I said at the start that I don’t intend to watch(because of safety point of view)but with shops and factories etc now back open....I know I will.
The hypocrisy around telling players they can't celebrate goals together but can spend 90 minutes tackling and grappling each other at corners is astounding. Absolute bunch of ****s.
Here’s a thought, will the players have their own water bottles? They normally share, so obviously that can’t continue.
I wonder what the viewing figures will be like, I haven’t missed football even slightly tbh so won’t bother watching, but expect I’m in the minority
My guess is that the first couple of weeks will be pretty high and it will slowly tail off after that.
But it's not the same is it? There's plenty of people like me who have interest in it whatsoever, it's a spectator sport ultimately. Throw in the fact that a lot of it will be played at a training level pace and people can go outdoors now after being locked in for months and I can definitely see less people bothering once the novelty has worn off. I'll watch the final game cheering on the lads from Yorkshire if there's a chance we can go down (unlikely) but otherwise I'm not arsed in the slightest.
People will take what they can get at the moment. Live football is live football. And although you can go outside you can't go to the pub, cinema, restaurants etc. So people will watch the football IMO.
Everyone's different ultimately. If the sun is out on a Saturday afternoon then there'll be plenty who would rather go out and do something than stay sat in like they have done for the past 3 months imo.
Whether viewing figures are high or low surely depends on what you're comparing it to/what context you're talking? Do I expect every football fan to be regularly watching the matches which they have access to? No Do I expect average viewing figures to be greater than the normal average when all matches are behind a subscription? Yes Records will be beaten, I'm sure. Viewing figures for FA Cup matches on terrestrial TV regularly top Sky coverage, let alone big England tournament matches. So free PL matches should do very well. But yeah, they'll be some who won't tune in at all, or who will tune out as quickly as they tune in.
Yeah I think it will be initially too, just think that the novelty will soon wear off for many. Particularly as it's going to be nothing like the game we all normally tune into. Like I say though everyone will be different ultimately and it will depend on personal circumstance too. I, and many other people I know, have no interest in it at all. Bound to be many that will though.
Agreed that the free to air matches will likely have very high viewing figures. **** loads of people have cancelled their Sky subscriptions though (hence the refund). Just can't see many people interested in watching Burnley vs Watford with no fans and nothing to play for. Reckon the pace of games will be training match level once things are decided. Think the lack of supporters will also take a lot of the unpredictability away. Fully expect City and Liverpool to win almost every match.
I doubt Sky will ever confirm, but it would be interesting to know the split between people who have cancelled and people who paused. I paused my subscription the day Sky introduced it. It automatically gets un-paused on Wednesday, and I go back to paying again. The pausing has still cost Sky money (over two months of me and many others not paying for Sky Sports), but at least it's allowed them to keep the likes of me. I guess they had little choice really, but to offer customers the opportunity to pause.
Yeah if they hadn't have offered the pause I suspect they might have been in a bit of trouble themselves. This whole episode has really highlighted how vital football is to their business model. And I doubt we'll ever hear publicly but they must have told the PL and it be a sizeable amount for them to use it as a basis for a £340m refund even if the season is completed. Unfortunately there'll be plenty who simply can't afford it anymore too.
I'm on the fence. I'll watch our game if I can on Friday (6pm is a crap time as I working loosely US hours at the moment and that is 1pm...the middle of my day), but I really have no passion for it. The last few months have made me realise there are more important things in the world and although it is a change to normality, I am not sure how much it fits in to my new normal. I'm sure I will change though.
