More money for West Ham means more problems for fans as a new record Premier League TV deal is announced.
David Moyes has been one of the most vocal in complaining about Premier League fixture scheduling during his time at West Ham.
And yesterday the Scot spoke out about the lack of atmosphere for Sunday games when West Ham played Crystal Palace live on Sky Sports.
Well Moyes and West Ham fans be warned – it’s not going to improve anytime soon.
More money for West Ham more problems for fans
In fact it’s going to get a whole lot worse it seems, certainly for Hammers supporters if not the club’s coffers.
More money for West Ham but more problems for fans as the new record Premier League TV deal is announced.
The record £6.7bn domestic television deal for Sky and TNT means up to 270 live games will be broadcast every season for four years from the 2025/26 campaign.
New record Premier League TV deal announced
That may not be Moyes’ problem to worry about by then of course. Not at West Ham anyway with the Hammers boss into the last year of his current contract.
But make no mistake it will present West Ham fans – and indeed supporters of all 20 Prem clubs – with more issues regarding attending matches in person.
West Ham will get their own bigger slice of the Premier League pie – which is great news for majority stakeholder David Sullivan, Czech billionaire co-owner Daniel Kretinsky and the rest of the Hammers heirarchy.
But the “largest sports media rights deal ever concluded in the UK” will mean every single 2pm Sunday kick-off will be televised.
Not fan-tastic news for match-going supporters
Coupled with increasing difficulties travelling to and from matches – along with rising prices against the backdrop of a cost of living crisis – the news may be greeted rather differently by the people who are supposed to be the lifeblood of the beautiful game.
It will also undoubtedly raise issues regarding ticket sales and filling stadiums for many clubs if fans can watch even more games – legally – on TV.
Who has what and when?
Sky has been awarded four of the five packages and will show a minimum of 215 matches a season including Saturday 5.30pm kick-offs, Sunday 2pm and 4.30pm kick-offs, plus evening games on Mondays and Fridays and three midweek rounds.
TNT will show a minimum of 52 matches a season including all 12.30pm kick-offs on Saturdays and two midweek match rounds.
Sky Sports will also broadcast all 10 matches on the final day of each season.
