yattongas
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Post by yattongas on Oct 12, 2022 20:55:16 GMT
On the face of it, this could be good news for many who can't get to games as regularly as we'd like. The Premier League, EFL and Scottish league are the outliers in this as most other leagues allow simultaneous broadcasting at the peak game times and have concluded that it has no bearing on attendances.
What worries me is that it may be the death knell for iFollow, depending on how the TV deal is negotiated. It would be likely that any EFL deal would be an exclusive one and probably the broadcasters would force the market towards a full season subscription deal, rather than the flexible pick and choose approach that iFollow allows. We'll see, but remember what happened to itv digital.
I guess what’s best for non-attending fans and football aren’t necessarily the same. On the face of it the clubs in the EFL and non-League could be worried that people will stay at home with attendances falling. In the short term I’m not sure that’s the case. Nearly everyone I speak to rarely watch the PL on TV. They may watch European Cup matches mid-week but I would still rather watch a live game above watching on TV. I think the personal connection between fans and clubs would overcome a live 3.00 match in PL or The Championship. Of course away attendances may be different they could well be down. This could well be aimed at an overseas audience more than a domestic one. But I do think this will be a slow burner insofar as fans of my generation and under may well be getting tired of all this televised football and will still support their local clubs I’m not sure it will be the same for youngsters in the future. If they see supporting their clubs in terms of watching it on the box then generations will be lost to lower league clubs and the effect of this will not be seen until way into the future. Whenever there’s change it’s not usually received well and most football fans lower down the league are traditionalists but football and it’s fans are remarkably resilient and usually find a way to respond. We heard that Covid would cause clubs to go bankrupt but not a single league club went under, nor did any senior non-league clubs (although Dover nearly did). So I wouldn’t expect this, if it happens, to change much in the short term. I guess if it happens then the terms of the agreement and how much money it generates for League 1 and League 2 will be the deciding factor in whether we thinks it’s a good idea or not. I’m a traditionalist so still think 3.00 on a Saturday afternoon should be sacrosanct for live football only but I’m afraid that stable door was shut in 1992 with the PL and Sky. They are much more likely to listen to the fans in the Far East than a middle-aged dinosaur who would love to see the top games played on a Saturday 3.00. UTG! I remember when they said Sky would be the death of football , crowds would plummet etc etc. Last night I watched the game on iFollow and the club gets a few quid they wouldn’t of got . Sat I would watch the Cheltenham game and the club this time misses out on my cash . Would I miss a home game to watch at home ? …Very occasionally but being at the ground watching it live is incomparable to watching it at home .
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Post by legas on Oct 12, 2022 21:03:07 GMT
Let's face it it's not too difficult to watch Premier league or ifollow games at 3pm on Saturday if you want to and that hasn't impacted attendances. It depends on what deal they could get. It's an after thought for sky, may even bring ticket prices down. To be honest, while I absolutely want attendances to be protected for the lower leagues, I think that horse has bolted. IFollow, vpns and streams on the internet have made access to any games so easy. My 13 year old even showed me how to access the last champions league final without any subscriptions. It’s just a case now of how lower league clubs can get some of the revenue when the deals are done.
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Post by Topper Gas on Oct 12, 2022 21:14:16 GMT
If there are 5 of you and its 20 quid each to attend a game or a tenner at home for all of you where do you go? non brainer. we don't have a fan base in London or abroad that will keep us afloat when this happens. Surely that's a case now when it just takes a VPN to watch the game on iFollow? Given attendances this season are as high as they've been for a decade, apart from the Wael bounce/DC double promotion era iFollow doesn't seem to be having a noticeable effect attendances, it might be having the opposite effect and boosting attendances.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2022 22:10:59 GMT
I can’t think that the routine of fans that go as a family or a group of mates at 3 o’clock will change much at the lower leagues. It might make Prem or Cham supporters think a bit differently.
It might attract new supporters watching on TV and thinking about going to a lower league game.
There just isn’t a better way of watching but live. The cost of living crisis will be the short term decider probably.
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yattongas
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Post by yattongas on Oct 12, 2022 22:19:05 GMT
I can’t think that the routine of fans that go as a family or a group of mates at 3 o’clock will change much at the lower leagues. It might make Prem or Cham supporters think a bit differently. It might attract new supporters watching on TV and thinking about going to a lower league game. There just isn’t a better way of watching but live. The cost of living crisis will be the short term decider probably. Watching last nights game on iFollow actually made me more likely to go to a future away game as you realise what you’re missing out on. It’s a form of advertising of the product that radio just can’t do . Plymouth sold out away tickets for their game verses us in minutes according to another post , if this was available on iFollow no doubt they’d have thousands extra watching. Likewise we’d probably have a thousand or two who’d watch our game at Cheltenham at home along with the sold out travelling fans .
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Post by curlywurly on Oct 12, 2022 23:13:38 GMT
If there are 5 of you and its 20 quid each to attend a game or a tenner at home for all of you where do you go? non brainer. we don't have a fan base in London or abroad that will keep us afloat when this happens. But we all know that you can already do this via a VPN and many do so for away games. It doesn't significantly affect attendances because people actually enjoy going to the game (believe it or not!).
Like I say, every other European league (bar Scotland) allow for peak game broadcasting and the general conclusion is that is does not adversely affect attendances. On a sample of 1, I often can't get to Saturday games. For an international weekend, I'll watch Rovers on iFollow, otherwise, I just follow on twitter and on here. If games were available live, I'd still go to as many games as ever, but I'd have the opportunity to watch Rovers when I couldn't make it. I'd argue the club get more revenue that way and not less.
You raise the interesting point of where are our live stream fan base? I've never seen the data, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were a large number of people not based in Bristol.
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yattongas
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Post by yattongas on Oct 12, 2022 23:20:09 GMT
If there are 5 of you and its 20 quid each to attend a game or a tenner at home for all of you where do you go? non brainer. we don't have a fan base in London or abroad that will keep us afloat when this happens. But we all know that you can already do this via a VPN and many do so for away games. It doesn't significantly affect attendances because people actually enjoy going to the game (believe it or not!).
Like I say, every other European league (bar Scotland) allow for peak game broadcasting and the general conclusion is that is does not adversely affect attendances. On a sample of 1, I often can't get to Saturday games. For an international weekend, I'll watch Rovers on iFollow, otherwise, I just follow on twitter and on here. If games were available live, I'd still go to as many games as ever, but I'd have the opportunity to watch Rovers when I couldn't make it. I'd argue the club get more revenue that way and not less.
You raise the interesting point of where are our live stream fan base? I've never seen the data, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were a large number of people not based in Bristol.
Agreed .
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Post by Baxtinho on Oct 13, 2022 7:22:42 GMT
People waving this in just like the PL B-Teams.
Rovers are prob just about big enough to handle it, as people have said, our attendances have remained solid.
When I go and watch Weston I see so many people (not just kids) in PL colours. I can totally see some not wanting to brave the cold and pay their £12 in January when any game they like is available at home.
It'll be a disaster for non league clubs, make no mistake.
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Post by ashlinggas on Oct 13, 2022 7:52:20 GMT
I'm not so sure. I sometimes watch my local non-league team Chichester City. They get about 200 for a home game and it doesn't seem to make much difference whether it's 3pm Saturday or a Tuesday night when all the Premiership big hitters are playing in the Champions League. I would obviously rather watch the Gas than the CL.
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Post by bluebiro on Oct 13, 2022 7:58:53 GMT
No doubt we will be taking the expected masses to Sheffield for the weds evening game even though its on sky, free stream and a midweek game.
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Post by Baxtinho on Oct 13, 2022 8:43:17 GMT
No doubt we will be taking the expected masses to Sheffield for the weds evening game even though its on sky, free stream and a midweek game. Exactly. You can't blame anyone for missing games, life's tough at the moment, but this is just giving people excuses to make not going the norm. It was floated during the behind-closed-doors season, people got used to every PL game being televised and then sulked and complained when that was taken away. I think it's inevitable that all games (PL & EFL) will be available to stream sooner rather than later, so we'll just have to enjoy decent crowds while they last. Hopefully our smaller clubs can find ways to cut costs or raise other funds, as this is going to hurt.
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Post by eric on Oct 13, 2022 9:43:08 GMT
The bigger issue is the next generation of fans not the current ones. Kids are already getting used to everything being on tap through their computer screens. Not physically going to football will become the norm, once you get to that point does a team being local become totally irrelevant? If you’ve got no affinity to a local team why would you follow a team in the lower divisions? The top Prem teams will scoop up even more fans.
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Post by warehamgas on Oct 13, 2022 16:51:21 GMT
The bigger issue is the next generation of fans not the current ones. Kids are already getting used to everything being on tap through their computer screens. Not physically going to football will become the norm, once you get to that point does a team being local become totally irrelevant? If you’ve got no affinity to a local team why would you follow a team in the lower divisions? The top Prem teams will scoop up even more fans. Yes, that is the real danger. Once the norm is no longer the norm the next generation will seek their football on-line and do something else on a Saturday. Clubs will need to find ways to offset this. UTG!
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Post by stapletongas on Oct 13, 2022 19:15:36 GMT
About time too!
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