Sky Sports to show every Football League match on opening weekend –including 3pm kick-offs
Sky Sports launched a new streaming platform which will allow more live events to be shown – Getty Images/Alex Dodd
Every game in the opening weekend of the Football League will be broadcast live next season, including kick-offs in the fiercely guarded 3pm Saturday slot.
The wall-to-wall coverage will be shown on Sky Sports+ as part of the broadcaster’s expanded £935 million five-year deal with the EFL.
There are, however, no plans to introduce Sunday night kick offs – which are deeply unpopular with match-going fans – but travelling supporters do face the prospect of more Saturday lunchtime games next season.
English football’s traditional 3pm TV blackout rules are designed to ensure people attend lower-league games in person rather than watching games on television. However, these rules only apply when the Premier League is also playing on a given weekend so Sky will be allowed to screen matches in that traditional slot when the EFL begins on August 9.
When the top-tier season starts the following weekend, Sky will screen 10 EFL matches per weekend, six from the Championship and two each from League One and League Two.
Although the 3pm blackout rule is then honoured, weekends will see the number of fixtures on TV trebling in return for a 50 per cent uplift in revenue through the league.
The deal between 2024 and 2029 is £895 million and an additional £40 million marketing benefits – a major boost for the clubs who received £595 million in the current cycle.
Sky Sports+ will be included free in current subscriber packages, making rooms for all the extra matches as well as freeing up space for other sports via an app, on Sky TV and Now services.
Every team in the EFL has been guaranteed to feature at least 20 times as part of the deal. Sky will announce a new presenting team for the coverage in the coming weeks.
Jonathan Licht, Managing Director at Sky Sports, said: “For the first time, we will broadcast every game live from across the EFL on the opening weekend. It’s going to be a huge moment for football fans up and down the country and is a fitting way to kick off our ground-breaking new partnership with the EFL.”
Of 1,059 matches now being screened each season, the breakdown is 328 from the Championship, 248 from League One, 248 League Two, all 15 play-offs, all 93 League Cup matches and all 127 EFL Trophy fixtures.
EFL clubs previously unanimously voted through the terms which keeps current Saturday protections in place. Streaming platform DAZN had been keen to acquire the rights to screen all EFL matches and bring an end to the Saturday blackout period between 2.45pm and 5.15pm.
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