215 live Premier League games a season? Should be enough! … Unpacking the new record £6.7bn TV rights deal

To many this comes as great news.

Last Sunday was a great example of great games not seen live by the TV audience – with the goal-fest at Anfield, where Liverpool grasped a late winner in their 4-3 victory against Fulham and Stamford Bridge saw a fiery game with transfer market rivals Brighton which resulted in the Blues coming out on top 3-2 with 10 men. Not to mention the four-goal thriller between Bournemouth and Aston Villa with Ollie Watkins’ injury time equaliser. All mouth-watering matches, right?

Instead we were given West Ham v Crystal Palace which was a forgettable 1-1 draw. Unless you are a Hammers or an Eagles fan, I imagine you were disappointed. But this is all about to change.

The Premier League has agreed a new deal with Sky and TNT Sports where the competition will receive £6.7bn over four years for its UK television rights.

Many people are backing Manchester City to win the Premier League, but I think Sky Sports are the actual winners right now.

To summarise the deal, they have secured four of the five packages (B, C, D, and E), showing a minimum of 215 live games per season, including all 10 games on the final day of the season. This means that the number of games broadcast live on Sky will increase by 70 per cent – and they are not paying much more for it.

TNT will also show 52 matches, and Match of the Day will continue after BBC bought the rights for a weekly highlights package. Amazon Prime, who broadcast 20 matches per season at present, have not secured rights for the new domestic cycle, which runs through to the end of the 2028-29 season.

All matches occurring outside the traditional Saturday 3pm blackout, even those shifted to Sunday 2pm due to European competitions, will now be broadcast live.

This season, many more teams have been playing on Sundays. This is due to more teams in the Premier League playing in European football, with Brighton & Hove Albion and Aston Villa among those reaching European levels last season.

Therefore, if they play a Europa League or Conference League match on a Thursday, it is likely their Premier League game will be moved to the Sunday. But at present, only one of the 2pm games are shown, even when there is multiple.

As more Premier League games are now going to be broadcasd, there is still a 3pm blackout rule. This prevents 3pm Saturday games from being broadcast to a domestic audience. The purpose is to protect the club attendances lower down the pyramid with the thinking that if someone can watch Premier League matches on TV, they won’t go and pay for a ticket to watch their local team. This rule is regularly debated but it survives another four years.

The only time, this rule was lifted was during the COVID-19 pandemic for the end of the 2019-20 season and much of the 2020-21 season due to the fact fans were unable to attend games, respecting lockdown restrictions. I, like many during this time, although not good for my eyes, enjoyed watching every single Premier League game shown throughout the day.

I often find myself against the Blackout rule when I see an exciting fixture played on a Saturday at 3pm that I am not able to watch it, but completely understand the importance of how the lower league teams rely on the support and attendance of local fans. It is a difficult argument and always will be.

But for now, I shall enjoy the 215 live games per season. I think that should be enough...