Michael Ball has now urged the FA to change its 3pm TV blackout rule after TNT Sports picked the Merseyside derby between Liverpool and Everton as a 12:30 kick-off game.
The Reds beat the Toffees 2-0 at Anfield on Saturday with Mohamed Salah scoring twice. He fired past Jordan Pickford from the penalty spot before adding a second in stoppage time. It was also both Liverpool and Everton’s first match following the October international break.
Liverpool have seemingly become the chosen side for TNT Sports and Sky Sports when they select a 12:30 game immediately after an international break. TNT Sports also picked Jurgen Klopp’s side in September. While Sky Sports has now picked a Liverpool game in November.
Why is there a 3pm TV blackout rule in the UK?
Liverpool visited Wolves following the September break and faced Everton after the October break, both live on TNT Sports. Klopp’s side will also now visit Manchester City following the November break after Sky Sports selected their encounter for the 12:30 fixture on the 25th.
The 12:30 kick-off slot is one of six slots available to Sky Sports and TNT Sports, along with a Friday or Monday night 20:00 kick-off, Saturday slots at 17:30 and 20:00 and Sunday slots at 14:00 and 16:30. But the FA continues to enforce a Saturday 15:00 TV blackout in the UK.
The 3pm TV blackout rule has been in force since the 1960s when teams lobbied to prevent broadcasters from showing any games at the traditional kick-off time. Clubs viewed it as the way to protect lower-tier attendances. But its place in the modern game is often questioned.
Michael Ball urges the FA to reconsider the 3pm TV blackout
Fans in the UK are often the only supporters who cannot watch their team play at 3pm on a Saturday. Premier League matches scheduled for that time are commonly broadcast around the world. But the Premier League has confirmed that the TV blackout rule will stay in force.
The Premier League revealed its TV tender up until the 2028/29 season earlier this month. It has an increase from 200 to 270 live TV games in the UK per term. All Sunday 14:00 games will also be shown live. But Sky Sports and TNT Sports cannot do so on Saturdays at 15:00.
Ball has now urged the FA to reconsider the suitability of the 3pm TV blackout rule following TNT Sports showing the Merseyside derby between Liverpool and Everton at 12:30. The ex-Toffees defender feels no one would be worse off broadcasting high-calibre games like that.
“We’ve had the debate over the long-standing tradition of 3pm kick-offs and whether the blackout should end. I think it should,” Ball told the Liverpool Echo. “The 3pm blackout was there to protect match attendances. And I still feel there is a need for fans to go to games.
“But why not just put one game live at 3pm, such as the Merseyside derby? You will still get the viewing figures on TV, and Goodison and Anfield will be full to the rafters regardless of it being at that time. So, no one is missing out in that scenario.”
Jurgen Klopp often bemoans playing on Saturdays at 12:30
The FA’s 3pm TV blackout rule letting TNT Sports and Sky Sports select Liverpool fixtures, including the Merseyside derby against Everton, in the Saturday 12:30 kick-off slot regularly infuriates Klopp. Playing then after an international break only serves to heighten his anger.
“The only problem is the lack of recovery time,” Klopp stated in September, via the Liverpool Echo. “We have four international breaks until March. [After] two of them we already have a 12:30 kick-off. If I say a word about it, the whole world goes, ‘He starts moaning again’.
“This is a joke. We have players [who were] in South America. I didn’t see them yet and we have 24 hours before we play. But it’s like it is. We cannot change that and we’ll never change that. The TV channel has a different name but that doesn’t change anything at all.”
Liverpool played six games as the Saturday 12:30 kick-off over the 2022/23 Premier League season and failed to win any. They lost three and drew three but ended that duct at Wolves. Everton played three Saturday 12:30 kick-off games last term, winning one and drawing one.
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