Why is there a 3pm blackout rule?

In the Premier League this season, several brilliant matches have taken place on a Saturday at 3pm.

For example, Everton’s 3-2 loss to Bournemouth saw the Cherries recover to score three times in the final ten minutes to secure three points.

The Toffees’ 3-2 loss to Aston Villa two weeks later, which also featured a comeback win for their opposition, was another exciting clash, as was Chelsea’s 4-2 win over Brighton and Brentford’s 5-3 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.

However, none of them were available to watch on television, as the 3pm blackout prevented supporters of these teams from watching their clubs in action.

This measure looks likely to be in place for the next five years at least as the Premier League has secured a record £6.7bn television deal which will see many more games shown from 2025 onwards.

This means the blackout – which permits any game from the Premier League, Football League or FA Cup to be shown between 2.45pm and 5.25pm on Saturdays – will remain in place until 2029.

But why is there a 3pm blackout rule? And considering the sheer cost of going to games in today’s economic climate, what is the opposition to this, especially as more and more people want to see their team live on TV?

Here, we take a deeper look into the rule and why it exists.

3pm blackout origins

The rule began in 1960, introduced by Burnley chairman Bob Lord, who wanted to make sure supporters still attended matches as some games began to be televised.

Amid the television boom in the 60s and with more people buying sets, it was only natural that football games would be shown live.

With the blackout rule, football clubs would still be able to protect their income by keeping matches strictly to Saturdays at 3pm. If supporters wanted to see their team, they would have to go watch the game in person, thus boosting the finances of the club in question.

Lord stated that lower-league clubs would be hampered financially if there was no blackout, as fans would simply watch matches on the TV rather than attend games in person. 60 years later, it is still in place.

The 3pm blackout helps smaller clubs

While many supporters struggle to make games due to financial reasons due to the rise in ticket prices, travel and everything else in between, watching a game on the TV sounds the cheaper option.

That may be so, but in order to watch a large portion of matches, several subscriptions are required. For example, Premier League games are shown on Sky Sports, Amazon and TNT Sports, which means three separate payments.

Watching lower-league football, therefore, is the cheapest option, and keeping the 3pm blackout rule could help those further down the pyramid.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Adam Capper, a non-league kitman for Heaton Stannington, believes that keeping the rule is crucial for such clubs. His team are just three miles from Newcastle United’s St James’ Park.

“Clubs at every level of non-league rely on gates as their main source of income, bums on seats,” he told BBC Newsbeat. “We would lose a significant amount of people coming into games and probably a lot of football clubs would struggle to exist.”

He states that the average attendance is around 400 fans, but if Newcastle play at home, this number is effectively halved.

Will the 3pm blackout rule end?

Despite the fact it can help local clubs and those down the footballing pyramid increase their attendances, there is no disputing that the rule is outdated.

As mentioned, the cost of watching matches on the TV is increasing every year, but could streaming services suggest that an end to the blackout rule is closer than ever?

Viaplay and DAZN are just two platforms that are proving to be very popular with those looking to watch football from the comfort of their own home.

Indeed, DAZN announced in the summer that they had announced a seven-year deal with the English Football League’s National League, National League North and National League South.

This deal marks the first for DAZN into the English domestic football market. Could this be a stepping stone for further purchases up the pyramid in the near future, and might this be the first step towards ending the 3pm blackout?

A recent report in The Times suggested the blackout is not expected to last beyond the current cycle of TV deals in 2028/29, with concerns the blackout pushes fans towards illegal streaming rather than the turnstiles.

Only the UK prohibits 3pm games

Some football associations spread out their fixtures across a given matchday, ensuring that a cluttered schedule is avoided while also giving lower leagues their own slot.

Germany is a prime example. Top-tier Bundesliga games are all shown live on a Saturday at 3.30pm local time, whereas 2. Bundesliga games have their own slot for kick-offs, with games beginning at 1.30pm local time – while no other games are broadcast at this time.

Could something like this work in the UK? It might take a while for anyone to find out, especially as Premier League chief executive Richard Masters admitted in 2023 that he “could not see it changing “in the near term”.

Broadcasting fewer games leads to more demand, according to the Premier League, which in turn, increases the value of the product.

This allows for domestic rights to be set at a much higher price and the current deal that is in place generates around £5 billion per season.

Like anything, money is the deciding factor, and as long as the Premier League can sell their product for billions, a 3pm blackout rule is likely to remain in place into the next decade.

DAZN has shown that they are keen on making inroads to perhaps change the way football is watched, but it will need more than them to change the rule.