What is the 3.00 pm blackout rule in the United Kingdom? | OneFootball

The United Kingdom is the last country in Europe to adhere to UEFA’s Article 48, which prohibits live broadcasts between a two-and-a-half-hour period on Saturday afternoons.

The Football Associations in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are subject to a rule that effectively imposes a blackout between 2.45 pm and 5.15 pm.

Some Saturdays throughout the season are not subject to UEFA Article 48. These include some dates in the Christmas period and weekends of the ‘international break’.

The ban has been part of the football set-up in the UK since the 1960s, but the Premier League and English Football League (EFL) are considering allowing Saturday kick-offs to be broadcast live each week.

A record 1,329 matches will be broadcast across the different competitions under their respective control on domestic television this season.

However, the Premier League and EFL reportedly believe that selling every game is the only viable way they can generate more revenue.

Premier League eager to keep the gravy train rolling

With media rights values declining in Europe, the Premier League is eager to protect its position as the world’s most popular domestic competition.

The current deal with Sky Sports and TNT Sports is worth a record £6.7 billion over four years, although its real-term valuation has actually declined this season.

The Premier League increased the number of games from 215 to 270 and added an extra year to the contract, which equates to a 23 percent deduction in value from the previous cycle.

The increased prevalence of American owners in the English top flight has prompted a push to remove the Saturday afternoon blackout.

North American sports can freely broadcast live games, a model many Premier League owners now wish to mirror.

EFL bids to lay the foundations for a better deal

The EFL’s current domestic broadcast contracts expire at the end of the 2028/29 season, but they plan to go to market with their offering for the next cycle in 2027.

With the Premier League auction expected to take place later the same year, the EFL needs to work itself into a strong position to maximise the broadcast revenue it generates.

The EFL’s current deal with Sky Sports is worth £935 million over five years. This gives the broadcaster exclusive live rights to 1,059 games each season.

However, that figure could increase to 1,891 matches across the Championship, League One, League Two, Carabao Cup, and EFL Trophy if the blackout is removed.

The English Football Association, which is responsible for implementing Article 48, is unlikely to object to the blackout being dropped.

The blackout: A sound idea or draconian nonsense?

The initial purpose of the blackout was to avoid a negative effect on attendances at league matches – a noble idea, but one which isn’t supported by evidence.

Burnley chairman Bob Lord vehemently opposed the notion of televising matches on a Saturday afternoon. He went as far as banning Match of the Day cameras from Turf Moor during the 1960s.

However, it would be fair to say that Lord was not renowned for being a ‘forward thinker’ and his stance was undoubtedly at odds with developments in the real world.

A 2011 case at the European Court of Justice involving the Premier League questioned whether a broadcast blackout had a detrimental impact on attendances.

Advocate General Juliane Kokott said: “It is, in fact, doubtful whether closed periods are capable of encouraging attendance at matches and participation in matches.

“Both activities have a completely different quality to the following of a live transmission on television.

“It has not been adequately shown to the court that the closed periods actually encourage attendance at and participation in matches.

“Indeed, there is evidence to refute this claim. For example, in an investigation of the closed periods under competition law, the Commission found that only 10 of 22 associations had actually adopted a closed period.

“No closed periods were adopted in France, Germany, Italy and Spain, or in Northern Ireland, that is to say, within the sphere of English football.

“Furthermore, in Germany today all Bundesliga matches are evidently transmitted live without attendance at matches in the top two leagues suffering as a result.”

Supporters of the blackout argue that Kokott’s comments were misguided as they focused primarily on the impact at the elite level of football.

However, while staying at home on a wintry day in January to watch a live game may be tempting, fans of lower-level clubs tend to be a loyal group of people.

While the Premier League is now a global behemoth, watching football in the second tier and below is still an experience fuelled by a sense of belonging to a community.

Fans at those levels follow their teams religiously, and ditching them in favour of watching clubs they have no emotional attachment to is unlikely to be alluring.

Article 48 is a rule with its roots firmly planted in the past. It is no longer appropriate in an age when fans already have plenty of other activities they can engage in if they choose.