Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell blasted the EFL and Sky TV for not caring about football fans after the Grecians saw their lowest attendance for a Saturday league match in nearly three years. An attendance of 5,612 were at St James Park for the 2-0 win over Stevenage in which goals from Ed Francis and Kamari Doyle early in each half secured the three points. The game kicked off at 12.
30pm and was one of the ‘red button’ games on Sky Sports +, the new streaming service which was introduced at the start of the season under the new TV deal. And it seems the option to watch on TV had an impact on attendances. While there have been league games on a Tuesday night with a lower attendance, not since January 29, 2022, in the League Two promotion push, have fewer people attended St James Park for a league match on a Saturday.
As part of the new deal, at least 20 games for all clubs will be streamed or televised, including all games that aren’t Saturday 3pm kick-offs. Matches are broadcast live across both existing Sky Sports channels or on the brand-new Sky Sports +, with five Sky Bet Championship matches and five matches across Sky Bet League One and Sky Bet League Two moved each weekend to a different slot. “Sky have made it difficult for people to come to live football,” the manager said after Saturday’s win.
“For me the beauty is being there and to experience the event, the goal, the noise of the Big Bank, taking your kids to the game, and the energy from the live crowd. “Sky keep throwing money that unfortunately EFL clubs and Premier League clubs are taking and at what cost at the end of the season? These are disappointing numbers of people not here but everyone who was here enjoyed the experience and I hope next time we have a Sky game we can get even more and they can get off the couch and watch here live.” Asked by DevonLive if he or anyone at the club had a say in terms of whether to accept the EFL TV deal, Caldwell said.
“I have no say. This club has no say either.” He added: “It is dominated by other clubs which aren’t as well run as we are, we are a fantastically well-run club, and the people that did come here, I thank them again.
Football is a live sport and there is no better feeling being in the stadium, the energy of a goal, disappointment of a defeat, you only really feel that in the stadium. “Watching on your couch, yes it can be good if you can't get to the game and live sport on TV is good, but being at the stadium today, you can enjoy the victory, see the players, experience SJP and nothing will beat that. If the crowds do go down then we seriously have to look at that.
“If Sky pick us then great if we are doing well. We have to turn up whenever and play whether 1230pm or 3pm or 530pm but I don’t think Sky or football consider supporters enough. Without supporters, football is nothing.
I still feel that is the case.” City’s next live action on Sky Sports Plus – in addition to all the midweek games which are automatically televised, will be on Thursday, October 17, when they travel to Shrewsbury Town, a match moved from Saturday, October 19. The home match against Lincoln City was also selected for live coverage on Sky Sports Football and will remain on Saturday, November 16 but will kick-off at the earlier time of 12.
30pm. No other games before January 1 have been selected for an alternative kick-off time. When the deal was announced, exeter -city-fc> Exeter City said: “Given the significant uplift in rights values across the duration of the deal, EFL clubs as a collective will be significantly better off than if they maintained the current combined arrangement of linear broadcasting and individual club streaming “As it currently stands, the League’s annual domestic broadcasting revenue for the 72 member clubs is £119million, plus approximately £7m from streaming.
From next season, there will be an increase in that income to £180million.”.
