Yahoo News Nightmare journey for Stoke City will test EFL claim as Sky Sports deal changes landscape
Stoke City, their EFL rivals and football supporters across the board are heading into uncharted waters over the next few months with significantly more matches than ever before being shown live on television.
Championship clubs will all be shown live on Sky Sports up to 24 times per season during a five-year deal worth £935 million. League One and League Two clubs will be live about 20 times per season. To put that into context, Stoke were on the box just five times in 2022/23 and it was similar last term.
There will still be seven Championship matches on each regular weekend which kick off at 3pm on a Saturday but the other five will be spread over 12.30pm kick-offs on Saturday or Sunday, plus the occasional game on Friday, Monday or even Thursday evenings. All mid-week games, Bank Holidays, opening and final day matches will be on TV as well as every tie in the Carabao Cup.
READ MORE: Stoke City fixture list in full
READ MORE: How Stoke season will look different due to new Sky Sports deal
The EFL is confident that the changes will not have a negative impact on attendances, which are up there as the strongest in the world for divisions below a top flight. That will surely be put to the test when Stoke put tickets on sale for an away match at Portsmouth on a Wednesday night in January.
That's a 400-mile round-trip that will take the best part of eight hours - or it's live on television from your front room or the local pub. And Stoke's geography means they get off lightly in terms of miles to cover compared to Portsmouth or Swansea, Sunderland or Norwich.
A statement from the EFL said: "As Article 48 (the blackout rule that prevents live matches being shown between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturdays) has been protected, we do not believe that attendances will be significantly impacted by more match action being made available.
"Nothing beats the live matchday experience and we are confident that fans that can and are able to attend a match will continue to do so in the large numbers that we continue to see through the turnstiles. We also know that there is a large demand from fans that cannot always get to games, so making more EFL action available through one established provider represents another way of taking EFL action to the audience."
It added: "It is clear that supporters want more broadcast content. We already make 603 matches available and we have no evidence that they impact attendances. 2023/24 League attendances are up by 10 per cent on last season, with approximately 23 million fans attending.
"We have protected 832 key Saturday 3pm matches and introduced extended notice periods for fans, balanced club selections and five weekend matches at Sat 12.30pm. We believe the balance we have struck grows media income but not at the expense of attendance income."
