Tarun Jeen
11th October 2020
Premier League announced that all non-televised fixtures would be available on a pay per view, in October, following the pandemic's rise and decreased stadium revenue. This ensures that the fans can continue to watch and support their teams while generating some amount of income for the club. The 20 teams came to this decision after much planning and consideration to ensure that the fans can still watch their favourite teams live even amidst the pandemic. The decision results from government-imposed restrictions on supporters attending matches, which means all games currently take place behind closed doors.
As per the new agreement, current live matches selected for TV will remain in place and broadcasted as usual. Besides, the other five games not fixed will be made available to fans on a pay-per-view basis. "It is going to drive people towards piracy", said Kieran Maguire according to BBC. Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, the Price Of Football author described the Premier League's pricing scheme as a "public relations disaster", adding: "It discriminates against the clubs that don't tend to be on Sky Sports or BT that often" as per BBC.
At the same time, some fans and others who have been in the field have given a valid argument that this new streaming method will lead people towards illegal streaming platforms. In contrast, other fans have criticised that while fans are already paying for sky sports and subscription to different media, it is unfair for them to add extra pay per view charges per game. The Premier League's argument, according to football365, is that EFL clubs are charging £10, so we should be charging more because we have more cameras, is also flawed. "The cameras were already going to be there because the matches would have been shown on Match of the Day anyway so that the set-up costs would be minimal", as per football365.
Top-flight clubs voted 19-1 in favour of the pay-per-view scheme on Friday- with Leicester City the only one to vote against it - but Maguire says it "goes against the grain" of government advice as per BBC "Families and friends are going to gather together, which completely goes against what we are trying to achieve by discouraging people from going into other people's houses", he added. "If they got the pricing right, it might have been fine, but nobody knows what is happening with the money,'' says, Kieran Maguire as per BBC.
News Sources: Sky Sports, BBC, football365
Edited by: Ishita Jha