The Gainsborough Trinity CEO has spoken out against Clubber TV, and the streaming of his sides games to keep football traditional and revenue up.
Clubs within the Northern, Southern and Isthmian leagues will have the ability to have their games streamed using the Clubber TV service.
However, not all of the clubs have welcomed the idea – with FC United of Manchester (FCUM) publishing a statement opting out of the scheme because of matchday experience concerns.
Many other clubs across the three leagues have followed suit, with Matt Boles, CEO of Gainsborough Trinity telling LincSport that they support the statement, and gave his reasoning.
Boles said: “We’re a bit traditional; football should be played a 3pm on a Saturday afternoon.
“We supported FC United of Manchester (FCUM) in their statement when they put it out that they’re not supporting it. We maintain that position.
“There are the Saturday afternoon blackout hours, so if you want a game on a Saturday – you’ve got to move it to a 12:30pm or 5:30pm kick off time.
“We are seeing the benefit of that slightly when we’re on at 3pm and EFL clubs aren’t. We’re getting some of those supporters coming and watching our games.”
Like many other non-league clubs, Gainsborough Trinity rely on money that they earn from the turnstiles at their home fixtures in order to survive.
However, the Holy Blues don’t have their clubhouse and bar open in the week, so the club don’t earn any added revenue through that.
In order to watch Clubber TV, they would need to sign up for an account and pay £7.99 per game or use Clubber’s monthly or annual plan.
It doesn’t seem though that the financial benefits are as great for the clubs as they are for Clubber – with the two clubs only receiving £1,000 combined and losing gate revenue.
Boles said: “If we do start streaming games, people just won’t come, and they’ll watch it on the TV instead, so we’ll lose the revenue there.
“We won’t consider it for home games because of the negative impact of people not coming.”
Also, the Trinity CEO confirmed the process of what actually happens, and how a game comes to be broadcast on the Clubber TV service once it has been agreed.
On the subject, he said: “If they pay you the money, they’ll provide you the camera, but you have to provide the commentary and all the stuff to go with that.
“It’s more hassle than it’s worth. They provide the equipment; you provide the manpower.”
However, Trinity have come to the agreement to live stream one of their games.
The Easter schedule is a very busy time for football clubs, both professional and non-league football clubs have a packed schedule with two games over the bank holiday weekend.
These games are stereotypically played on the traditional Saturday, and then on the Bank Holiday Monday.
However, Trinity have rearranged their fixture, and as it is out of the media blackout hours, their game can be live streamed.
Matt Boles said: “What we have said if there’s opportunities that arise where we’re not moving a kick off time, and the away club wish to stream we will look at that on an individual case-by-case basis.
“For example, the Stockton Town game that should’ve been on Easter Saturday, both clubs – for player reasons – have agreed to move that to Good Friday. Because it’s on the Friday, that can be streamed, so we’ve agreed that game will be.”