Now that the Premier League has sold the television rights to broadcast matches for billions of pounds the price of their new deal will be paid by the English supporters with more and more matches given later kick-off times to provide a bigger audience for North American television as last night’s 7.45pm match between Southampton and Arsenal proves.
The late kick-off at St Marys was perfect for East Coast American viewers where it was prime weekend viewing at 2.45pm in the afternoon.
Boxing Day football is a time honoured tradition in England, yet you can be sure even though knowing many fans would be returning to work today, the bosses at the Premier League scheduled a late kick-off on a holiday while knowing that a reduced public transport network would make it difficult for local fans, never mind those traveling all the way down from London to get to and from the game.
With better planning they could make local derbies late kick-offs in London, Manchester and Liverpool while also thinking about clubs locations and traveling distances for fans before scheduling them as a night-time match.
Just using yesterday as an example Southampton could have played local neighbours Bournemouth while Arsenal played South London neighbours Crystal Palace the exact reverse of what happened.
We as fans need to raise our complaints otherwise we will be in for more night-time matches than the traditional Saturday afternoon fixtures that we all grew up with.
