An official statement from the Premier League has stated that Manchester City's game at home to Leeds United, now rescheduled to kick off on Saturday 6th May at 3pm, will be televised live on Sky Sports, despite falling inside the prohibited "3pm blackout" window.
Manchester City have quite the congested run-in as they enter the business end of the season still very much alive in three major competitions - the EPL, the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League.
Of the several of City's fixtures which have needed to be rescheduled of late, this one against Leeds has caused quite the stir.
The league said in their statement that due to City's Champions League obligations, alongside King Charles III's coronation and a subsequent lack of police resources, the only appropriate time to move the match, which was slated to take place the following day on Sunday 7th May, was to the day before on Saturday 6th May at 3pm.
However, Sky Sports already hold the rights to the fixture, and were set to televise it on the Sunday. They will now be providing coverage of the game on the Saturday, despite them doing so breaking Article 48 of the FA rulebook.
What is the 3pm blackout and why does it exist?
Article 48 states that no games can be televised between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on a Saturday, throughout all levels of professional football in the United Kingdom. This is designed to limit potential damage done to lower league teams through lower attendances and ensuing loss of incomes.
This rule has infamously become known as the 3pm blackout. It's a rule which has increasingly become a subject for hot debate for many reasons.
Some fans decry the rule and point out the huge fees they are forced to pay broadcasters like Sky Sports and BT Sport in order to watch only half or less of scheduled Premier League matches. They call for a Premier League streaming service. They complain about the fact that fans overseas get to watch the EPL for a fraction of the cost they pay, while at the same time getting access to often double the games.
See our Premier League Price Index for more info on how this all shakes out.
On the other hand, some fans, particularly those of lower league clubs, see the end to the 3pm blackout as the final death knell for many clubs at the lower end of the pyramid, as they fear it would strip their beloved clubs of the lifeline of matchday revenue, with droves of fans likely to choose to stay home and watch, for example, Manchester United or Liverpool on the TV instead of trekking out to watch Rochdale and Tranmere Rovers play in League Two.
Some lower league fans themselves also call for a more inclusive live streaming option. The current iFollow model is regularly unavailable (again due to the blackout) and often quite expensive when it is. These fans argue that clubs could maximise revenues by making the most of those fans who are unable to attend the games in person but would be willing to pay a fair price to follow proceedings from their homes.
It's difficult to know who's right, but the debate is gathering more and more steam, with Premier League chief executive Richard Masters himself admitting recently that the organisation is considering adapting its approach to the 3pm blackout in the "near term".
EFL clubs need not worry about TV competition
Arguments aside, the blackout has been upheld almost exclusively, apart from in extraordinary circumstances, like those faced during the dreaded coronavirus pandemic, which saw all Premier League matches broadcast on TV to the sound of fake crowd noise or bellowing coaches' instructions amid stadium closes.
This incidence will be rather historic. Man City and Leeds will be live on Sky Sports at 3pm while several other Premier League games go on adhering to the blackout.
The key difference here, which the Premier League has pointed out when explaining its reasoning for bypassing the six-decades old rule in its statement, is that lower league fans will not have to worry about their clubs being impacted.
There will be no EFL games scheduled for Saturday 6th May. The final round of fixtures in the Championship, League One and League Two will take place on the following Sunday 7th May and the bank holiday Monday 8th May.
Therefore, those clubs will not have to compete with City vs Leeds and shouldn't experience any ill effects of the move.
Nonetheless, this news has unsurprisingly raised many an eyebrow in the football world, and many see it as another slight edge closer to a post-blackout world, and a new live streaming future.
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