Premier League and EFL to hold talks over ending Saturday 3pm blackout
- Leagues eager to sell all games in next rights cycle
- Auction for televised rights expected in 2027
The UK is the last country in Europe to apply the so-called 3pm blackout, and with the Premier League and EFL eager to sell all their games to domestic broadcasters in the next rights cycle they want an early agreement before the next tender.
The Premier League and EFL are respectively showing a record 270 and 1,059 of their matches on domestic TV this season, mostly on Sky Sports, but have concluded that selling every game is the only way to bring in more revenue.
Although their contracts do not expire until the end of the 2028-29 season, the EFL is planning to go to market at the start of 2027 and needs to know what it can offer. The Premier League auction is expected to take place later the same year.
The EFL’s deal with Sky Sports is worth £935m over five years, giving the broadcaster exclusive live rights to 1,059 games each season from the Championship, League One, League Two, the Carabao Cup and EFL Trophy. The EFL could make all 1,891 of its matches available if it reaches an agreement with the Premier League and Football Association over removing the blackout.
The Premier League is also keen to explore selling every game given the declining value of media rights across Europe. Although its domestic deal with Sky Sports and TNT Sports is worth a record £6.7bn over four years, the league added an extra year to the contract and increased the number of games from 215 to 270 each season, so the real-terms value has declined by 23% from the previous cycle between 2022 and 2025.
Many of the Premier League clubs’ American owners have been pushing to broadcast every game for some time, as happens in every sport in the US. The blackout relates to Article 48 of Uefa’s statutes, under which the transmission of live football in a territory can be prohibited for “two and a half hours on a Saturday or a Sunday”. It applies in an English leagues context when 50% of Premier League and Championship matches are scheduled for Saturday at 3pm, a proviso that enabled the EFL to televise all its games on the opening weekend this season because the Premier League did not begin until the following week.
The FA, which is responsible for applying to Uefa to impose Article 48 if asked to do so by the leagues, is unlikely to object to the blackout being dropped. Last season there were discussions at the FA about the Women’s Super League being exempted from the blackout, which is in place between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturday, but the Premier League and EFL raised concerns on legal grounds.
Article 48 is enforced in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales so if it is lifted the Premier League and EFL may face demands for compensation from the leagues there. In the event of Article 48 no longer applying in England, 3pm Premier League kick-offs would be broadcast across the UK, which could have a negative effect on attendances.