why do sports matches start at the same time? How does this make business sense?

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I watch the Premier League (English Soccer), but I just looked up the NFL and it’s true there too. Matches start at the same time. WHY?! I would love to watch multiple matches – all I can do is pick one or kinda watch multiple screens? Surely it would also be better for business? There are ten Premier League matches a weekend. The earliest kick-off is 12:30, the latest is 20:00. There’s space for 5 matches a day!

i.e. 12:30 – 14:30; 14:30 – 16:30; 16:30 – 18:30; 18:30 – 20:30; 20:30 – 22:30.

So, How does it make business sense to hold matches at the same time when fans might want to watch more than one and thus be exposed to more advertising?

EDIT: To be clear, the current schedule for the premier League last weekend was 1 at 12:30, 5 games at 16:00 or so and 1 at 20:30. We already have staggered times! It’s just that the majority are cotemporaneous.

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13 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Some thoughts:

– as a season ticket holder for a major sports team, I’d be really annoyed if the games were at inconsistent times. I have to plan for game attendance
– players have routines with naps and meals and they would hate to be on a random schedule
– broadcast rights, at least in North America, make it so it’s hard to watch certain out of market games anyway

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