtures rescheduled

It won't be long before TV companies switch matches to the middle of the night, to accommodate Far East countries.

The fans have to do something to show the TV companies, that they are more important than their armchair audience.

How do you arrange travel and accommodation, when the fixtures are changed at the drop of a hat? Must be infuriating, and costly.

I've been saying it for years Phil, but nothing happens maybe little results like 㿊 for away fans (even though the campaign was "20 is plenty") and even then some of the greedy bastards started giving even less allocated tickets to the travelling fan.

A proper campaign would only take weeks imo, and the message could be made, but then I forgot – is football even a working-class game anymore?

Phil #1, "The fans have to do something to show the TV companies, that they are more important than their armchair audience."

Sadly, in pure revenue terms, the broadcast deals bring in more revenue than the matchday fans, so from a business point of view, they are less important.

No date is attached here to the Man City away game but the Everton website still has it for New Year's Day.

And the Everton website says "Everton's Goodison clash with Newcastle United on Tuesday 21 January is brought forward 15 minutes from 7:45pm"

Not 28th.

My automatic Premier League calendar update confirms Newcastle for 7:30 pm on Tuesday 21 January (pain in the backside, TBH; 8:00 pm is much easier to get to after work).

Man City away is 5:30 pm on New Year's Day – not really the sort of hangover cure you need.

I can't believe how short-sighted you are being, Matt T, especially because you are normally one of the more sensible posters imo.

My own opinion is that, if the crowd started boycotting the first 30 to 45 minutes of live televised games, big games where the crowd play such an important role in making football so enjoyable to watch on TV, then I'm sure the TV companies would have something to say to the clubs?

Something along the lines of what the late great Jock Stein said about sooner watching an average game with a crowd, rather than a great game without one, is why the fans have a lot more power than they realise, imo.

I'm an armchair supporter because I live in a different country, but get to a few games a season when I can.

It's shameful how the Satellite companies keep dividing up the games and which demand subscriptions to each one of them.

There should be regulations introduced where there's a total cap on all subscriptions so there's a maximum amount that an end-user can pay.

I refuse to pay for BT fucking Sport and Sky and now Amazon. It will be Apple next...

I've read this morning that on some nights, Premier League games will kick off at either 7:30 or 8:15 pm just so that armchair viewers can watch part of two games live. This annoys me greatly.

The people in charge of football are showing more respect and consideration for the armchair viewer than the match-going fan. This will not end well.

We are not important. The games played in the USA and Far East will soon be here. La Liga are trying again to get a game played in Miami – once it's proven what a money-spinner it is, expect the bandwagon to start rolling. This tail wags the dog and is now fully in control.

I have never had Sky and never will. I can't even be bothered with MotD these days either.

Fans should hang up banners advertising the competition eg if on Sky, display BT, Amazon etc. It won't get us anywhere but it would be a bit of a laugh during our current state of depression.

Commercial companies will continue to overcharge fans simply because they can.

I just want to support Everton, a successful Everton whilst I'm still a fan of the game. At some point in the future it will become more global and accessible but not in a good way. The Spanish want to play in the USA. TV technical referees slowing the game, over-ruling decisions and still being inconsistent.

What next, in game voting apps, player video cameras, players contracted to leagues or media outlets not clubs.

Until then I just want to enjoy watching good flowing football. Hope Everton bring me some happiness and are successful.

Tony@7

With respect, Matt T is correct. The revenue from match going fans is dwarfed by the money provided by broadcasters.

I believe that, eventually, the market in the Far East etc. will dictate what time games kick off. In World Cups games are frequently played at times to suit tv audiences.

One of my brothers said years ago that at some point it will be free to attend matches. We are close to that point already. His thinking was that the money would be mostly made from the broadcasters with a little bit from people buying food and drink at the ground.

Think about it, telly needs an atmosphere at the ground. Empty seats look awful.

Tony @ 7. Sorry ole son, but sadly I have to agree with Matt and Ray @ 12.

As far as the clubs are concerned they will now prioritise the broadcasters over the match-going fan due to the mega-bounty they pay in comparison to the fans at the turnstiles.

Not saying it's right, but that's the harsh reality. And as others have mooted, the time will likely come when games will be staged in Asia or the US, or even KO times will be at ridiculous UK times to accommodate those audiences.

The Premier League floated the idea of a '39th game' a few years ago. NFL and NBA have been staging games outside the US for a number of years now. La Liga is still pushing for games in the US.

The marketing boys will be pushing for the same for Premier League games, I'm sure.

Again, I'm not endorsing the above ideas, but that is the direction things could be headed.

Liam @ 8 also makes a good point about the divvying up of broadcasting rights which would require a subscriber to sign up to 3-4 different services to ensure you saw all your team's games on telly.

EDIT: Jonathon @ 13 also makes an interesting call. For the broadcasters, the 'product', a live game of football, needs a live audience - extras to the film set, if you like - to lend 'atmosphere'. TV studio audiences don't pay to attend those shows. Even if there was ever a highly unlikely boycotting of televised football matches so the games were played against a backgroud of empty seats, the broadcasters would do just as Jonathon proposes and give out free tickets to ensure their 'canned chanting' audience.

Sadly, with technology, you don't actually need fans at stadiums to create an audience or atmosphere for TV audiences.

Journey 20 years into the future. E-gaming starts to rival traditional sports. A bit of music, pre-match entertainment, CGI fans and pre-recorded chants and cheers.

Money matters more than fans or tradition. Any new stadium will be to appease current fans whilst becoming an attractive waterside tourist attraction.

So, for now, enjoy the beautiful game, get behind the team, and cheer and applaud as loud as you can, whilst you can.

Positive thinking, positive attitude, positive results. Then come back to TW and vent if you need to.

TV definitely dictates when games kick off. Our visit to Brighton two seasons ago kicked off at 1:30 pm. Nothing unusual about that you may think, only the fact that the only country where the game was shown "Live", was India!

If I remember rightly, our coaches left at about 5:30 am. If Everton think so highly of our away support, then this was definitely a game when the club could have refused to the kick-off time.

I still don't know why this game was shown live in India only? Perhaps someone could enlighten me?

ED please note Everton website says "Everton's Goodison clash with Newcastle United on Tuesday 21 January is brought forward 15 minutes from 7:45pm"

NOT 28th.

To back Jay's #14 comments about the NFL.

There are games this year starting in London at 14:30 - so that is 09:30 East coast time. So get up, make your pancakes, cup of coffee, grab a beer and sit on the sofa. Game will finish around 12:45 so time to answer the door for the takeaway because next set of games on the East Coast starts at 13:00 and finish around 16:15-16:30. And then 3 or 4 more games start just after 16:00 and they finish around 19:30. That gives you almost hour to talk to your partner (if she is still talking to you/honey can you get me a beer from the cooler) before the final game of the day which starts at 20:20 and will finish just before midnight - giving you enough time to get to bed for a decent night's sleep before work in the morning.

So 15 hours infront of the box watching American Football. Great for family life!!

But we are already at 12:30 to 7:30 on a Saturday and maybe we will start having games at 3pm in New York so we can watch from 8pm in the UK and if finished just in time to switch on Match of the Day.

Perhaps one reason I would like 10 games kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday. Much as many will not agree - there is more to life than Football/Soccer