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

[LoungeSalamander]

I appreciate MN isn’t fertile ground for football lovers but I suppose there’s a wider issue at stake.

When I was younger, I got into sport primarily through watching it. Football was frequently on TV and most importantly, the “Crown Jewels” were always broadcast on terrestrial TV - FA Cup Final, Champions League, World Cup, etc. This led me to try out those sports myself, as a player and as a live spectator.

It’s just been announced that the Champions League Final won’t be free to watch in the UK for the first time in the modern era. You can only get it if you’re a TNT Sport customer.

Am I being unreasonable to be concerned that these events are increasingly reserved for the people who can afford to watch them, rather than genuinely open cultural events that we can all enjoy?

I’ve watched football long enough to see its transition from the “working class ballet” to something a lot of families or even individuals just can’t afford any longer, especially at the top end. Or am I a dinosaur and have to accept that this is the way it is; if you want this stuff,
you have to pay for it.

You’re not being unreasonable. But unfortunately it is what it is. If you want to watch the main matches you need to pay for it. I dread to think how much on subscriptions to watch football

I don't think football should be thought of as a big cultural event, its just a game with a ball - I'd have to pay to watch most new films, any live cinema or opera so why shouldn't people pay to watch football?

I am not a big football fan but you are not been unreasonable. I can remember stopping up to watch Liverpool in the champions league final in 2005. I like cricket but it hasn't been on terrestrial television for years. Maybe i am a dinosaur but i can remember been able to watch the England cricket team when they played at home without my parents needing to pay for sky sports.

Same with cricket, rugby, F1, Tour de France, most sports. Pretty short-sighted in my opinion regarding exposure to the next generation.

Businesses are squeezing the last few drops of money out of anyone who will still be squeezed. Music, sport, homes, food, everything. End stage capitalism. We thought the 80s were the height of ‘greed is good’ laissez faire capitalism. We were wrong.

I wouldn't say football has ever been a "cultural event".

And I'm fairly sure it's never been regularly free to watch, unless you're watching minor league games. There's always been a TV license or ticket cost.

It's a huge business. Everyone wants a share of billions. You/we aren't invited. Just forget about it. But your money is always welcome

YANBU We are maxed out with subscriptions so we can watch our favourite teams (4 different ones). You need Sky Sports & TNT, then Amazon Prime for Champions League.

But then my other bug bear is despite paying for all of these services, all 3pm Saturday games are not allowed to be shown!

I can fly to Spain to watch the match there, but not at home!

this

there is football on terrestrial tv way too much.

Free live stream sites are available

Whybdo you think Beckham is now a billionaire? The money that's generated into the game is obscene.

I think the same applies to all sport. Almost all the big events are not on "free" TV anymore.

I've completely disconnected from cycling since TNT took it over - the only sport that I really loved and followed. I can't afford £32 a month just to watch one sport. And I don't want to watch any others - I'd rather be out riding my bike. So it's lost me completely, sadly.

YANBU

I'M THOROUGHLY DISGUSTED BY THIS CLASSIST NEWS

Football is a working class sport. Disgusting.

Why cant Tommy robinsons lot make themselves bloody useful and protest this? 🙄🙄🙄

The reality is that the Champions League football is all televised on TNT/HBO max and an occasional one on Prime so it shouldn't be a surprise that the final is too. Most people who are interested in it already subscribe.

Historically football has shaped communities, identities, music, language, and traditions across generations. If that’s not culture, what is?

It has in modern times, changed and become more commercial, big money business, but that is not where its roots started.

I’d much rather governments focussed on making football and other popular traditional sports more accessible to the next generation than the much less popular theatre and “arts”.

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.

I’m intrigued by the view that it’s not a cultural event. It’s not high art, admittedly, but it is a form of mass popular culture, whether you love it or hate it.

On the films / opera / theatre point - we should all be concerned if ordinary people or the next generation are priced out of these experiences. Fair enough, they should be free but London theatre in particular is becoming unaffordable for most.

I recently looked for tickets for a run of the mill theatre production that is touring, for one of their dates at a regional theatre. The cheapest ticket, in the third tier (which, to be honest, are awful seats) was £75.

I completely understand that’s the price it had to be, costs money to put on a show, etc, etc. However, it’s still sad.

I should add too that I have no particular personal interest in this. I have TNT Sports and can afford tickets; a lot of people can’t.

I support a non-Premier League club, so have the delightful experience you describe quite often.

@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?

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.

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.

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

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.

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.