This is clear evidence of the Premier League Live TV games nightmare that awaits

Premier League Live TV games – is there any other major league that is so dictated to by the broadcasters?

I don’t know if you have noticed but we are currently in the middle of a crazy period in terms of the number of Premier League Live TV games and the timing  of them.

Starting last Saturday (14 April), eight of nine days are seeing at least one game televised in the UK, the exception is tomorrow (Friday) night.

The net result is that on Saturday, there is only one Premier League match (Watford v Palace) that kicks off at 3pm. Indeed there are only two PL matches in total taking place over the whole of this Saturday.

The whole episode is for the benefit of the broadcasters (mainly Sky Sports) so they have at least one game to show each day at this key stage of the season.

The punchline of this joke of course is that it has totally backfired on then, as this late season overload has arrived with all the major issues such as the title and Champions League qualification taken care of by the looks of it, even the relegation zone sees Stoke and Southampton odds on to join West Brom in the Championship.

Newcastle fans are particularly affected, with Arsenal having been moved to a Sunday lunchtime, then Everton shockingly moved at such a late date to a Monday night.

This is the entire Premier League schedule over these nine days.

MONDAY 23RD APRIL

Everton v Newcastle United (8PM) LIVE TV

SUNDAY 22ND APRIL

Arsenal v West Ham (1.30pm) LIVE TV

Stoke v Burnley (1.30pm)

Manchester City v Swansea City (4.30pm) LIVE TV

SATURDAY 21ST APRIL

West Bromwich Albion v Liverpool (12.30pm) LIVE TV

Watford v Crystal Palace (3pm)

FRIDAY 22ND APRIL

No games.

THURSDAY 19TH APRIL

Burnley v Chelsea (7.45pm) LIVE TV

Leicester City v Southampton (7.45pm)

WEDNESDAY 18TH APRIL

AFC Bournemouth 0 Manchester United 2 LIVE TV

TUESDAY 17TH APRIL

Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Tottenham Hotspur 1 LIVE TV

MONDAY 16TH APRIL

West Ham United 1 Stoke City 1 LIVE TV

SUNDAY 15TH APRIL

Newcastle United 2 Arsenal 1 LIVE TV

Manchester United 0 West Bromwich Albion 1 LIVE TV

SATURDAY 14TH APRIL

Southampton 2 Chelsea 3 LIVE TV

Burnley 2 Leicester City 1

Crystal Palace 3 Brighton & Hove Albion 2

Huddersfield Town 1 Watford 0

Swansea City 1 Everton 1

Liverpool 3 AFC Bournemouth 0 LIVE TV

Tottenham Hotspur 1 Manchester City 3 LIVE TV

A total of 13 PL games shown on UK TV over only 10 days.The thing is, this joke of moving so many PL matches in a concentrated period, is only the tip of the iceberg.

At the minute, 168 of the 380 Premier League matches each season are shown live on either Sky Sports or BT Sport.

However, the next TV deal starting with the 2019/20 season, has seen 200 of the 380 Premier League matches put out to tender.

So far, Sky Sports and BT Sport have the contracts to show 160 of them, with it still to be revealed who will show the other 40.

The increase of 32 games live games per season, is seen by most people as a very blunt means by the clubs to ensure the overall cash with stay at least as high as the current deal, to counter the fact that the UK broadcasting deals have fallen in terms of how much will be paid to screen each match on average.

For Newcastle fans and of course all match-going supporters of Premier League clubs, they are going to be the ones being inconvenienced by the fitting in of an extra 32 live games from 2019/20.

This is how many Premier League Live TV games were shown in the UK in each period:

60 1992-2001

106 2001-2004

138 2004-2013

154 2013-2016

168 2016-2019

200 2020-2022

The percentage of Premier League Live TV games will increase from 44% at the moment, to 53% from 2019/20.

Be prepared because 3pm Saturday kick-offs are set to get even less unlikely.
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