Early kick offs - the future? (3 Viewers)

shmmeee said:

Been to lots of those recently, what exactly should I have noticed that was so bad? They all seemed OK.

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Impact on business, highly probable 3 day week in Germany this winter, little direct support from government.

Reported missing, a Football Forum, please keep a look out

There's quite a lot of kids football and other sports/activities on a Saturday morning, a 1pm kick off every Saturday home game would be be difficult for a lot of families and would impact either on attendance or dropping out of sport. My lad plays in the MJPL, even paying at home with 10.30 kick off it would be tight, but we'd have no chance if we were away as most teams are a good hours commute away.

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Just heard back from one of the L2 clubs we work with. They've said they're not likely going to go for the earlier KO. Their Technical Director said the saving on lighting would only amount to a minimal amount and they'd likely lose more money from less F+B sales with an earlier KO so they're looking to stick to 3pms.

shmmeee said:

And still no sign of a plan to stop it happening again. Just “whoops, let’s give the rich more money, maybe that’ll work?”

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Politically, England is a basket case, increasingly controlled by fascists.

Concern is split in two ways — firstly, the short-term need to cut costs brings the possibility of moving matches to an earlier kick-off time, while a longer-term worry is that fans will cut back on football if they have less disposable income.

League Two Mansfield Town have announced that their upcoming home match against Walsall on October 15 will be moved to an earlier 1pm kick-off rather than the traditional 3pm slot, while other leagues, such as the Isthmian League at step three of the non-League pyramid, have seen amended kick-off times. Using floodlights does not come cheap.

“The club is endeavouring to mitigate the forthcoming considerable increase in energy bills,” read a statement on Mansfield’s website. “As part of these efforts, the earlier kick-off time will enable the club to discern whether significant savings can be made on floodlight usage and other energy costs. Moreover, following the trial of this change in kick-off time, the club will be able to better determine whether an earlier kick-off on a Saturday would have an effect on prospective attendances.”

The balance between making savings on floodlight usage and the possibility of a reduced gate and spend-per-head inside the stadium is a key factor in clubs deciding whether to move kick-off to earlier in the day. There are not thought to be any objections from the EFL and National League if both teams agree to amend kick-off time, but time will tell if it becomes commonplace.


“It’s a balance,” says Simon Gauge, chairman of League Two strugglers Rochdale. “The floodlights probably cost us £300 an hour to have on now. There’s a balance where if you move it to 1pm, what hospitality might you miss out on? The balance will be there for everyone.

“But our hospitality is that much down at the minute that it would probably be worth us doing the early kick-offs. We’d definitely be in favour of that but it’ll be about giving people the choice. But it’s the cost of energy throughout the week. You use it everywhere. Pitch maintenance, the club running throughout the week.”

Rochdale estimate that their bills have more than doubled. Last year’s gas bill was £20,000 and electricity was £46,000, but they expect it to be £80,000 for gas and £160,000 for electricity this time around.

My wife works for TfGM. The costs of providing electricity for overhead line equipment to run the Metrolink have gone from £6m per year to £26m per year.

Thatcher and all the neoliberal scumbags that have come since are traitors and have left this country at the mercy of the market.

Tamworth looking to bring all their home Saturday games forward to 2pm.
Been agreed in principle by the league but requires opposition to agree too.

So instead of the 3 day week are we getting the 6 hour day?

Frostie said:

Tamworth looking to bring all their home Saturday games forward to 2pm.
Been agreed in principle by the league but requires opposition to agree too.

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The floodlights would still need to be on surely anyway

Grendel said:

The floodlights would still need to be on surely anyway

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Obviously not, if that's the time they want to bring it forward too. Even when the clocks go back at the end of October it won't get dark till 4.30.
A 2pm game will a finish of around 3:50. I don't think they get the excessive added on time that league football has.

Speedies_Chips said:

Obviously not, if that's the time they want to bring it forward too. Even when the clocks go back at the end of October it won't get dark till 4.30.
A 2pm game will a finish of around 3:50. I don't think they get the excessive added on time that league football has.

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In December floodlights would have to be on before the end of the game

shmmeee said:

So instead of the 3 day week are we getting the 6 hour day?

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Yes but 18 shifts.
Singapore 2.

Grendel said:

In December floodlights would have to be on before the end of the game

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It would still be a reduced usage though (or at least an opportunity for reduced usage - I appreaciate weather conditions could mean they're required for the full game at time), and therefore cost less. Obviously each club needs to balance the pro's/cons based on their own balance sheet.

Where it could get murky though is if teams try to use it to their advantage and bring forward games against away teams that need to travel a significant distance disrupting their preparation. Away clubs could then be forced into staying overnight and stretching their budget to support another teams budget, potentially creating disparity, as the home club may not have a similar expense when they travel to the away team when the daylight hours have potentially lengthened, and therefore we'd be back to 3pm kick offs

Grendel said:

In December floodlights would have to be on before the end of the game

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Yeah especially if the weather is bad.

Bertola said:

It would still be a reduced usage though (or at least an opportunity for reduced usage - I appreaciate weather conditions could mean they're required for the full game at time), and therefore cost less. Obviously each club needs to balance the pro's/cons based on their own balance sheet.

Where it could get murky though is if teams try to use it to their advantage and bring forward games against away teams that need to travel a significant distance disrupting their preparation. Away clubs could then be forced into staying overnight and stretching their budget to support another teams budget, potentially creating disparity, as the home club may not have a similar expense when they travel to the away team when the daylight hours have potentially lengthened, and therefore we'd be back to 3pm kick offs

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This is why league have said it's only permitted if opposition agree.