Originally Posted by
ncfcog
The 80% is correct, the argument comes when you consider the potential loss of income through not getting the same number of away fans through the terraces.
Any away fan that decides to watch a game via iFollow rather than travelling to the game will pay their £10 through their iFollow subscription which will be linked most likely to the club they follow.
So assume it is a saturday kick off and Notts are at home to Northampton who you would expect to bring 500-600 fans with them. lets say 100 of them decide to stay at home and watch it on iFollow that means Notts would lose circa approximately £2k in ticket sales pre tax plus whatever sales they miss out on in catering and merch etc. Multiply that by 23 games and you're looking at a £50k deficit for the season.
On the other hand if 100 fans pay £10 that's £800 pre-tax to the away club. This would have the potential for clubs to encourage fans to stay at home and watch on iFollow, but if every club did that they would all actually be losing out in the long run due to a down turn in attendances.
Andy Holt at Stanley has already declared that their club relies heavily on encouraging high away attendances and they are typical of the type of club this would hurt the most.
I'm rushing so apologies for the crude workings out but essentially the streaming of 3pm saturday fixtures, which has been introduced stealth like by the EFL on international breaks, could potentially put many small, lower league clubs out of business.
it will be interesting to see the results of their analysis and I'm really pleased you are starting to take an active interest in this now, I know from your perspective it has been a brilliant scheme and I have no issue with the overseas element of this.