Cup Final Kick Off Time

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A whole range of questions and answers from after the Arsenal/Wigan game - the last question is the key kick-off knock-back (Copied them all out for those who can't get the link):


Greg Dyke has welcomed a range of ideas from football fans outlining ways The FA Cup could be revolutionised.
The FA Chairman fielded questions from BBC Radio 5 live listeners immediately after watching Arsenal’s 4-2 semi-final penalty shootout victory over Wigan Athletic at Wembley Stadium.
“There’s something brilliant about The FA Cup which is that it’s a knockout”
Greg Dyke FA Chairman
Dyke, 66, joined presenter Darren Fletcher for a 606 FA Cup special live from the national stadium and you can read his responses to the ideas below.

Could you play the last three or four rounds of The FA Cup after the Premier League finishes and treat it as a Finals series or a tournament?

Dyke: “It’s a radical idea, let’s say that. Whether you could reorganise the fixture list to make that happen, I have my doubts. There’s something brilliant about The FA Cup which is that it’s a knockout – when you’re out you’re out – that’s it. It’s an interesting idea but I can’t see it taking place.

What is the public perception of The FA Cup as it stands now?

Dyke: “Well I’m quite an old bloke so you’ve got to go back to when I was a kid and in those days it was literally the only live football match on the television. Town centres were empty on the day of The FA Cup Final because it was the only live football that was on. We’re never going to go back to those days – it’s never going to be like that again.
“Next year, when the coverage of The FA Cup switches back to the BBC, I think, talking with them and with BT Sport, there will be a lot of ideas and a lot of new ways of promoting The FA Cup. The great thing about the BBC when I used to be director general was its marketing power. If we can get The FA Cup on all sorts of different programmes I think you’ll begin to see a revival of The FA Cup.
“I thought Wigan winning The FA Cup last season was a wonderful moment, it was a romantic moment – unless you were a Manchester City fan, in which case, you felt sick. But other than that it was a wonderful, romantic moment and that’s what I remember about The FA Cup.
“I always remember watching Sunderland beat Leeds when I was a student and I couldn’t have cared less about either of those sides but I was screaming at the television set and that’s what happens – that’s what’s exciting about the competition. You never want to lose that – the David versus Goliath – because if you lose that, it’s just like every other game.

Instead of playing the semi-finals at Wembley, why not have them played at neutral venues like Villa Park and Old Trafford, like they used to be, and keep Wembley special for the Final?

Dyke: “It’s part of the economics of building a stadium like this. The FA has to make enough money to pay for it but there were 80-odd thousand people here today – that’s an enormous turnout. Where else could you play it to get that sort of turnout? At Villa Park you’d get 40-50,000…that’s what’s interesting.”
“This is a tremendous stadium – it’s something special coming here”
Greg Dyke

What about the problems of teams in the north getting to and from Wembley?

Dyke: “I understand that point and it’s point in many ways. It is harder for Wigan fans and fans in the north to get down to London. The ironic thing is this is the furthest Arsenal have travelled so far this season in the whole competition – a trip down the North Circular – because all of their other matches have been at home. So I can understand that feeling but the excitement of coming to Wembley is still there. The excitement is a very important thing. If you’d spoken to Uwe Rosler today, it was a big and exciting moment for him to lead Wigan out at Wembley.
“The FA took a commitment when they built Wembley that the Semi-Finals would be at Wembley Stadium, so that’s where it is at the moment. Unless the contractual position changes I can’t see that happening. But if you talk to a lot of the players and fans who have come here today this is still an exciting moment and it’s an exciting moment because they’re coming to Wembley. This is a tremendous stadium – it’s something special coming here.”

Would you consider having the highest ranked team in the draw being forced to play away?

Dyke: “It’s quite complicated. Last year Brentford drew Chelsea at home and with 20 minutes to go were set to knock Chelsea out. Instead, Brentford went back to Stamford Bridge for a replay and for them going to Chelsea transformed their season financially. A lot of small clubs are in dire financial difficulties and getting drawn at an away ground really matters. I remember when Exeter played two games against Manchester United and that sort of money for a club like Exeter literally doubles their income for a season.

Could The FA give teams an extra league point for every round of The FA Cup they get through?

Dyke: “I’m not sure that would be fair. Teams spend all season trying to get out of the league they’re in – it’s a gruelling programme. I’m not sure it’s fair if you a team didn’t get promoted because someone beat somebody else in the second round of The FA Cup.

Could the winners of FA Cup get a Champions League place?

Dyke: “That’s not within our control – it’s under UEFA’s control. There’s nowhere in Europe that cup winners get into the Champions League. The FA doesn’t have the power to do that – it’s down to UEFA.
“We can certainly put the point forward – we’re throwing a lot of ideas around within The FA. There’s a big tradition with The FA Cup and people don’t want to lose that – but what would you have to change to make it a more exciting competition?
“We will take all of these ideas and throw them into our discussions. We could say to UEFA we would like that – I don’t think Premier League clubs would like that – but it’s not under our control.”

What about making the Final a 3pm kick-off and making it the last fixture of the season?

Dyke: “I agree with that – not necessarily moving it back to 3pm but certainly that we should try, if we can, so that the Final finishes the season off. That’s going to happen this year and it’s going to happen next year and we hope we can organise it for the future. I think that’s important.
“Having a kick-off at 5.15pm or 5.30pm rather than 3pm allows us to have a bigger audience and the broadcasters want that too. We want big audiences. It would be great if the Final could be the only match of the weekend, so that it then becomes an event, which is what it was like when I was a kid.
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Is the KO time dictated by the sponsors? With it being Budweiser, I can imagine it's to make it a better viewing time for USA??
 
Fez said:
A whole range of questions and answers from after the Arsenal/Wigan game - the last question is the key kick-off knock-back (Copied them all out for those who can't get the link):
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He addresses that, but not the reason why it should be moved back, so people can get back easier.
 
As a rule, I NEVER leave a game early but left yesterday on the 86th minute for fear of not been able to get the tube back to kings cross in time.

Missed the last two goals for my trouble, and had to make my way through a load of arsey sheff united supporters who had also left early.

Last train back to Hull is 20:00, so basically going to have to go through the same routine again, and miss extra time if that happens.

Either that, or Tiger Travel.
 
markkc said:
As a rule, I NEVER leave a game early but left yesterday on the 86th minute for fear of not been able to get the tube back to kings cross in time.

Missed the last two goals for my trouble, and had to make my way through a load of arsey sheff united supporters who had also left early.

Last train back to Hull is 20:00, so basically going to have to go through the same routine again, and miss extra time if that happens.

Either that, or Tiger Travel.
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Yesterday's kick off was 4:07, seems the final is 5, so, you'll need to leave at half time!

Seriously, won't they put on "footy special" trains for the final? If they don't, I'd honestly choose the bus if I were you.
 
Happy Tiger said:
Yesterday's kick off was 4:07, seems the final is 5, so, you'll need to leave at half time!

Seriously, won't they put on "footy special" trains for the final? If they don't, I'd honestly choose the bus if I were you.
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Surely the train company are missing out on a fortune by not putting on a load of trains. Everyone would go by train for a reasonable price. Arent they allowed to?
 
Happy Tiger said:
Yesterday's kick off was 4:07, seems the final is 5, so, you'll need to leave at half time!

Seriously, won't they put on "footy special" trains for the final? If they don't, I'd honestly choose the bus if I were you.
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Is there a reason they never seem to do this? There is such a need for it that they would easily sell them out
 
The rail industry structure is such that one-off rail specials are eye wateringly expensive. And there precious little room in kings cross or any other terminus for an extra train.

It's a real shame. Blame John Major!
 
markkc said:
As a rule, I NEVER leave a game early but left yesterday on the 86th minute for fear of not been able to get the tube back to kings cross in time.

Missed the last two goals for my trouble, and had to make my way through a load of arsey sheff united supporters who had also left early.

Last train back to Hull is 20:00, so basically going to have to go through the same routine again, and miss extra time if that happens.

Either that, or Tiger Travel.
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Book tiger travel, Get train there and get TT back
 
Train fares from hull have been going up by the hour although ****ing pointless if you can't get back in time for your return journey.

25 quid each way if you can be arsed to drop the car off at Doncaster get the train from there. Last train to Doncaster at 22:00
 
Fez said:
This was last July and it's a commitment for 4 years from now!

http://www.thefa.com/TheFACup/News/2013/Jul/chairman-confirms-cup-ko-time.aspx

FA Chairman Greg Dyke has confirmed The FA Cup Final will continue to kick-off in the early evening slot, and has explained the reasoning behind the decision.

Speaking at Wednesday’s FA Cup broadcast partners announcement, the Chairman said it was important the Final continued to grow its global reach, and that the later kick-off time is essential to this.

He said: "The Final will continue to be held in late afternoon, which is where it's been moved to.

"I'm certainly happy with that because if you look at the viewing figures for the past two FA Cup Finals they were much bigger than they would have been had the match kicked off at 3pm.
"The world changed and we had to change with it."

The new Chairman was speaking publicly for the first time since replacing David Bernstein on 13 July.

He said the new deals will benefit all involved, as well as help bring The FA Cup to a wider domestic and international audience.

"Financially it's quite a jump in money from this year to the next, but also the fact that it's going on the BBC means there will be a lot of coverage across many outlets that help promote the FA Cup," he said.

The statistics support the Chairman's comments.

The previous two finals that have kicked-off in the early evening slot have peaked at 9.3m and 11.56m viewers, while the last two to start at 3pm peaked at 8.58m and 7.24m.

Dyke added: "We've also got a pay deal with BT, which we're pleased about. Remember, all the money from the FA Cup goes back into football, it doesn't go to players' wages.

"There was some fairly intense competition for the rights, but they've ended up where we expected them to.

"I believe the FA Cup is still the greatest club cup competition in the world and you saw all the romance of it last year when Wigan won after beating the multi-million pound Manchester City team.

"The FA Cup operates in a different context to the Premier League. Last year I was chairman at Brentford, who went to play at Chelsea.

"That was so exciting and you can't explain what it meant to the fans. The FA Cup belongs to the fans."

It was also revealed that ITV had negotiated exclusive rights to broadcast all England’s international friendly games from 2014-18.

The broadcaster had already secured a deal with UEFA for all European Championship and World Cup qualifiers.
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armchairfan said:
He addresses that, but not the reason why it should be moved back, so people can get back easier.
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Read the above -what more do you need in explanation? Viewing figures ramp up TV rights payments, simple as.
 
Hasn't the FA cup played second fiddle to the premier league for the last few years?
Haven't they played league games on cup final day? If they have then his argument doesn't stack up- of course the figures will be down when you've got league games on- this year it should be the ONLY game
 
Cillit Bang said:
Hasn't the FA cup played second fiddle to the premier league for the last few years?
Haven't they played league games on cup final day? If they have then his argument doesn't stack up- of course the figures will be down when you've got league games on- this year it should be the ONLY game
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It is the only game on.

It's the weekend after the league finishes.
 
markkc said:
As a rule, I NEVER leave a game early but left yesterday on the 86th minute for fear of not been able to get the tube back to kings cross in time.

Missed the last two goals for my trouble, and had to make my way through a load of arsey sheff united supporters who had also left early.

Last train back to Hull is 20:00, so basically going to have to go through the same routine again, and miss extra time if that happens.

Either that, or Tiger Travel.
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Surprised you had to leave so early.I stayed for the celebrations, delays in exiting the stadium and the two delays on Wembley Way yet arrived at Liverpool Street which is 3 stops further on at 19.25, though I can understand your precaution
 
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