Why There is a 3pm Blackout in English Football

The Premier League is one of the most watched competitions in the world, which is hardly surprising when it is ranked as the best league in the sport. Fans from around the globe tune in every week to support their team, hopeful of seeing them lift the trophy once the campaign ends in May.

If you live outside the United Kingdom, you can watch every match, 10 games a week for 38 rounds, with ease. However, it’s a different story within it. Currently, Sky Sports, TNT Sports and Amazon Prime show Premier League matches, but they are not allowed to broadcast any matches taking place at 3pm on Saturday.

It’s always a controversial topic in the country and frustrates fans who are unable to go to matches in person, but we have outlined why it came to exist and the impact it has on the sport. Without it, those in power have always argued that clubs further down the pyramid would struggle.

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3pm Blackout Explained

It stops matches being shown on TV

Simply put, the 3pm blackout states that no football match in the United Kingdom can be shown on live TV between 2:45 and 5:15pm on a Saturday. It is in compliance with UEFA’s Article 48, which states that nations are allowed to block coverage at specific times.

The blackout was implemented in the 1960s by former Burnley chairman Bob Lord, after suggesting that broadcasting matches on Saturday afternoons would have a negative effect on the attendance of lower league games. More than 50 years later, the same ideas remain, but the discussion around it is starting to take place.

Impact of the 3pm Blackout

It’s implemented to help protect EFL and non-league clubs

Attendances in the Premier League are soaring. The top flight has averaged over 40,000 in recent years — and, even then, there is greater demand for tickets. Everyone wants to go and watch the best players in the world in the greatest stadiums around. However, it’s a different story further down the English football pyramid.

As showcased by the Three Lions’ Euro 2024 squad, the English Football League (EFL) is the beating heart of the game. Countless players have plied their trade in the divisions, some even in non-league, so without it, the nation’s story would have been drastically different. Despite their importance, clubs up and down the country are fighting financial struggles every day. For example, in the 2022/2023 campaign, Championship clubs’ operating losses stood at £316m, whilst no club generated an operating profit.

Therefore, the 3PM blackout has always been put in place to help improve the financial situations at clubs further down the league. They have a reliance on matchday revenue to stay afloat, knowing an extra pint sold – or even just a single matchday ticket – may be the difference between administration and not. It’s understandable as well; it’s easy to see how a Liverpool fan who watches every match on TV would prefer to watch their club at 3PM from home, instead of going to support their local EFL or non-league side. This is only exacerbated during the cold, winter months.

“Clubs at every level of non-league rely on gates as their main source of income, bums on seats,” Adam Capper, a non-league kit man for Heaton Stannington, said to the BBC. “We would lose a significant number of people coming into games and probably a lot of football clubs would struggle to exist.”

Potential future plans

Talks to remove it have never succeeded

As with everything in life, there are always some people pushing for reform. It’s a way of life, and the 3PM blackout has been no different. In 2022, it was rumoured that the EFL were considering lifting the blackout from the 2024/25 season. “We are almost unique in Europe now in having a blackout period,” said Rick Parry at the time via Goal.

“I’m not presuming that it goes, but equally, if we’re looking at streaming, at new technologies and new broadcasters, we will probably have to be open-minded in terms of scheduling.” The organisers eventually opted to introduce ‘Sky Sports+’, which sees every single match not at 3PM shown on TV instead. Meanwhile, the Premier League believes that broadcasting fewer games leads to more demand, increasing the value of its product and allowing it to sell domestic rights at higher prices, with the current UK broadcast deal generating over £3.8 billion per season.

Despite this, the 3PM blackout will remain firmly in place until 2029, which is when the current broadcasting deal expires. As the world evolves, and the richest football clubs secure more power, it would not be surprising to see it removed. Global and fan power is hard to ignore when millions, if not billions, of pounds are on the line.