St James' Park

[Dr.Spaceman]

1 minute ago, SteV said:

That’s a fair point. 
 

It’s difficult to really say what the actual impact would be on attendances lower down until you actually did it I suppose.
 

In that Orient v Southend example, it’s probably high enough up the pyramid that losing between 50-200 off the gate isn’t going to cause a massive issue. Go 4/5 levels down and maybe it does.

 

I know it's shit, but so what? We're Newcastle fans and want to watch Newcastle first and foremost. Why can't we explore other avenues for revenue protection, why does it have to be us fans that have to resort to IPTV or be happy with Soccer Saturday. Players, agents, owners and league execs are taking billions out the game for what? People say players are paid well because blah blah supply and demand. Well if the demand ain't there for the lower leagues...

[AyeDubbleYoo]

It has to be free customer choice about what team you want to watch. It’s ludicrous that you can’t buy a pass to watch all your team’s games for example, like you can in MLB or NBA. 
 

Personally I love lower league football but people should be able to watch the team they actually support. 
 

The idea you can subscribe to TNT, Sky and Amazon and still not see all the games is why I don’t criticise anyone who chooses illegal IPTV.

 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by AyeDubbleYoo

[SteV]

8 minutes ago, Dr.Spaceman said:

 

I know it's shit, but so what? We're Newcastle fans and want to watch Newcastle first and foremost. Why can't we explore other avenues for revenue protection, why does it have to be us fans that have to resort to IPTV or be happy with Soccer Saturday. Players, agents, owners and league execs are taking billions out the game for what? People say players are paid well because blah blah supply and demand. Well if the demand ain't there for the lower leagues...

Yes, from an individual club supporter perspective, it isn’t our problem.

 

Personally, I don’t watch non-league, so am I particularly bothered how any of the clubs are getting on, not really.

 

But equally, I don’t think just taking the attitude of ‘fuck them’ helps in the grander scheme.

 

We could take that attitude with the payments the PL are supposed to filter down to the EFL and beyond, and where would we end up?

 

You’re right thought that there has to be a better situation than the current mess, I just don’t know what it is.

 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by SteV

[midds]

14 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

It has to be free customer choice about what team you want to watch. It’s ludicrous that you can’t buy a pass to watch all your team’s games for example, like you can in MLB or NBA. 
 

Personally I love lower league football but people should be able to watch the team they actually support. 
 

The idea you can subscribe to TNT, Sky and Amazon and still not see all the games is why I don’t criticise anyone who chooses illegal IPTV.

 

 

 

I think it's only a matter of time before the PL go down the streaming route and sell subscriptions rather than do deals with Sky, TNT etc. Maybe 5 or 10 years down the line, they'll be flogging a 'Team Pass' to see specifically 1 chosen team for £24.99 a month (or whatever) or £39.99 a month for a 'League Pass' to get access to any game at any time. And they'll make an absolute killing in the process  

[AyeDubbleYoo]

MLB pass is like £100 a season for 160 games live and on demand, including excellent app with ball-by-ball live coverage, and a choice of audio (including radio) from all the available broadcasters. Can't imagine anything British ever coming close to that level of quality and value - but being able to watch the games would be a start. 

[Interpolic]

47 minutes ago, midds said:

I think it's only a matter of time before the PL go down the streaming route and sell subscriptions rather than do deals with Sky, TNT etc. Maybe 5 or 10 years down the line, they'll be flogging a 'Team Pass' to see specifically 1 chosen team for £24.99 a month (or whatever) or £39.99 a month for a 'League Pass' to get access to any game at any time. And they'll make an absolute killing in the process  

 

Don't disagree but they'd be well advised to get the pricing right if they want to remove illegal streaming as a factor. Those pricing examples you've given are probably not far off what they'd go for if they went down the road of continuing the Sky model, which is outdated and has always been very exclusionary to those without sufficient financial means. 

 

Instead I'd love to see a huge rethink. Get rid of this nonsense idea that was invented in the 90s, of the PL being a premium product with a premium price tag. Instead aim to have everyone who loves football watching as much of their product as is possible, with cost not seen as a hurdle to anyone. 

 

They'd have an opportunity to achieve absolutely incredible reach with young and old viewers if it was priced at say £10/month and they'd eliminate illegal streaming in the process. Or make a deal with Netflix/Amazon and get it on there at little or no extra cost. 

 

They could make more money doing it this way if they strike the right balance, guarantee future fans and ensure almost every single view of their product was legal, exposed to their advertisers and whatever else they wanted to do with it. 

 

There are parallels with TV in that Netflix got things very, very right in the beginning and gave people what they had been crying out for. They made people abandon their torrents with their slick UI, incredible library, fair pricing, flexible subscription etc.

 

Then the rest of the industry wanted on the gravy train and it all went to shit. The PL would have no real competition and no excuse for not prioritising reach over outdated pricing from day 1, but sadly I think shortsighted greed will win the day as it generally always does these days. 

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Interpolic

[midds]

2 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

MLB pass is like £100 a season for 160 games live and on demand, including excellent app with ball-by-ball live coverage, and a choice of audio (including radio) from all the available broadcasters. Can't imagine anything British ever coming close to that level of quality and value - but being able to watch the games would be a start. 

Even if they did go down the streaming route then evn £40 a month would work out cheaper than having to subscribe to Sky Sports, TNT, Amazon etc. And it would also guarantee that the punter would be able to see any match they wanted which, despite subscribing to all platforms, isn't possible right now.

 

Obviously binning Sky/TNT you'd lose access to other sports but I think most casual British football fans would sign up for that deal. Pad the schedule out with highlights, magazine shows and documentaries on all 20 clubs and they'd rake it in imo 

[Disco]

The issue for me always is “will and how much money will filter down the pyramid”. Current set up is ridiculous. There’s absolutely no way you should need to take out 3 subs to watch PL football legally. As a result pretty much everyone I know has a mix of legal and less legal channels to watch the games, you’d have to be a wealthy or daft person not too. 
 

Was at a weekend away with my in-laws a couple of weeks ago who are Leeds fans but not extremely online (the old lad is 90 odd tbf) and they were buzzing I could just pop the Leeds 3pm on the TV for them to watch… here’s the link for the future, knock yourself out.