Newsletter

Get your daily update and weekly newsletter by signing up today!

Opinion

Premier League Live TV Fixtures : How many times each club has been chosen so far – Tells a story

5 years ago
Share

The latest Premier League Live TV Fixtures were announced on Thursday.

This was the October announcement, with 13 of the 30 matches chosen for UK broadcast by Sky Sports and BT Sport.

This followed previous announcements for August and September, when 33 of 70 PL matches were selected for live UK broadcast.

When you factor in the two batches of 10 Premier League fixtures that Amazon have bought, then the proportion of PL games shown live in the UK will be even higher.

With Premier League Live TV Fixtures, this is how the divide between the 20 clubs looks, up to the end of October 2019:

7 Arsenal

4 Aston Villa

2 Brighton

3 Bournemouth

3 Burnley

6 Chelsea

5 Everton

4 Leicester

8 Liverpool

7 Man City

7 Man Utd

7 Newcastle United

3 Norwich

3 Sheff Utd

4 Southampton

7 Tottenham

1 Watford

5 West Ham

3 Wolves

If all clubs were treated the same and given the same airtime, then you could have expected everybody to have been given four or five games so far.

However, it doesn’t quite work like that.

The TV companies want to make as much money as possible due to as many viewers as possible and that means getting certain clubs on as often as possible, whilst others not so much…

Despite Man City winning the Premier League it was Liverpool who were clear at the top in terms of Premier League Live TV Fixtures, so no surprise that they are at the top of the new season list with eight of their ten to be shown live in the UK.

Whilst also no surprise to have Watford given only one so far.

In fact, there is a clear split throughout the 20 clubs.

There are those with limited fan bases and/or wider interest to neutrals:

1  Watford

2 Brighton

3 Bournemouth, Burnley, Crystal Palace, Norwich, Sheff Utd, Wolves

4 Aston Villa, Leicester, Southampton

Then clubs who are in between:

5 Everton, West Ham

Finally, the clubs that the TV companies are desperate to show:

6 Chelsea

7 Arsenal, Man City, Man Utd, Newcastle United, Tottenham

8 Liverpool

Is anybody really in any doubt now, as to why Mike Ashley was so keen to buy Newcastle United and is still so desperate to hang onto it?

When it comes to success there is a clear big six but when it comes to the broadcasters it is a clear big seven.

This is backed up by stats down the years where Newcastle United have been picked more than any other club outside that obvious top grouping. Indeed, even when floundering in mid-table, or worse, NUFC in the past have often been picked more for live TV than clubs in the top/big six.

Share

If you would like to feature on The Mag, submit your article to contribute@themag.co.uk

Have your say

© 2024 The Mag. All Rights Reserved. Design & Build by Mediaworks