Why is there a scheduled blackout of football broadcasts in the UK? I don’t get it; it’s not like everyone can be at the stadiums at the same time.
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When the Sky deal happened, the clubs agreed that Saturday 3pm games would not be televised to ensure that people would still attend the ground and to preserve the traditions of 3pm Saturday football. This obviously did not apply outside of the UK, but even before internet and illegal streams some pubs would get foreign satellite broadcasts illegally.
It’s just contractual. As part of the deal when football sold its soul to Sky, 3pm Saturday was sacrosanct.
If City vs Arsenal was on live (or a key relegation game at end of season) then loads would watch it for interest. It’d harm a lot of clubs’ gate receipts.
The idea isn’t too make people go to the big stadiums – as you say they’ll be nearly full no matter what. The goal is to encourage people to go watch their local smaller club, who traditionally play at that time. If you have the choice of Manchester United vs Liverpool on TV, or Scarborough United vs Penzance Athletic in the 7th division, you’re probably going to stay home in comfort and watch the TV. If there’s no football on the telly then maybe you’ll go out and support your local 8th division club.
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