“PREM boss Richard Masters has given the biggest hint that the Saturday 3pm blackout is here to stay. Rules brought in to protect match day attendance half a century ago remain in place despite the growth of football on TV. 5 Richard Masters has hinted the rules of little to no Premier League games at”, — write: www.thesun.co.uk
Rules brought in to protect match day attendance half a century ago remain in place despite the growth of football on TV.
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Richard Masters has hinted the rules of little to no Premier League games at 3pm on Saturdays are here to stayCredit: Getty
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There had been hopes that the Premier League’s 3pm blackout rule will changeCredit: Getty
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Some fans were pushing to abolish the 3pm blackout in the UKCredit: AFPThere have been increasing rumours that a push to abolish the blackout is set to come, which would need the backing of the Prem, FA and EFL.
But speaking at The Summit, part of Leaders Week London 2025 at the Allianz Stadium, Masters pointed to the new domestic deal, which sees up to 270 of the 380 matches screened live.
Masters said: “Our current domestic broadcast arrangement means that we are now essentially licensed to our limit.
“There are no more games outside of 3pm that aren’t being broadcast.
“We are committed to it for the foreseeable future.
“It’s not a decision that we alone make. It’s done in conjunction with other football bodies, the FA and the FA. But we’re committed to it for the foreseeable future.”
Masters outlined the argument Prem chiefs will make to club chiefs at next month’s “shareholder” meeting in a bid to persuade them to swap from the current PSR financial rules to the planned Squad Cost Ratio system next term.
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The League needs 14 clubs to vote in favour of the scheme that will limit clubs not in European competition to spending 85 per cent of their revenues on wages and transfers.
Uefa rules limit teams in the three competitions to 70 per cent and Masters added: “We are talking to our clubs about an alternative system.
“That’s not to say we don’t think the PSR system works. It’s about closer alignment with European regulation.
“SCR is a revenue test. PSR is a look-back profitability test. It has its own strengths and weaknesses.
“We’re currently talking about whether we want to change how much the system aligns with Europe.
“We now have nine clubs participating in European competition, six in the Champions League. If you’d said that 10 years ago, no one would have believed that was possible.
“If you compare the Premier League system at 85 per cent, if it happens, and you look at the other big European leagues, we have a more permissive system.
“Too permissive, some might say. And it’s all a matter of choice.
“The Premier League has been built on backing investment, investment, international capital flows coming in. We don’t want that to be stymied off.
“We do need to work within parameters that everyone is behind, and that protect the game, to keep these things balanced and continue the conversation with our clubs.
“It’s an important decision, so we should take time to get it right, but that decision is coming up.”
In a wide-ranging interview, Master took another blast at Fifa over fixture congestion, bemoaning “the butterfly impact of other people in different rooms making decisions about the future of football and locking out leagues from that conversation”.
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In the UK 3pm kickoff games on Saturdays are not live on televisionCredit: PA
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For some the rules helps encpurage fans to go to the stadium on SaturdaysCredit: AlamyHe held open the long-term possibility of the Prem, which will open an in-house broadcast centre in London’s Olympia next year, looking to operate its own streaming platform as part of a “mixed economy” with traditional broadcasters.
And despite the moans from European rivals – Sun Sport reported how Leverkusen boss Fernando Carro is now calling for a continent-wide salary cap – Masters dismissed arguments the Prem’s spending power is “suffocating” the rest of the game.
Prem clubs’ £3bn summer spend was equal to the total of Spanish, German, Italian and French clubs combined.
Masters said: “I wouldn’t say suffocating. It’s the opposite, in fact.
“Our net number was £1.2bn. It is a record, and at the beginning of every commercial term, when new growth comes in, we’ll often see a burst of activity.
“Seven of our clubs were net recipients, with lots of inter-Premier League transfers.
“But a lot of that money does percolate out to the big European leagues and breathes life into their own transfer markets. So I don’t see how it’s suffocating.
“That spending is an indication that our clubs want to aspire and get better and that the League is going to be very competitive.
“And that’s what, you’re looking at the virtuous circle, that drives interest. And it’s the interest in the audience that drives our media values.”