Scan your BT Sports channels or Sky Sports scheduler this weekend and you'd be forgiven for thinking it's 2014, with coronavirus cancellations affecting all but a handful of UK non-league football games, the Major broadcasters have dug into their archives for reruns and nostalgic fillers normally reserved for daytime television. It is, of course, perfectly understandable. As early as Wednesday 11 March, BT Sport had a busy schedule of Champions League football, including broadcasting a match live in Liverpool, where it was considered perfectly safe for over 50,000 people from all over. Home and abroad will tightly pack each other in a football stadium. Cancellations from the coronavirus occurred at unprecedented speed and of course there are much more important things than football to worry about. And yet one of those things for the millions of BT Sport and Sky subscribers now facing job uncertainty or higher internal costs is their bank balance. Yes, broadcasters are covered by the terms and conditions of their contracts, but an unprecedented situation requires an equivalent response, which, so far, does not seem likely. Here's why, from a football fan's perspective, the prospect of continuing to pay that hefty monthly premium just doesn't fit...
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(Image credit: BT Sports)
The great frost
Who would have thought that the new face of Mikel Arteta would be the man to bring the Premier League giant to its knees? Just hours after the British government announced that sporting events would take place as normal, despite increasing measures taken by other countries in the world to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, it was announced that the former midfielder was 'Everton and the current Arsenal head coach tested positive for Covid-19. Without soccer, TV subscriptions would be just a fraction of what they currently cost. The Gunners' match against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday afternoon was postponed, and after Chelsea's Callum Hudson-Odoi joined the Spaniard the following morning, the decision was made to call off the entire game. Premier League (and all other professional matches). until April 3 at least. Many matches in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have also been cancelled. Normally it takes a lot to prevent a high level game. Manchester United's match against Bournemouth in 2015 was delayed two days after the discovery of a suspicious package at Old Trafford, and Liverpool vs Newcastle was postponed as the entire country lost its proverbial 2015 after Princess Diana's death in 1997. But we have to go back to the "Great Freeze" of 1963, when Britain recorded the coldest month of the XNUMXth century, to find games reported in large numbers and for any real duration. That year, an FA Cup tie between Sheffield United and Bolton Wanderers was only played three months after its originally scheduled date, but we haven't seen a blanket suspension like this since World War II.
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A sample of this weekend's Sky Sports program. (Image credit: Apple)
Expensive tumbleweed
Of course, the game is very different from what it was at that time. Today, television calls the shots, shifting five Premier League games per typical weekend day to fill their schedules: usually two on Saturday, two on Sunday and one on Monday night. It's only 7.5 hours if each takes 90 minutes, but add in all the pre-game and post-game analysis and this represents a significant proportion of the schedule, not to mention hours and hours of gameplay. EFL, Germany. Bundesliga and other foreign leagues that are also televised. Can't broadcasters justify charging €42 a month for golf, rugby league and WWE? The suspensions have left holes in the networks' weekend schedules, with back-to-back episodes of Sky's Premier League years expected to be matches with Aston Villa, Chelsea, Wolves and West Ham. Fans who pay a significant portion of their monthly subscription fees to access sports channels (currently €42 per month for Sky Sports and BT Sport), shouldn't expect to receive a refund for all games that aren't right? Without soccer, TV subscriptions would be just a fraction of what they currently cost. The rights to broadcast Premier League matches live on television between 2019 and 2022 were sold for over €4.4 billion in February 2018 and these costs are passed on to the viewer. Sky Sports, in particular, has doubled down on Premier League games in recent years, giving up its rights to the Spanish La Liga and the Dutch Eredivisie as the costs of broadcasting England's elite have skyrocketed. While BT Sport shows fewer Premier League games than Sky, the suspension of the Champions League and Europa League will eat into their offers next week and possibly beyond. Broadcasters certainly can't justify charging €42 a month for golf, rugby league and WWE, especially when wrestling isn't an actual sport.
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(Image credit: Sky Sports)
The answer to date
Neither Sky nor BT Sport have committed to refunding subscription fees, and when we asked if there were any plans to do so, the two broadcasters made almost identical announcements. Sky Sports general manager Rob Webster said: "We recognize that the situation is changing rapidly and we are working quickly to ensure we continue to deliver for all of our customers." Several sporting events have been postponed but not cancelled, so we hope to be able to show them when they are rescheduled. A similar statement from BT Sport reads: “We apologize to customers for the changes to BT Sport's schedule this month due to the impact of Covid-19. The situation is changing rapidly and we are working with the leagues to continue to broadcast sports on live when possible and to broadcast matches when they are scheduled for the next few months." However, as things stand, a resumption of matches early next month seems unlikely at best. The virus is not expected to peak in the UK before May or June, The Guardian says the game's "senior administrators" expect the disruption to last much longer, while a Premier League club executive believes that there is a realistic chance that the current season may never end. No luck Liverpool fans, the wait continues.
A sporty gesture
It's almost certainly too soon to tell, and the health of those affected should be everyone's first priority, but whether the TV companies or the Premier League itself spit money out, subscribers deserve to be reimbursed for everything they they end up losing. Of course, those with a no-contract monthly subscription can simply cancel, or perhaps just switch to a Now TV entertainment subscription in a timely manner. But subscribers should be compensated, after all, it was their money that made the Premier League the conquering force it is today. Oh, and a little financial help for lower league teams that rely almost entirely on gate receipts to survive wouldn't hurt either. Although the wheelchair fan is not the most supportive of soccer fans, a study by eToro in 2019 found that the average match fan spends 40% more on TV subscriptions now than five years ago. years . Considering that TV companies often seem callous about inconveniencing fans and costing them unnecessary expense with clunky kickoffs, isn't it time to feel the sting, too?