New Year’s Day is upon us, and there are still many festive football matches in store for sports fans. This year, due to Boxing Day happening on Thursday, football enthusiasts are left with no Premier League games to watch on Saturday, but the matches will resume with six games on Sunday, three on Monday, and one on Wednesday. These upcoming events will only be available on British television.
On Sunday, the Crimbo Limbo period, which is the time between Christmas and New Year’s Eve and when sports organizations connect with fans and increase sales, begins with Leicester City versus Manchester City at 2:30 pm and a match between West Ham and Liverpool at 5:15 pm. On Monday night, Manchester United clashes with Newcastle United at 8:00 pm on Sky Sports, and on New Year’s Day, Arsenal goes against Brentford at 5:30 pm.
After Arsenal won 1-0 against Ipswich Town at Emirates Stadium on Friday night, Amazon Prime’s six years of hosting the Premier League games ended. Amazon had shown two 10-game rounds each campaign since 2019, but when the new domestic TV deal was put up for bids, the company’s 20-game package was not available anymore. However, Amazon will still broadcast the Champions League matches next season.
On December 28th, there were no football matches on any of England’s top four tiers, as Boxing Day occurred on Thursday this year, explaining the copious number of fixtures on Sunday. According to Opta, a British sports analytics company, this was the first Saturday to have no games of the sport since Christmas Eve of 2022. There were also no fixtures on December 31st, January 2nd, and January 3rd.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the English Football broadcasting landscape significantly changed. Due to stadiums closing, televised matches became the only way to experience Premier League football matches. As a result, broadcasters introduced new features such as crowd noise simulations and interactive options to increase the viewers’ engagement with the games. The pandemic highlighted the resilience of the broadcasting model and hastened the shift to digital platforms as fans realized the convenience of streaming services.
In 2025, broadcasting English football matches will also experience crucial changes. Under the TV domestic deal that was agreed last December, Sky Sports and TNT will have to show up to 270 live games per season. The contract, lasting four years starting from the upcoming season, requires Sky Sports to have a minimum of 215 appearances and TNT to attend at least 52 matches. The Saturday 3 pm blackout, which was introduced to protect attendances in lower league matches, will also continue.
The most impactful change is that all games outside of the Saturday 3 pm blackout window, 2:45 to 5:15 pm, will now be broadcast live. Consequently, games moved from Saturday to Sunday for matches played in European competitions on Thursdays will be available to UK viewers in 2025-26.
Adam Capper, a non-league kitman for Heaton Stannington, emphasizes the importance of the Saturday 3 pm blackout window. He says if the rule was lifted, “We would lose a significant amount of people coming into games and probably a lot of football clubs would struggle to exist.” Capper also states that fans wouldn’t watch their local non-league team if the blackout was removed, as they would be “basically able to watch every game in the Premier League.”
In the U.S., all Premier League matches over the festive season are accessible. Leicester versus Manchester City, Fulham versus Bournemouth, Tottenham versus Wolves, Crystal Palace versus Southampton, Aston Villa versus Brighton, and Ipswich versus Chelsea are on Peacock Premium. Everton versus Nottingham Forest, West Ham versus Liverpool, Manchester United versus Newcastle United, and Brentford versus Arsenal are on USA Network and Fubo.
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