UK Broadcasters to Keep Showing Every Premier League Game Live in 2020/21

All Premier League games in 2020/21 could be broadcast live on UK television until fans are allowed back into stadiums, aided by the ongoing suspension of the traditional ‘3pm blackout’ on Saturdays.

With supporters barred from stadiums as a result of the coronavirus crisis and the need for social distancing, every Premier League game was broadcast live in Britain during June and July’s ‘Project Restart’, successfully completed the delayed campaign.

The health crisis is still not at a level that makes it safe for large numbers of fans to return to games and continuing to broadcast every game live appears to be the favoured compromise.

A significant aspect of that is keeping the broadcast blackout that previously stopped live football being broadcast in the UK from 3pm on a Saturday afternoon lifted.

It was thought that, despite fans not yet returning to games, things would return to normal for the start of the 2020/21 campaign, meaning that almost half of fixtures would not be available live for viewers in the UK, where the broadcast arrangements are different to the rest of the world.

However, The Times writes that leading Premier League clubs have expressed concerns about driving fans to pirated online streams if the game is unavailable to watch while they cannot attend.

As such, it is explained that the FA has given permission for the suspension of the Saturday afternoon blackout that made it possible for all of the ‘Project Restart’ games to be broadcast live, not to be re-implemented just yet. That gives the Premier League the flexibility to go ahead.

It is said that Premier League chairmen will meet on Thursday next week to discuss the matter and are expected to make a decision on televising all games. Having been ready to drop back to normal levels, the broadcasters are already making plans to increase coverage once more – the only difference this time is that games are unlikely to be made free-to-air, as was the case over summer.

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