Sundays in the Prem

[bmasar]

Hoping someone can help me out with some info. My older brother and I are planning a trip from California to see some Fulham and Man City matches (his team). I've noticed none of the matches on the Prem schedule include Sundays or Mondays. Does anyone know when those get sorted out?

[General]

I think I read something somewhere sugesting that all premier league games this season (or as many as possible) were going to be on the traditional time of 3pm on a saturday... I assume some games will move because of clashes with cup games or tv, but I'm not sure you can expect too many changes from these being on a saturday.

I'm actually also very pleasently suprised about how many games the championship has scheduled for 3pm on Saturday. that said though, I'm sure the variety of having games at random times beforehand helped me see more games last season.

Perhaps it's an attempt to make the league fairer in terms of breaks each team has between games etc. Makes sense if so.

[bmasar]

It seems really unlikely to me that they'll do away with Sunday matches. That's a full day of matches they can beam around the world for massive money.

[General]

It seems really unlikely to me that they'll do away with Sunday matches. That's a full day of matches they can beam around the world for massive money.

I'm sure that's been taken into consideration if the decision has been made to move all games to a Saturday. Most games internationally will be shown in the evening in big markets (Asia) or around the same time (Africa). The U.S is growing market but it doesn't seem like much has changed because of the uptake of interest from the U.S - people seem to be willing to change their sleeping patterns there... plus I imagine there could be more money or equal amounts of money in highlights shows or full replays of games (al la sky).

I imagine a lot of cultures don't actually appreciate games on a sunday. In the arabic/heavily islamic countries, it's the beginning of the working week for instance. Plus there's the religious cultural influence - sunday being a day of rest, or a day with family which would clash with live stream uptake purely on a global scale as the timings don't take other cultures into account as much. I don't know if these have been the key drivers, but they're things I've observed which could influence the uptake of watching games on a sunday.

[bill taylors apprentice]

Is it not the case that the fixtures are now realised and at times throughout the season the various broadcasters rearrange each weekends fixtures to suit their schedules?

Sky for example will take the official fixture list and pick whichever games the like from the 3pm slot and move them to other times/dates.

[bmasar]

Yes I was thinking the same thing, Bill. What I'm wondering is when they will start moving them around. Because the league has done everything it can to line it's pockets, including a recent rumor of creating even more start times for the benefit of the Asian market. To suddenly change and have every game as a Saturday 3pm kickoff is out of their character entirely.

[bill taylors apprentice]

Yes I was thinking the same thing, Bill. What I'm wondering is when they will start moving them around. Because the league has done everything it can to line it's pockets, including a recent rumor of creating even more start times for the benefit of the Asian market. To suddenly change and have every game as a Saturday 3pm kickoff is out of their character entirely.

Sky for example will be assessing the fixtures as we type and will make a big thing advertising their live games over the first few weeks of the season and repeat the process at intervals thru the season.

Therefore if you plan a visit in the future you run the risk of a SAT 3pm kick off becoming a Sunday am/pm or Monday night game!

[bmasar]

Yeah we are actually hoping for some good Man City (ugh, again my brother's club) fixtures to move to Sunday so we can go to a Saturday match at the cottage. Otherwise we're looking at a midweek Cottage visit.

[HatterDon]

Hoping someone can help me out with some info. My older brother and I are planning a trip from California to see some Fulham and Man City matches (his team). I've noticed none of the matches on the Prem schedule include Sundays or Mondays. Does anyone know when those get sorted out?

If you're planning ahead, then you'd best arrange a trip that allows for the match being moved to Friday night, Sunday afternoon or Monday night. That's what I did a few years back. If you give yourself only one day, you have a better chance to avoid disappointment.

[toshes mate]

Is it not the case that the fixtures are now realised and at times throughout the season the various broadcasters rearrange each weekends fixtures to suit their schedules?

Sky for example will take the official fixture list and pick whichever games the like from the 3pm slot and move them to other times/dates.

You are correct, BTA.  The fixture lists are the base schedule up until the moment Sky (and other contract holders) determines which games will be live on TV.  Then the dates and times will be shifted.  The contract holders all want their advertising revenues to increase and the advertisers want their audience figures to increase - that is the name of the game.  Football has sold out to them - that is what we all need to remember. 

[aaronmcguigan]

Reckon if every premier league game was 3pm on Saturday would increase labour turnover in a lot of businesses.
Lots of people work Saturdays and even more have flexi contracts who work when they are told or when they are needed. The variety of kick offs help everyone to an extent. Not everyone works a 9-5 Mon to Fri

Also when it's moved to Sunday/ Monday it gets more media focus on papers / online/ the buzz is bigger and gives clubs exposure which they otherwise wouldn't get .

[toshes mate]

Football changed following a) the Hillsborough disaster b) the advent of 'live' matchday coverage and c) the potential of middle class rather than working class money. The changes have created a sport where media money trumps gate money.   The media will not pay big money to cover smaller interest clubs, because advertising revenue depend to a huge extent on TV audience figures.  The smaller clubs have been intensively marginalised whilst the bigger clubs just get richer and richer.  Ticket price increases following the demise of the 'terrace' because seating takes up more space have further depleted the gate revenues.  The football business model has not changed because richer clubs are satisfied with the status quo, media moguls are satisfied with the status quo, and one is feeding the other.   

The fan of a smaller club is not even worthy of consideration in this model and neither are those young people who may once have gone to watch a game just on a spur of the moment choice.  None of the factors which really deeply affect the game's future will be dealt with unless and until the problem gets truly critical.  That reflects our society's lack of interest in so many important things only what happens in the here and now.