Some extremely surprising news has come out all over social media today in the world of football, with it appearing that the 3PM blackout is at risk with streaming giants such as Netflix and Amazon looking to secure a TV Rights deal.
The EFL are considering dropping the 3PM blackout as they look to sell TV Rights in 2024. Sky currently holds the broadcasting rights for EFL games, but they rarely choose to broadcast League One and League Two games during the season.
The 3PM blackout was originally set up in the 1960s to protect lower league football clubs. At the moment, only overseas fans can tune into streaming services to watch football at 3pm. However, the EFL have confirmed that that an invitation to bid for the live rights to the football league will be sent out in the next twenty-four hours, a move that could to an end in the blackout for the first time since it was created in the 60s.
With technology moving quickly, the EFL will likely target the big streaming services such as Netflix, Apple, Amazon and YouTube. It appears that non-premier league football could move away from the main domestic rights holders such as Sky Sports with even names such as Disney and Facebook being thrown in the mix, but Sky and BT will still surely be big competitors in securing the rights.
Rights for all League, EFL Cup, EFL Trophy and Play-Off matches will be up for grabs to the bidders as the EFL have said they are looking to ‘a fresh and new approach to this latest rights cycle’.
EFL chief commercial officer Ben Wright has spoken upon the matter and claims that this an exciting time for EFL football.
“With 54 per cent of the UK population watching EFL football on television each year and a global audience of more than 400 million, it’s an exciting time to be going to market for the league’s broadcast rights,”
“While the appetite for EFL football remains stronger than ever, we want to grow this audience further.
“We are inviting proposals from organisations that can enhance and develop the league’s offering, taking a new and innovative approach to how people consume EFL content.
“Alongside the EFL’s rich tradition and distinguished history there is a desire to evolve, grow and innovate in order to grow our audience further and we’re looking for a partner or partners who share that vision.”
As much as I’d like to agree with Ben about this exciting time, I personally think this could have a devastating impact on not only our league but lower grassroots league and potentially kill semi-pro clubs. Again, we are seeing more greed from the people at the top and them people seem to know nothing about the roots of the game or at least don’t care about them.