Bolton Wanderers fans split over football's TV 3pm blackout

A poll answered by nearly 2,000 people were asked to what extent they felt the game should maintain the current broadcasting rules, which prohibit games from being shown live between 2.45pm and 5.45pm.

The rule has been in place since the 1960s when Burnley chairman Bob Lord lobbied his peers to back his call for a blackout, arguing that screening games would adversely affect attendances.

There have been exceptions made, including in lockdown, but the recent near £1bn five-year TV deal agreed by the EFL has elected to retain the rule for the time being.

We asked people to put a numerical value on where they stood on the argument, with zero being the least concerned about keeping the blackout in place and 10 being the most concerned.

A funnel chart to show how Bolton News readers voted in our survey on the TV blackout (Image: Camerasport)

At the extreme ends of the scale almost exactly the same number of votes were recorded (zero took 19.24 per cent and 10 took 19.62 per cent).

Overall, though, the survey had an NPS score of minus 30, which suggests there were marginally more votes from people who wanted the ban to remain in place than those who did not.

Premier League chief Richard Masters has gone on record as a supporter of the ban – also known as Article 48 – and that played a large part in the EFL following suit when discussing their own broadcasting deal earlier this year.

Some feel the blackout is an outdated notion considering around 200 of the 380 Premier League games are shown or streamed by the likes of Sky Sports, BT Sport or Amazon.

Wanderers chief executive Neil Hart is among them, and told The Bolton News last month that he feels the issue will come around for discussion again in the new few years.

“Football wants to protect the 3pm window because I think there is a fear factor that we won’t get bums on seats,” he said. “That is the trade-off.

“I don’t think there is anything like live sport. The ones who want to come and watch it will always do it. But I accept others may have a different view, and that’s OK.

“I am in favour of making football completely inclusive, and I understand the commercial implications behind it.

“But you go to other countries, like the US, and everything is televised. The NFL, the NBA, it is all streamed and yet the games are all played in front of full houses, courts, stadia and arenas.

“There will come a time in the future when we need to be brave with this. How soon that happens, I don’t know.

“It is an interesting debate and I don’t think there is a right or a wrong answer here.”