AIBU to worry football’s biggest matches are no longer for everyone?

Yes. Back in the day you could watch all the matches on Sky Sports . Now you also need to have TNT to see all PL matches. It gets very expensive. I had a feeling the CL would end up pay to view altogether but at least last season the final was free to view.

Scottish matches are VERY rarely on free TV. That's why we got a dodgy box. It's also 52 quid for the cup final this weekend, so that would be £200 just for tickets for us, supporters bus another 70, then food/drinks, probably another 60. I'll be watching at home with a box of beer, £10 at most!

YANBU. I haven't any interest in football but it annoys me when big companies act like this, pricing ordinary people out of things they harmlessly enjoy.

I hope it backfires on them, people refuse to pay and they lose money on what they've paid to FIFA or whoever it is.

I feel the same. We support our local low division club and happily contribute there but I really can't justify the cost of the Premier League matches. I remember 15 years ago being able to get tickets for £15 to see my local premier League club play, now it costs £25 for a third division club.

The tickets prices are going up because players salaries are going through the roof. I think the 100 million transfer fees we are seeing for the best players are absurd. And the weekly salaries are astronomical, no one needs to be earning that kind of money per week. Even with half their current salaries premier league players would be living an amazing lifestyle. I'm all for slashing salaries and brining ticket and merch prices down too.

YANBU. I always felt so sorry for my grandad who was a life long Liverpool supporter, went matches home, away and abroad when he was physically able. Looking at the match fixtures and league table was a great pleasure of his. He used to have to listen to the match on the radio because trying to work a Sky box was too much for him.

The World Cup is still on the protected list and international football is always interesting, although being in North America this year the kick-off times are awkward.

The price for that appears to be that for this tournament, there will be compulsory three minute "hydration breaks" in each half - even if it's 17 degrees and raining. Coincidentally, three minutes is just long enough for an ad break which will help the US TV stations, even if it does seem like a lengthy amount of time to drink a cup of water.

And the Europa and Conference. There are English sides in all 3 finals.

Uefa are apparently 'unhappy'. But not enough to do anything. I suspect it may be sorted by the Champions League final but for us in the Europa, I'm not expecting anything.

The Champions League final should be on the protected list whenever an English (or Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish) club reaches the final.

It doesn't surprise me.

I almost feel lucky that my local team is a league 1 team where season tickets are on the cheaper side and getting a ticket for a game if you don't have a season ticket isn't difficult.

Big teams have made that impossible for their fans because making money is more important.

My team are on on Wednesday. I'm damned if I'm paying TNT 31 quid, I'll just walk 5 mins down the road and spend that money in the pub. Supporting a local business 🤣

I mean so many people don’t even watch live tv anymore.

So football is cashing in where it can. Got to get that money in to over pay ball kickers.

Our sky sports package is extortionate but mainly chosen for football, tennis and F1...and theres still a lot we cant see because its on tnt!

It is all about money now, but it still depends on how you prioritise your spending.
A lot is pay per view or a subscription.
I prioritise a streaming service depending on what I want to watch and shop around for deals.
I remember the results being read on TV and aged 12, the Hillsborough disaster was one of first real life events that made me cry. Silently after I'd gone to bed.

🙄🙄

I find it annoying - it wouldn’t be so bad if all football was on one streaming service, but it is all over place and you end up paying for several different streaming services.

TV coverage of sports these days is fantastic.

Get yourself a big 4K OLED telly. I watch F1, football, NFL, a bit of darts at Xmas. Recently been getting into the golf.

It is far superior than going to watch in the Stadium. I've been to the British GP and although there is an atmosphere and good things to see you can't see hardly anything of the race.

Live football is a bit shit compared to TV coverage and the NFL coverage from the US is just fantastic.

Beer and food is cheaper, you can make it yourself and it actually tastes good instead of paying silly money at the venue for a pint.

The sofa is comfortable and relaxing.

Telly - it's the way forward.

It's the same with all sports tbf (in fact to some extent football has it better than others). Think back to Grandstand in it's prime - 5 nations, challenge cup, football focus, horse racing, domestic ice hockey, golf majors, snooker. It was as if Sky Sports had to cram everything into one channel.

Commercially I get it - these elite sportspeople want top money and people will pay for subscriptions and as long as thats the case Sky/TNT will hoover it up.

I don't think it is as simple as that.

There are FAR more competitions and there is FAR more football on TV now than there ever was when I was growing up.

Back then, there were two matches on MotD and then a local team on Sunday afternoon on your regional ITV (ATV had Star Soccer, I don't know if there were different names around the country).
Now I can watch ALL the Premiership game highlights that get played on Saturday and Sunday, and highlights from lower league games if you can keep track of the constantly changing programmes. I can also watch the Women's Super League and frequently on Wednesday nights I can watch highlights from the Champions League.
I only have basic TV so get all that for free.

Then, of course, there is FAR more European Football to watch / keep up with than there ever used to be.

Then, when I want to watch a specific game - the Villa Game this week or the Arsenal one next week - they are shown in numerous pubs and clubs where you can go and watch them.

So, yes, it would be nice in a way to have everything in life for free, but we all know life isn't like that, and I quite like the fact that I can keep abreast of what is going on across so many competitions, for free. If we want to have the top players in the World to watch, then someone has to pick up the bill somewhere.

Cricket is dieing slowly at grass roots level. Why? Because it's solely on Sky.

Football will eat itself. Sadly, at the moment the premier League is making money via TV and tourists. But when there is no atmosphere, like during COVID, it's dreadful. Some clubs are handing out song sheets! Song sheets!

I'm lucky I support a lower league team. We make a lot of noise. But even at our level I'm surprised when we go away how few fans sing in the home end and how little atmosphere there is.

But the time will come when we are back to 15 or 16 thousand at Spurs or Newcastle or Villa. I've been in a crowd of less than 30,000 at Wembley for a full England international. Because they have chased off the younger fan who can't afford to go, isn't involved in the game like I was at 20

All these things should be on terrestrial tv, as well. That is what the BBC was founded, and granted the license fee, to broadcast, not the commercial dross they churn out these days.

OP INBU. Encouraging children and young people to watch and hopefully participate in all sport is good for the future health of the nation, and it is ridiculously expensive now.

Absolutely not the same as rugby. At the last Calcutta match at Murrayfield there were no arrests, there was no trouble in the city, despite England and Scotland fans not being segregated. Whenever Murrayfield put on football matches there is about 600% more police officers required, and about 10 times more security required than for rugby matches. Those are not hyperbolic figures, that is actual fact. I happily take my daughter in a wheelchair to a rugby match.

Last weekend we were in Edinburgh just as the Hearts/Celtic match was finishing in Glasgow. In our shot walk from Haymarket to west end, we saw 4 fights between football fans, one bar we had hoped to eat in suggested it was not safe for us, another had closed early because of trouble they’d had. This was for a football match that happened over 50 miles away.

We have been on trains full of pissed up rugby fans and trains full of pissed up football fans, we have never had trouble on rugby trains. We’ve seen football fans held back and we’ve been escorted to the train when football fans are involved. There is no world where I would take my daughter to a football match.

@Herewegoagainandagainandagain - I don't think football is culturally significant but if you think it is, then so is opera, so is theatre or booker prize novels - none of which are free so why should football be?

I prefer it on TV.

However, if you are into swearing, yelling loudly and chanting, standing out in the freezing cold, eating disgusting cold pies and hot dogs and feeling "the energy of the crowd" you could try going to a non premier league game which might give you more of the authentic 80s-90s football experience at a lower cost.