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ifollow

sign of the chimes

Active member
Joined
Jun 30, 2014
Messages
1,689
Location
Portsmouth
The 3pm rule is basically a FIFA creation. It allows football authorities to stipulate a protected kick off time of their choosing in their country, in order to protect attendances from what would otherwise be wall to wall televised coverage by the likes of the Premier League. It is unfortunate that it mitigates against exiled fans, but it is there for the greater good of the game as a whole.
Agree with the overall premise but thought it was an optional UEFA directive? I think most associations have opted against using it in their territories (unlike our own authorities), but that could go some way to explaining how we've maintained four fully professional divisions (with many professional sides below League 2). I'd wager that without the blackout we'd fairly quickly end up with two professional divisions and semi-pro, regional leauges below that. I appreciate that the reintroduction of the 3pm UK blackout will be a bind for those fans who live away and are unable to get to see their teams in person for those matches, particularly having been given the chance to do so during the pandemic, but this is about the longer term sustainability of the pyramid, surely?
 

Boyo

Active member
Joined
May 5, 2004
Messages
4,025
IFollow figures for our home games last season were skewed by many season tickets holders accepting subscriptions in lieu of attending games, however our away games attracted 500-900 subscribers each. The simple conclusion is that the market for this is very small.

I attend most games at SJP but in all honesty there are times when sitting at home with a beer and saving money is attractive particularly Tuesday games which are a ball-ache for me. The upshot would be less money for the Club.

I genuinely feel that games available via streaming at our level would increase the wealth gap between top and bottom and see us playing amateur football very soon.
 

Colesman Ballz

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Dec 28, 2014
Messages
14,850
And let's not forget how UEFA is rapidly expanding it's own competitions which will result in wall to wall TV coverage throughout the week, squeezing attendances even further. The rich clubs will get richer still and the poor will of course pay the price !
 

SEA Grecian

Well-known Exeweb poster
Joined
Oct 14, 2018
Messages
6,076
IFollow figures for our home games last season were skewed by many season tickets holders accepting subscriptions in lieu of attending games, however our away games attracted 500-900 subscribers each. The simple conclusion is that the market for this is very small.
And that was at a time when people were mostly stuck at home with not much else to do.
 

tonykellowfan

Active member
Joined
Dec 6, 2004
Messages
4,156
Location
Buckingham
Do we know yet what the ifollow rules will be for next season?

I paid to watch a lot of home games last season that I would never have gone to, so clearly there is new revenue to be had.
 

Oldsmobile-88

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
26,948
Location
In RaWZ we trust....Amen.
Do we know yet what the ifollow rules will be for next season?

I paid to watch a lot of home games last season that I would never have gone to, so clearly there is new revenue to be had.
I seem to recall a article from Devon Live or similar that mentioned ifollow would be returning to the pre pandemic format.

I don’t think there has been anything official from the EFL yet ?
 

Avening Posse

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Joined
Dec 31, 2013
Messages
10,155
Location
Sydney
I know there’s the argument about it impacting on the gate, but we have to assume at least a certain percentage of the fan base will be wary due to Covid and totally understandable. Im in the camp where people wary of Covid should be able to watch on Iplayer and enjoy the match and provide some income to City, at least until the Covid situation hopefully subsides, and then maybe revert to the old rules?
 

Hants_red

Admin
Staff member
Joined
May 27, 2007
Messages
62,066
Location
League 1
This will be the state of play within the UK

STREAMING
In respect of domestic streaming, the EFL will return to the position as was prior to the pandemic when the live broadcast or streaming of any match in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is prohibited between the hours of 2:45pm-5:15pm on Saturday afternoons.

EFL Clubs will have the right to live-stream midweek matches on iFollow or Club equivalent service, with Sky Sports also able to stream the same Championship fixtures to subscribers across their Red Button interactive and digital services.

LEAGUE TWO:

DOMESTIC


All scheduled midweek matches (unless selected by Sky Sports)

Displaced weekend matches – matches which are moved from Saturday 3pm kick-offs for non-TV purposes (at the discretion of the Home Club)

Bank Holiday matches (at the discretion of the Home club)

Matches that fall on an International Weekend will be streamed.

Papa John’s Trophy matches (apart from the Semi-Finals and Final which are live on Sky Sports)
 

Grecian Max

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Joined
May 6, 2005
Messages
17,512
Location
Exeter
Decent for those long mid week trips that many would find impossible to attend (y)
 

Super Ronnie Jepson

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Joined
Jan 18, 2005
Messages
7,917
Location
Tiverton

Another club dropping ifollow. I wonder if we'll be following suit?
 
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