Any news for visiting streamers

[Footymad]

The recent SPFL announcement enables season ticket holders access to closed door home matches. What about the visitors? - External Link

[Wellup4it]

Its not just visiting fans. What about home fans who normally pay at the gate?

[Handsome_Devil]

Its not just visiting fans. What about home fans who normally pay at the gate?

I suspect they have no chance...even getting 'away' tickets will require some serious thought to ensure everyone avoids (potential) negative consequences.

[Wellup4it]

I suspect they have no chance...even getting 'away' tickets will require some serious thought to ensure everyone avoids (potential) negative consequences.

Could you elaborate for someone who has limited technological skills. My view of football is attending games in person. What exactly would be the problem?

[Handsome_Devil]

I haven't thought this through completely so maybe there are already solutions but there are implications for doing this in the short and long term.

In theory, Sky's biggest market for Scottish football is pubs and Old Firm fans. If you let people pay a few quid per game to stream, why would anyone bother with expensive subscriptions? From a Scottish football point of view, if selling streaming completely undermines the TV deal we could also be in bother. And even if in principle you try to let only home fans buy one-off tickets, how do you make sure away fans don't 'sneak in'?

You then have the question of who gets the money. Currently clubs keep the cash for the away games they stream to their own fans, at least barring some fairly token amounts. If Motherwell v Celtic is available to buy as a one-off stream, how many Celtic fans would be interested? They get 60,000 home fans plus some serious fans who don't attend for various reasons. You'd obviously need to ignore folk coming from the same house and people grouping together but what's the potential market for sales there? I'd guess at least 10,000, probably more. Call it a tenner a go and it's a tidy sum for Motherwell. Alternatively, it's a fortune in regular income for Celtic if they kept it for all their away games. If you think, as now, it should go to the home team, do you stop clubs currently streaming for international fans to prevent sneaky people using a VPN to watch it? Again, that international income will be buttons for Motherwell, for the OF with fans all over the world I'm not sure. If you try to balance that by giving the away side some of the price, do you set a precedent for future real life tickets?

None of this is so complex it can't be overcome but it does require thought and I suspect that for what is a (hopefully) temporary solution for what these days a relatively small number of people, the clubs will consider it more hassle than it's worth. There's then the pandora's box of what happens if they sit down, negotiate streaming rules that make everyone happy and absolutely nail it - when the corona crisis is over, do they simply say forget all that because they want to charge 30 quid real life tickets? Or is there someone who'll say wait, let's keep going - presumably the OF with the biggest market. And if they can sell what is a replacement to TV direct to their own fans, who will bid for the old style rights? And how can the smaller clubs (ie everyone else) ensure collective bargaining remains and we don't end up like Spain where it's every man for himself?

The old ban on showing televised football at 3pm on a Saturday is arguably out of date and due for review. So is the nature of our broadcast deal being television based given the modern possibilities of streaming. Both should be discussed calmly and in due course.

But ripping up all of this while in a crisis situation which prevents fans going to the game a normal has the potential to be either very good or very, very bad indeed. I wouldn't risk it and if that means some fans, of Motherwell or anyone else, have to make do with the radio and highlights for a few months rather than live games I think it's a price worth paying.

[Wellup4it]

I suspect that we, and other clubs, would be permitted by Sky to charge a higher fee for OF games, just the same as actual games are categorised. Pricing may be used to deter unwanted visitors - just an idea. As now with gate receipts, home clubs would retain any TV income.

You raise many good points, but as you say probably none are insurmountable. It just goes to show though how powerful an influence TV companies are in controlling the activities of all clubs and supporters not just their own customers.

[sieb1886]

I suspect that we, and other clubs, would be permitted by Sky to charge a higher fee for OF games, just the same as actual games are categorised. Pricing may be used to deter unwanted visitors - just an idea. As now with gate receipts, home clubs would retain any TV income.

You raise many good points, but as you say probably none are insurmountable. It just goes to show though how powerful an influence TV companies are in controlling the activities of all clubs and supporters not just their own customers.

On the face of it SKY have played a blinder in the Scottish game; they're currently seen with a halo above their head, and being part of the 'rescue package' to save Scottish fitbaw. Fair play to their media team and faceless negotiators. However, there's no doubt they'll use this situation as a big stick to get even more 'bend over backwards' stuff from our game. Give it 12 months and we'll be kicking off at any God-forgiven time just so they can fill their global viewing subscriptions.

[Handsome_Devil]

To play devil's advocate....one of the reasons Scottish football is in such a panic over coronavirus is we're still so heavily dependent on the income source of folk turning up and handing over cash on matchday. We've seen that Friday night football is popular so long as the travel isn't outrageous and weekend lunchtime kick-offs are widely accepted (there's even an argument that 3pm, eating into Saturday evening plans, discourages some but that's a different debate). If Sky, or someone else, or the clubs themselves as a streaming entity say, said adopting a Spanish/Italian/German approach to weekend kick-offs would make double the money, would it be worth it?

I don't think there's much doubt television has had some negative consequences for the game - but it's also clear that the 'blazers' are as out of touch as they've always been and if it's an external commercial entity who sees the potential for doing things better in the modern world, it shouldn't be dismissed out of hand.