It was announced today, following a Premier League shareholders meeting that all September Premier League games will be shown on Television in the UK.
A statement released by the Premier League read: “At a Premier League Shareholders’ meeting today, clubs agreed that all 28 matches scheduled to be played in September will be broadcast live in the UK, via the League’s existing broadcasting partners Sky Sports, BT Sport, Amazon Prime Video and BBC.”
Many supporters groups have expressed their displeasure when it was first announced that all games would not be shown on television despite fans being unable to attend fixtures due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Further talks will take place regarding fixtures from October 1st with the Premier League still unclear on plans by the government for the return of football fans into stadiums.
17 of the 28 games had already been chosen for live television coverage. The remaining 11 fixtures will be confirmed in due course.
Sky Sports will broadcast an additional six, BT Sport a further three and the BBC and Amazon Prime getting one each.
Before today’s decision, Aston Villa’s game against Sheffield United on Monday 21st September was their only game selected for television coverage. This game will now kick off at 6.00pm.
Football is nothing without the fans
Since the Covid-19 situation many people involved in football have said how much they miss the fans. To think that the Premier League even thought about not showing football matches live on TV given the current circumstances highlights how out of touch with the fans they really are.
Would they have made these changes had several fan groups not kicked up such a big fuss? I guess we will never know.
The Premier League make such a lot of money from television broadcasters. These broadcasters can only pay the Premier League so much money because of the money football supporters pay these broadcasters. Every scenario comes back to the football fans.
In a perfect scenario we all return to the football stadiums as soon as possible and football coverage on TV returns back to the way it used to be. The sad thing is, we don’t know what the future holds and the safety of football supporters has to be at the forefront of any decision made.
So as long as spectators can’t return to football in a normal capacity, the Premier League must continue to show all games. There is no alternative in my view.
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