The Saturday afternoon blackout
Bob Lord, chairman of Burnley from the 1950s to the early 1980s, was a difficult man in many respects, especially in his dealings with the media.
He was particularly opposed to football being shown on television, even refusing the BBC access to Turf Moor to film Match of the Day until 1969. Lord’s lasting legacy in broadcasting is the 3pm Blackout on Saturday afternoons. Having lost the fight to keep football off television altogether, he was determined that the traditional three o’clock kick-off time would remain sacrosanct and games would continue to attract large crowds.
The blackout isn’t a purely British thing; UEFA rules say that national associations can prevent live games from other countries being shown for any two and a half hour period on Saturdays and Sundays. England and Scotland have both chosen 2:45pm to 5:15pm on a Saturday for years.
This means that even the Spanish and Italian games within that time frame can’t be shown live until after 5:15. Overseas broadcasters with the right commercial agreements can show Premier League and EFL games overseas during the blackout, a loophole exploited in this country by thrill seekers with illicit viewing equipment.
Other countries do things differently; for instance, the German FA allows all Bundesliga games to be shown live at 1:30 every Saturday. Elsewhere, games are staggered to avoid attendances being unduly affected but nowhere quite follows our model.
Lord was never a great one for compromise, and he’d be disappointed to know that the blackout is now subject to exceptions. One such occurs during international breaks; County’s home game against Peterborough was available on Sky Sports+ along with the others in League 1 and League 2. If it hadn’t been postponed, the same would have applied to Oxford (A) on the 3rd of October.
He who pays the piper calls the tune, and a number of vested interests would love to do away with the blackout altogether. Their opportunity may come when the broadcasting rights contract comes up for renewal in 2029. No doubt Sky would love to be able to show live games which are currently unavailable, but would it make any difference to attendances if they succeeded?
It seems unlikely that supporters would abandon their season tickets on the off chance of their team being picked for broadcast but perhaps those who travel to away games might miss the occasional match if they’re given enough warning. Lower league clubs who currently get a larger proportion of walk-ups might have more to worry about if the casual fans could watch a game at home instead.
If the clubs have genuine concerns about attendances, they might be better addressing the way games are moved to later slots and different days, which mean that supporters have no means of getting home afterwards by public transport and lose money on hotel bookings.
Author – John K. Bilsbury