The Biggest Threat To The Premier League Isn't Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's state-backed clubs have signed the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, and Sadio Mane on wages previously unheard of in football in 2023 - leading to suggestions that the Saudi Pro League could pose the biggest threat of any league in world football to the dominance of the Premier League.
That's not the view of the Premier League themselves though, nor the league's 20 clubs, who are much more concerned about the prevalence of ordinary fans choosing to watch games not on Sky Sports, BT Sport, Amazon Prime, and other official channels.
So in this video, HITC Sevens takes a look at the rise of streaming, the existential threat that it poses the Premier League, and what the world's biggest and richest football league can do to combat it.

[@senorpython2262]

The Premier League will have a rude awakening knowing that this younger generation will not be like previous ones because they will not pay hundreds of pounds monthly for weekly games.

[@T.E.S.S.]

yep, and you have to wonder if the broadcasters are ready for the billions of pounds they won't be making any more

[@danielo7985]

​@@T.E.S.S.hopefully it'll balance out the spending power of English teams vs the rest of europe. Would love to see more level competition

[@jwo71]

Im an international student in the uk and the first time i came here it shocked me that it was cheaper to watch premier league games in Africa than the country where the premier league actually is

[@senorpython2262]

@@danielo7985 You make a great point but also some leagues have to take accountability for their own revenue mismanagement. Javier Tebas is destroying La Liga in competition gap. However some teams in some leagues are just naturally will be more popular than others therefore more probability of profit.

[@senorpython2262]

@@jwo71 Enjoy the UK.

[@homeworld523]

When streaming plans that include sports are 8-10 times more expensive than your typical service it's no wonder people decide to stream illegally.

[@moffattron9000]

The problem is that those services have to cost that comical sum to make up for the loss in cable subs, since the reality is that most people don't watch sports. For that majority, they're more than content with just Netflix. It's why if you pay attention to the US, you see ESPN falling apart because people are cord cutting and Disney is trying to sell off a part of it.

[@diogeneslamp8004]

I’m good just watching highlights each week on KZbin.

[@thepeopleslibrary9345]

@@moffattron9000this is why the jump to streaming worked so well for MLS, the first to go full steaming, but probably won’t for work for bigger leagues. 1) cable here in the US was massively undervaluing the rights, and as a result didn’t do anything to advertise the league. Even before Messi came apple was doing much more to advertise the league and as a result the sales and viewership were better than expected. 2) as a result of being undervalued, MLS was not getting the kind of premium from networks that EPL does, so they could go streaming only and actually get more money. And streaming everything in one place is far better for consumers than the crazy number of different services you need to watch (almost) all EPL matches. People are far less likely to pirate when the fee is a reasonable $80 for the whole season with no black outs. EPL would never make the same money going all streaming. TL:DR: going streaming will likely benefit smaller leagues that do it right, and hurt big leagues that currently get an outsized percentage of the cable money.

[@tomcustis9272]

And in the UK you barely get half the games that you can see streaming illegally

[@tuvieja6040]

@@diogeneslamp8004you are not a real fan

[@danielsalas3394]

in Central America we pay like $5 a month for all 380 matches, it's insane how English football has been so restricted to English people themselves

[@Scott-dp3lu]

English people can afford to pay more than Central Americans.

[@809Alan]

@@Scott-dp3luhow poor do you think central americans are? 5$ a month is nothing lol

[@Dark-kd7md]

@@Scott-dp3luhere In Australia it’s 12£ a month for every game, 25£ a month for every game in Germany, 7£ a month in America for limit access 38£ for every game, 6£ a month for limited access in France. Don’t think UK is significant richer than any of these countries. UK premier league streaming situation is complete bull shit. I watch it legally here in Australia but won’t pay a cent toward the ridiculous system in UK rather watch laggy illegals.

[@justbecause4763]

If you think English deals are bad they're nothing compared to Scottish deals. We pay the same price as English fans to the same broadcasters and are lucky to get one game in the country broadcast each week. Sky don't even take their full allocation of games and they only give us about £30 million a year between all the clubs.

[@IsBirb]

​@@Scott-dp3luI am from Panama we earn good money, I believe its because the teams are worse

[@_KroW_]

"Piracy is almost always a service problem" Completely proven by the fact that if I wanted to watch every PL game I would have to pay a ridiculous amount a month, and even with that I cant watch other leagues or a lot of other sports I'm interested in. So yeah I'm gonna pirate games and not feel sorry for the posh multi millionaires.

[@jimmyg5102]

Not even that you could pay for all sports channels in the UK and still not have access to every game its madness

[@gregorgerzson1767]

And imagine, for pirating rich, greedy bastards crap, you will go to jail, get harder sentence than commiting mass gang child rape. I love capitalism...

[@m05hi90]

@@jimmyg5102 This is the only reason I pirate. I can't watch the game, even if I payed, unless I pirate.

[@koffeebeanz]

How can you not illegally stream, when they don't even broadcast the Saturday midday games? £10 for IPTV (with no contract) or £70 a/month for both TNT and Sky who don't even show you all the games - in this economy that's as much robbery as it is for fans to find illegal streams.

[@danielo7985]

Slightly unrelated to your comment but I also hate how much broadcasters have a hand in kick-off times. Why, in God's name, are games now being played at 8PM on a SATURDAY??? Having games on Friday and Monday on the same gameweek? Horrible

[@shaneoconnor8597]

@@djstucand just not watch any premier league game ever?

[@shaneoconnor8597]

@@djstuc I totally agree with you on the way the league has gone. I only watch it as I’m a united fan. And I’d actually rather watch a lot of other leagues but they generally don’t show them. Most people just seem to love the big games tho and not support a local tean

[@Sabo__90]

​@@djstucIn my country I can watch all top 5 leagues for little money legally but I mostly watch team from my town. Transfer prices and wages are ridiculous and it's just getting more disgusting

[@feedapony]

​@djstuc do you work? Are you paying for a roof above your head? Are you free to travel every Saturday and Sunday to home and away games. Are you flexible to adjust your days off to accommodate when bradcasters change a fixture date?

[@movimentofamiliar6145]

It wasn't a Premier League game, but here in Portugal, a television channel called CMTV literally broadcast the game between Al Nassr and Al Hilal using an illegal stream hahahahaha

[@TheGabrielPT]

Theres not one tv channel more ridiculous than cmtv. Theyre a disgrace to our country

[@patrickbateman1660]

Lol nice

[@Robbscarey]

We pay more money than any other county to watch our own league across multiple expensive streaming services and most games every week are not broadcast legally so if we can’t actually make it to the match, what other choice do we have? Sky Sports are 100% responsible for this situation and I have no sympathy for them.

[@Jaxymann]

"Piracy isn't a price problem, it's a service problem". Gabe Newell said that over a decade ago, and it's still just as true today. Broadcasters can rake in billions from TV deals now, but the fact that our generation going forward can't afford it like our parents could is going to catch up with them in future.

[@johnnydapunk]

What’s shocking to me is I pay 55pln (£10) a month through Viaplay here in Poland and I get all the Premiership, Championship (I believe) as well as the Bundesliga 1&2 matches. Also get some UEFA conference league games as well. Also get a few other leagues also. I also get all the Formula 1 races, NHL, and a lot of other sports. Yes it’s all in Polish and you can’t turn the overdub off but I’m in Poland so shouldn’t be shocked 😂 But still 10 quid for all of that and every game is shown and you can even watch it up to 3 days later. It’s shocking how the U.K. is getting milked here

[@chcucivtxzclccucifudohzfu6766]

In Germany it‘s similar to the UK. Until a few years ago you only needed a Sky abo for the Bundesliga (1&2), the German Cup, Champions League and most of the relevant international leagues. Then Dazn came and now the rights for the first Bundesliga are split between between both while Sky has the German Cup and the Premier League while Dazn has the Champions League (except one game each week) and othe international leagues. In order to watch everything you need both abos which are at least 50€ combined per month. Most people I know don’t do that and either just use one of the two while ignoring the other or just don’t watch live football except it’s on free tv.

[@zeeafraud7898]

This is a microcosm of our society as a whole at the moment, and uk politics and financial culture in the last 20 years will become a case study for the consequences of greed and incompetence. We privatised our rail and water industries and they can’t even go 10 years without bankruptcies and government/taxpayer bailouts. This is useful context as many of us are tired of being robbed in every sector of life while our living conditions actively get worse. So I stream games almost out of spite as they already take enough money from me.

[@edenhazard2751]

In India it's 2 dollars lol.

[@poopoppy]

And that is a reasonable price. It shouldn't cost any more than that.

[@a1b3do]

Wait how on earth have you curtailed the bottomless pit of corporate greed? That would be extremely useful information in 2023

[@cholst1]

Maybe if it wasnt such a clusterfuck to be able to watch the PL without paying an arm and a leg, people would, you know, pay for it. Until then, naw. Yarr yarr the salty seas for me.

[@dinohermann1887]

⁠​⁠@@NowhereBeatsThe Bundesliga in Germany does it right regarding attendance prices as well as kickoffs, thanks to no less than the 50+1 rule. Sure people can talk all day long about Bayern dominance, but the midfield of the 1st Bundesliga as well as most the 2nd Bundesliga currently with teams like Schalke, Kaiserslautern, Fortuna, St. Pauli, Nürnberg, Hannover and Hamburg being historically very interesting football clubs.

[@Mikehoncho2647]

Graduated with a degree in media studies, my mentor completed his doctorate on media piracy. Couple of things here: blaming fans for loss of tv revenue from piracy is like Exxon blaming plastic straws for climate change. Its a little hard to buy into. Also, media piracy is picking up popularity as it regularly does in cycles. The same thing happened in the window between Blockbuster and Netflix. The cost of the convenience of premium streaming services is becoming entirely too high. This will continue until the media environment changes to remedy this.

[@russell6075]

I have never paid to watch a football game in my 26 year life. The cost has always been ridiculous

[@therwfer]

Support your local clubs, pay a tenner and watch their matches every now and then. Apart from that, go nuts!

[@russell6075]

@@therwfer i go Salford regularly for the piss up

[@walrusglasses5988]

Yeah piracy is an access issue. Always was. Don't expect me to watch through legal channels when Illegal streams are better quality and cover more matches.

[@darthvader4338]

Yup, I do the same bro the normal channels are f@#$%&%$ expensive

[@c0wqu3u31at3r]

same reason why movie and TV piracy has come back after every single provider took their shows off Netflix and tried to make their own service

[@linafrisoli53]

If all matches were streamed for £1 on yt you would not use piracy.

[@gentleken7864]

As I live in Korea, streams are my only way of watching Arsenal play. I don't have Korean tv either, because I'd be subjected to the channel playing Son Heung Min or if Spurs aren't playing live, watch Son's best goals ever. Also, I found choosing a Portuguese or Spanish (lower quality stream) to be the best as they don't buffer like the HD streams. And the massive bonus is that I don't have to listen to Robbie Savage, Andy Townsend or Michael Owen talking annoying nonsense either. Win-Win.

[@redboyjan]

Noone needs to listen to Michael fcuking Owen

[@edenhazard2751]

Only losers support Arsenal. Change your club.

[@pritapp788]

English football commentators are actually excellent, particularly compared to Spaniards who think they are acting in some kind of po*no. I mean the commentators themselves, not the idiotic ex-players like the ones you mentioned: they indeed have nothing interesting to say and confuse their job with advertising for the virtues of everything English.

[@nikhilsrl]

@@pritapp788 That is the case even with the sports commentary for US sports - terrible.

[@pradeepdahal9729]

Let me be very candid with you Alfie. I’m not from UK or any place where PL is broadcasted in TV. The only TV channels that show PL in my country (Nepal) is Star Sports which is an Indian channel and it only shows 4/5 matches. Also, even the 2pm matches in there are at 6.45pm here due to time difference and for late night matches, it reaches upto 12:30am. The Not’m vs Sheffield match today will be at 12:30am here. Now, even if the channel showed the match, I wouldn’t be turning on the TV at midnight and wake everyone up just to watch football. Instead I can just watch the high quality stream online. I don’t see the PL (or anyone in this matter) eradicating the illegal streams ever because if you remove one, another one will immediately pop up. You won’t believe how many ways I have to watch even the smaller leagues let alone the biggest, most famous leage in the world. If PL were to release a fairly cheap app for broadcasting their matches, that would greately reduce illegal streaming but in any other scenarios, I personally don’t see the population watching illegal streams of PL decreasing.

[@gregorybiestek3431]

What you forget is the ability of American internet/ streaming companies to root out and destroy illegal streamers when they want to. What USA companies want, US companies get, even if that means their buddies in the US government have to drop a few bombs/missiles on select sites. The USA has no problem killing anyone who interferes with its money making.

[@connorledwith98]

If it wasn’t so extortionate, people would get it. But TV deals with a sports package over here cost a lot of money

[@leisuretime7417]

Fellow Nepali here, I agree with you

[@calamorta]

I'm jealous of that high quality stream online part. Whenever I want to watch a match that's not on TV nor Disney's and Amazon's streaming services (a friend shares their account, at least for now), I'm doomed. I need to accept a lagging 360p/480p experience (720p on a good day) and with crazy delay. ESPN, the official channel PL here, forces people to watch some of the games on Disney's platform. TNT, the official UCL channel, also does the same to many games, but since I don't have their platform, I need to get lucky when searching for a good website. PSG games when they had Messi and Neymar were annoying as well. El Clásicos (I think ESPN has La Liga, but not Copa del Rey). Serie A, Bundesliga (ESPN only has certain games). Preseason tournaments. It's tough. I preferred back when I knew I couldn't watch a game because the channels didn't have enough space to show, rather than now, that 95% of games are available, but I need to sign multiple streaming services to watch them lol Really, it's honestly infuriating to see every single channel having a streaming service, especially when you still have cable TV lmao ESPN here has multiple channels (including both ESPN and Fox Sports, which was acquired by Disney here) and they still make some games exclusive to their streaming platform. TNT used to broadcast one game on TV and the other on Facebook/KZbin, for free. Yup, you heard it right. High quality and legal stream online (and ofc it wasn't financially viable, but that's how they used to do back then to expand their brand). But then the cancerous streaming service era began and now they only show the less wanted game on TV (suppose Barcelona and Inter Milan are from the same UCL group and they're playing a different team but on the same day, they will usually show Inter on TV and Barça on streaming, since Barça is more popular). The streaming cancer is at full force and it's going to get worse. It's more expensive than cable TV at this point to have a decent coverage of services, and it's a matter of time until they decide to add ads between halves or worse, they team up with bundles and create cable TV 2.0. Man, I really hope online streaming and torrent get more popular as time goes on. These brands need to wake up. Not all of them are worthy of us paying for their platform.

[@edenhazard2751]

But Nepal-India has cheap internet and channels.

[@badjujuforever]

I live in australia and its so much cheaper and easier to legally watch every single PL game than it is in england... It hurts my brain

[@SultanOfSlam69]

Yep, $12 a month for Optus Sport if you have a phone plan with them. I just wish there was a higher resolution than 720p available. Where it gets expensive is if you want to follow your club through all competitions - Paramount Plus for the FA Cup, Bein Sports for the league cup and Stan + the Stan sports add-on for European comps. I think this season I'll likely be sailing the high seas for everything outside of the PL, as I would only be subbing to those services to watch a dozen or so games in total and I don't think it's worth it.

[@bijaydhungel6480]

I really enjoy the time when premier league and champions league were in optus. Now its getting expensive with champions league taken by stan

[@GaelicGuy]

I pay £130 a year and can watch every nrl game this season pre season regular season, finals and origin, can do the same for afl for a similar price. But then I have to pay about £70 a month to both sky and BT to be able to watch about half the premier league games😂😂.

[@purpleair5151]

same thing in other countries, in Mexico it’s getting more expensive and harder to watch the league, but in the United States it’s way easier to watch and not that expensive.

[@bravosierra2447]

​@@bijaydhungel6480optus promo for $6 per month for current mobile subscribers. It grants access to PL, La Liga and Bundesliga. CL on Stan would be painful to watch based on yt highlight edits 😅

[@seandelap8587]

You said the last 6 CL finals involved an English club but the 2020 final was Bayern Munich vs PSG

[@patrickhauser588]

I thought the same immediately

[@lisaruhm6681]

And no english club was in the semi-final too.

[@just_buka]

I'd assume he cut out the COVID tournament because of the altered format not really connecting to the point of fan attendance, or he just forgot

[@HITCSevens]

You're quite right, my apologies. Five out of the last six!

[@uriustosh]

@@HITCSevens We deserve more than apologies! I demand correspondence stock.

[@MrUltrAdaman]

Surprised you didn’t mention the Apple model that MLS has used… effectively partner with them and use them as a de-facto in house streaming service. Can have 1 reasonably priced “season pass” with 1 or 2 games broadcast free per week (could also do a club pass where you only get games your club plays in)

[@muhammadrifqi7308]

Is MLB Network no longer in operation? I remember that being a thing that get criticized a lot for blocking out games for teams whose broadcasting rights have already been given to cable companies. So, does Apple tv have the exclusive rights now? Do they not block games for any team?

[@MrUltrAdaman]

@@muhammadrifqi7308 no idea about MLB I’m talking about MLS

[@muhammadrifqi7308]

@@MrUltrAdaman ah, right. I read that wrong. My bad 🤣

[@MrUltrAdaman]

@@muhammadrifqi7308 no worries 😂🔥

[@oxycominum]

The US has some real pioneers. A few NFL KZbinrs advertised a service that would just offer eny sports stream for a fixed rate (legally from what I understand). I would have gladly forked out but it was US only... And their shows like Redzone are also way better. I am so happy we at least have the simulcast in the Bundesliga. That's the most exciting thing to watch.

[@nathanb286]

The fees would maybe be worth it if you could watch every game. But the only way to watch your club at 3pm is either paying to be at the stadium, which for especially the London clubs is very expensive, or illegal streams

[@the0nlytrueprophet942]

In Covid when they put every game up on sky and bt no one illegally streamed. Hmmmm I wonder why

[@T.E.S.S.]

shhh, we don't talk about that @@the0nlytrueprophet942

[@calamorta]

I was shocked to see how expensive tickets were. I thought it was easily accessible for citizens and only expensive for tourists due to the pounds' value, but nah. And stadiums are still always full. That's impressive.

[@zeeafraud7898]

Not to mention if I want to get a season ticket for Arsenal, the waiting list is about a season or two. I would need to pay for a membership as well to get on to that waiting list. However you get a good deal if you support Fulham or Brentford.

[@Kaijufied]

@@zeeafraud7898 Fulham actually have the most expensive season tickets

[@thisiszaphod]

The biggest threat is NOT 'me' - but those who vastly overcharge for their streaming services.

[@gabrielbrezeanu2178]

The prices in UK are off the charts. In Spain for example I've recently paid 99 euros for a 12 months subscription and it includes ALL Premier League and Championship among many other Cup matches, diferent leagues and other sports. I have to admit that I feel lucky. Cheers to you all. Love the channel ❤

[@Mushgal_]

En España sigue siendo demasiado caro para lo que los españoles (especialmente los más jóvenes) se interesen por el fútbol. Además tienes que pagar Movistar Y DAZN para ver todos los partidos de tu equipo. No es sostenible a largo plazo.

[@ivannovikov7698]

The FA: has 3pm blackout and every team has a 3 pm game at least once or twice a month Fans: admit to using illegal streams at least once a month The FA/Prem: surprised Pikachu face

[@fredrankin3837]

I dont know what they've put in your tea but you've been dropping constant banger documentaries every other day recently, keep up the quality work Alf!!!

[@rollingout8416]

I didn’t realise the prices for watching the PL in the UK were so high for so few games. In Australia, I make one payment of $7 (approx £3.50) a month on top of my existing mobile plan to watch any game I want live. That’s crazy!

[@claas901]

I didn't know the EPL was so expensive for UK viewers and that they don't get to watch all matches even if they pay that horrendous amount of money. But I think we're seeing the same problem of overpriced subscriptions in all top leagues to a certain extend... Football to the people!

[@dvdv8197]

"The problem is you." Woohoow! Feels good to be part of something for once! 🥳😄

[@SteinadlerYT]

The Premier League is a danger for world football, destroying it by making the european competition totally unfair.

[@christophernicolson5086]

It's only a danger because it has so many large, well supported clubs. There are many due to a fairer split in money. La liga, Serie A could follow but then you use the few club dominance. What would be good for La Liga is bad for Real Madrid. Premier League realised that in the long run it is better to grow the pot than the share.

[@SteinadlerYT]

@@christophernicolson5086 the fact is, that the money overspending costed the fans to be fans. Feeling as fans. If Bundesliga clubs actually abandons 50+1, like some already shout, it will be the end of the local traditional fans, only the shadows portraying it. If Capitalism is winning over the poor peoples sport, then there is no reason to support it anyway. My reason why I start to grow suspicion, if I even should watch my football club. Because I care about the club and the traditions in total, not just the sports itself. As if more money is getting put inside, even less I am interested watching the football, and many, many people agree me here.

[@christophernicolson5086]

@SteinadlerYT Didn't quite understand but that's fine. I do not want football clubs growing by riding the backs of supporters who can't afford it. Part of the problem is that the stadiums are not as big as they could be. Old legacy clubs have legacy stadiums which are very hard to expand.

[@rashidkhalid3970]

Not really because its the best league and in Europe every club can still buy the best best upcoming players maybe seria a bundeslige and la Liga clubs are in trouble not premier league clubs yet

[@kelvinengland3991]

They need to understand that its the price they expect people to pay that's the issue. If they created a streaming platform like Netflix that showed every premier league I'd be happy to pay 20 pound a month.

[@redboyjan]

Same with movies and music. Many would prefer to pay something if it was sensible pricing, to include more ordinary fans, but their business model is to gain new wealthy fans, mainly in other countries. Fans here are not the focus at all

[@williamcross210]

The question is can they get enough people like you to pay for the costs of setting up and delivering such a service.

[@poopoppy]

I would rather pay my club 10 pound a month. Straight to their own app. We don'treally need viaplay and netflix.

[@redboyjan]

@@NowhereBeats ticket prices are a joke already. Wakey wakey

[@jtjr26]

Here in Canada, there is a streaming service where we can get all Premier League, Serie A, and Ligue 1 for $25 Canadian a month. A steal compared to what people are paying in the UK.

[@jdogg448]

Is that peacock?

[@jtjr26]

@@jdogg448 FUBO TV I think?

[@Jundapon-tv6bb]

Call it whatever you like, I call it not getting ripped off. They took a sport played and watched by ordinary working people and turned it into a multi billion Pound business that is played by millionaires and watched by people many of whom are struggling to make ends meet. "Illegal streaming" can never be stopped or controlled, same as the internet. Meanwhile, some thug beat someone senseless and stole their wallet. The Streamers got serious jail time,the thug a suspended sentence. That's the world we live in...we deserve it.

[@Honeybarbecuepumpum]

Recency bias is crazy. Current epl has more money sure, but it's not more dominant than serie a was in terms of competition. From 1984 to 1999, there was always an italian team in either the final or semi final of a european competition, serie a has produced more different balon dor winners than any other league and during the aforementioned time period, all the world cup winning teams of that era had key players that played in italy. Current epl isn't doing all that.

[@lwandomadikizela2213]

Most poorer countries or younger generation would resort to illegal streaming to watch their team plays than to pay a lot of money to watch some games and their team isn't televised at all(I'm looking at you Sky Sports). The Saudi League is the least of the Premier League's problems in the future.

[@richarddube328]

@HITC Sevens: I've been following your KZbin content since the very beginning, and I must say, this is one of your very best videos. It may not necessarily get the most views, but definitely up there with your top work. As always, informative, objective, factual (with some comedy thrown in) and well presented, a true pleasure to watch. Thank you very much for these Alfie, please and keep them coming.

[@nn8742]

Ppl illegal stream prem matches because the subscriptions to watch all prem matches would probably put you back £100 a month. And even then if your club is playing at 3pm you have to illegally stream

[@swidr5626]

The biggest threat to the Premier League it's their own growth and greed at this point. They go for all the lengths to keep up with it's growth and mindlessly spending that money to the point that soon most people won't even affort to watch sports anymore and from something that was supposed to be open for everyone it's gonna become the game for the rich

[@redboyjan]

That happened ages ago. Ticket prices are a joke already let alone TV packages that don't play all the matches, even if you pay for several unaffordable packages

[@swidr5626]

@@redboyjan Yeah of course, but it seems like it’s never gonna stop to the moment where literally no one but the richest will be able to afford watching any PL matches and the whole thing is simply going to implode from it

[@redboyjan]

@@swidr5626 the TV companies are only interested in a period of time they have bought rights for. The PL and FA and authorities should be working together to create a better future for here and all leagues at all levels, without this bubble growing until it can't. But a lot seems perilously unbalanced, and on the point of breaking, in many parts of football. And the ESL hasnt been stopped....

[@hamopeace]

I'm a British expat living abroad in China and pay the equivalent to £20-30 for the entire season, all teams, all games (English commentary). Paying for each broadcaster in the UK for the same privilege seems like madness.

[@fernweh123]

Dont worry, to watch all Bundesliga games in Germany, you need to pay for sky and dazn for about 80€ (85€ for el and ecl games) With football being primarily being the working mans sport, its absolutely disgusting for it being so stupidly expensive to just be able to watch all the games of your club, it is almost highway robbery. Football tv rights have become too expensive for the main audience of the sport. The TV Rights are too heavily spread out, and need to be more thrown into a single pot (why does sky have all Saturday games and 2nd division ones, but dazn all games on Friday and Sunday?)

[@T.E.S.S.]

but that 85 euros is still less than UK viewers have to pay, and it includes every game. so it's a MUCH better deal

[@fernweh123]

@@T.E.S.S. I am not saying that our deal is worse or better than yours. my point being is that this splitting of matches is absolutely idiotic and for a lot of people during this time, unpayable.

[@andysorensen1737]

When my Swans were in Premier League I was shocked how relatively few matches British fans get live. I understand the reasoning for the 3 PM blackout (As outdated as it is), but it’s still wild that I in the States can see every match for a league in England where they get relative scraps.

[@rapidprimus]

There is absolutely no reason for the blackout rule at all! It is almost impossible to find a ticket now, even if most games are televised anyways, with games being booked and sold out months or even for the whole season in advance. It makes no sense

[@BillCarrIpswich]

$140 for a Chelsea shirt with 'Cucarella' on the back. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 How about Noooooo

[@TheDon90]

This isn't just a premier League issue tho. Many football fans support as you mentioned championship, league 1/2 clubs and have to pay sky/tnt to watch their teams and premier league rate. I myself am a Scottish football fan. To watch all our games I need tnt sky and via play. The cost of this is even more than the figure you mentioned for the premier league clubs. Yet basically none of that goes to the club's I want to watch even though I don't watch any premier League football. And I'll get 2 games a week for that outlay.

[@Support-your-local-team]

And on top of that Sky Sports shows total contempt for Scottish football, both in what it pays and their coverage. They upload highlights with the wrong score and everything. Embarrassing.

[@ronniekiven7177]

Which websites do you use because there is a lot of buffering in the sites I use to stream football

[@GokuMcDuck]

Same here in México.

[@DomenBremecXCVI]

Weirdly, a Premier League's joint venture with the EFL, WSL, and FA might be the best option going forward. Whilst the first selling point would be the Prem, having the option to watch so many games would be quite cool both for fans and for the teams lower down the leagues which currently gain global support through FM and EA games alone.

[@DomenBremecXCVI]

Obviously, there would be packages you could pay for, maybe 1 PL game a month would even be free, PL games of 1 club alone would be £20 a month, and every PL game would be £50/month, while another competition would cost you £30/month for 1, £50/month for 2, £60 for 3 and so on... Include the SPL in that and you might be at a point where a person might pay £120/month to watch any game they could reasonably ask for. UEFA could do something fairly similar for their competitions, and whoever goes first would most likely be the bigger player.

[@gregorybiestek3431]

More likely given the Premier Leagues contracts with American media companies is that they will continue to push to create a super league divorced from any relegation or connection with any other league, losing the working class folks to focus on wealthy fans in plush seats and LOTS & LOTS of American and Middle East TV Money.

[@garrgameltm3562]

Here on the Balkans I pay around 10 euros so I can get access to 20 or more legal TV channels so I can watch every Premier League and other top leagues including Champions Leagues in EU, Asia, NA, SA and more. So 10 euros for world wide football and all other sports including separate channel for esports, fk yeah.

[@paulvinten7672]

great video Alfie, I'm a portsmouth season ticket holder, and when we're broadcast we're often restricted to ifollow, and the quality is awful. I'd love to be able to buy a subsciption to watch all my club's games on TV, without having to break the law to do so

[@ryanflood635]

"after paying a grand a year you can still only watch half Premier League matches" Yep and until they fix that they will never stop streaming.

[@seandelap8587]

It goes in cycles though Seria A in its prime was a more dominant league than the EPL ever was and look at it now so its by no means certain that the EPL will keep dominating into the future

[@HITCSevens]

Historically, there have been cycles, and nothing lasts forever, but there has never been an efficient revenue-generating machine even remotely comparable to the Premier League before, and even at the height of its dominance, Serie A was nowhere near as dominant as the Premier League is now.

[@linafrisoli53]

@@HITCSevens dominant financially certainly not trophy wise. Serie A in the 90s had at least one team in either the champions league or uefa cup. The premier league has not had a decade like that.

[@caesar-dynastysports]

@@linafrisoli53 Google is free. Champions League final appearances 2023 - Manchester City 2022 - Liverpool 2021 - Chelsea and Manchester City 2019 - Liverpool and Tottenham 2018 - Liverpool 2012 - Chelsea 2011 - Manchester United Europa League finals appearances 2020 - Manchester United 2019 - Chelsea and Arsenal 2017 - Manchester United 2016 - Liverpool 2013 - Chelsea 2010 - Fulham 2014 and 2015 are the only two years when there wasn't an English team in the Champions League or Europa League final from 2010-2023. So they've had a decade just like that. If you stretch it back to 2000, you'd only add another 3 or 4 years in which there wasn't an English team in either final which includes a spell of 5 straight Champions League finals with English teams in them.

[@pritapp788]

Unless something breaks the current model the PL will keep dominating simply because it generates more money and those effects keep compounding. I think it will get worse actually. For example at some stage I can imagine clubs like Manchester United and Chelsea demanding a 5th and 6th CL place for England because competition from the likes of Newcastle is making it harder for them to enter the CL. The CL will end up being something with 10 PL teams and the rest (scraps) for Europe.

[@grobariza]

@@pritapp788 and still get hammered by La Liga clubs

[@karlfroberg520]

Piracy wasn't defeated when the founders of The Pirate Bay where convicted, piracy was defeated when the IP owners made their IP broadly accessible. The fact that the games is not broadcast is equal to saying "you want to watch it you have to do it illegally". If it's possible to provide the service and the owner refuses for any other reason than popular demand then people will likely look for other options.

[@Bubsisbubs]

Throughly enjoyed this video Alfie (much the same as all your videos), however this topic is so interesting given the changing landscape of football as a commercial assest. Keep it up man 👍🏼

[@kitfoxo8936]

Two solutions: 1) Make it accessible - people don’t want to require multiple streaming services, one or two places to watch all the games would be ideal. 2) Make it affordable - having to pay monthly fees for multiple services which are ridiculously priced is putting people off. If these two were fixed, people wouldn’t bother with the dodgy boxes - they’d just go with a Sky package or an Amazon package because it’s convenient and affordable!

[@callumpayer2874]

Alfie, please look at Al hilal losing the 2014 Asian champions league. The story of western Sydney wanderers has recently been quite sad but at the beginning of 2010’s their beginning was incredible topped off with a Asian champions league win in their first try against the biggest clubs in Asia. One of the best underdog stories you’ll ever see in recent history

[@ILikedGooglePlus]

National League's streaming service: every non Saturday 3pm game from all three leagues (National League, North, and South): £170 for a year, or £22 for a month, or £9.50 for all games on a specific day

[@owenfitzgerald5928]

I live in Northern Ireland where the blackout at 3pm affects me but the chance and ability of going to efl and prem games live is extremely unlikely while 3pm kick off games are shown down south in the republic of Ireland like any other matches

[@martinmcwilliams]

I miss the days when rte would show a 3pm Saturday prem match usually Liverpool or Utd.

[@saintpepsi8602]

Make a video on top 5 nonces of all time in football please

[@havoc3-243]

Adam Johnson would be #1 i'm telling you

[@saintpepsi8602]

​@@havoc3-243what would your top 5 be? Based on talent of football not by crime's

[@T.E.S.S.]

basing it on talent seems to undermine the point tbh @@saintpepsi8602

[@fedfed6485]

22:30 Premier League already broadcasts matches themselves abroad (via Premier League TV). They already have the production capabilities, commentators, staff, etc. What they lack is the backend, because they operate as a traditional TV channel using other companies' (cable operators') tech platforms. But that would seem like a simpler thing to get done than the actual production, given that there are thousands of companies who have done that. In my country, for most games, I can choose between a local broadcast and an English-language PLTV broadcast as part of one cable+streaming platform.

[@pimme5012]

Alfie your videos make me so happy, i genuinely think your the best youtuber on the platform.❤

[@FifaInspected]

We are spoiled here in the states. We can legally watch every PL match via peacock for around $5.99/month.

[@sanmarino6816]

I live in Japan and last year I paid less for a year of PL football as you'd have to pay for a month in the UK for the three services, and we got every single game and we could watch everything as a VOD after the game was finished. Mental.

[@sanmarino6816]

An addition to this, I also get every Scottish Premier League game, MLB game, and some other sports. Before last season the rights were held by DAZN, which cost even less (through a phone contract) and had even more sports.

[@AceZHD]

i miss games being broadcasted on public channels not sure if that was ever a thing in the uk though

[@GokuMcDuck]

México here. Miss that too here.

[@xiaoling6127]

The champion League used to be on itv

[@jimbob-robob]

Here in Australia I can get all EPL games for about a fiver a month with my Internet provider bundle. Unbelievable costs of EPL in Britain. Disgusting profiteering as usual in my beloved blighty...

[@c0wqu3u31at3r]

people who don't wanna break the law are gonna figure out that they can use a residential VPN that can never be blocked and just get the cheapest country's package. For everyone else there's the dodgy box

[@kacpermichalak696]

In Poland it costs 9.32 pounds a month to watch all PL games. Alsou u have Bundesliga 2 Bundesliga, Europa league and conference league

[@hotsauce9554]

One thing people are forgetting here. Is that by changing the streaming services. Alot of pubs would be hit HARD by that. Alot of pubs are already struggling and taking away their biggest day of revenue by home steaming becoming easier might be close to the final nail in the coffin. I go to university in york. And honestly you go out on a matchday any pub that is showing the game is rammed. And the others are lucky (unless they serve food) to have about 2/3 groups. 😅

[@chrisfrank2664]

I’ve read about watching PL games in UK is ridiculously expensive . It’s Crazy that Peacock in USA shows every match. It makes sense when I show a picture of watching 3 or more of the 10am games simultaneously ( the Saturday games at 3pm UK time) to friends in England they get so upset about how easy it is to watch PL in US !! Sometimes Even asking me about a game at times.

[@TheFunctioningInsomniac]

One of the few times that I can be glad that I have Peacock for viewing the games, no matter how bad the presentation is at times.

[@MegaJDOG1995]

I know its only Irish Football but you can stream all 3 leagues, First Division, Second Division and Womens League for €140 per season, the quality of streams and commentary etc is poor and the football is not close to the quality of the PL but nonetheless you get to watch all the football you want, at least 400+ games, it should realistically cost more... basically what I am saying is, if the League of Ireland has a very basic streaming service with very little funding, theres no reason the PL can't do it with its millions, and it costing a fair price for its fans... I don't know what would be a fair price... only thing is, its surely more lucrative to have these TV companies paying crazy money to stream the PL games, then have fans pay it directly? Maybe I am wrong though...

[@JimiCanRead]

Can you sign up to that from the UK?

[@MegaJDOG1995]

@@JimiCanRead yeah from all over the world

[@philipconnor1064]

This is outrageous. I live in New Zealand, I pay NZD$450 a year and can watch all 380 games live & on demand. The time difference makes it unrealistic to watch many live, but comparatively good value.

[@Birick]

I know ur content completely revolves around football in the UK, but as an American I would love to hear your opinion and report about the issue that is currently going on with the CFB (college football). Only because you do such a good job and to see what you think of the current money drive. (U might have to make it a series, because of everything that goes into it)

[@MS-wi9hn]

Good, I hope people keep finding ways to do it. The greed in sports is insane.

[@sephjnr]

The Premier League could have chosen to cut ties with Sky to go with its own online streaming platform, but it was easier chasing the dollars. That's why Sky are trying to branch out (gambling, insurance) as far as possible because without the PL their revenues start tanking.

[@ethandalton6480]

"What are you in for?" "Murder, what about you?" "Watching Burnley vs Aston Villa"

[@MUFCtom95]

I also have paid for every way to watch football legally have a season ticket at MUFC, and yet I have to stream some games that are even on TV because my TV box stutters frequently and HD 1080p isnt standard yet, the streams on Twitter are better. It's insane how the huge companies (and Virgin Media) can be so shite

[@nathanf1162]

It would be a good thing if football was about ability over money again

[@olefars2042]

As a foreign person, I think the idea of making a prem exclusive streaming site might be a reach. The biggest reason to use illegal services is the ability to watch whatever game in whatever league or cup. I actually think it is desirable for the relevancy of premier league and football in general to have illegal services available for the less fortunate, meanwhile the legal broadcasters can milk em rich lads innit.

[@pritapp788]

"I actually think it is desirable for the relevancy of premier league and football in general to have illegal services available for the less fortunate" The Premier League doesn't give a toss about non-paying members of the audience, it relies on people paying through the nose to sustain its model. If you watch the PL illegally they don't see you as a lover of their league but like a criminal stealing from their business.

[@yungguattari4924]

​@@pritapp788 good, then I'm a criminal 😎

[@marlinbundo6045]

15:19 Thought he was talking about sarcasm tv (flawless) there for a sec 😂😂😂

[@louisjagger2177]

Shoutout to the best kind of, um, quasi-legal streaming: having an away game at 3pm on a Saturday (as is usually the case in League One) and paying your club's in-house broadcast service a tenner to watch it via a VPN. (You'd think a season ticket would count for something here!)

[@c0wqu3u31at3r]

Clubs wondering why everyone is watching their 3pm games on Opera browser

[@Hello7488to]

Re added: Maybe it could be just sky and Amazon working together on showing the premier league games?

[@693iq8]

What did you say?

[@MicahDaJohn]

What did you say?

[@saintpepsi8602]

Could have just been KZbins automatic censor bot tbf Alfie doesn't seem to delete comments from what I've seen

[@Hello7488to]

@@MicahDaJohn about making it just sky and Amazon like they are working together

[@stepworudo4966]

@@Hello7488toit probably was yt that deleted ur comment

[@DKOT-ez1vw]

Interesting video, but I will say if the League of ireland can make a streaming service that mostly works, the premier league should have no issues at all.

[@ClubSoda98]

Unrelated but congrats Alfie, saws the news of Hull winning the Best Retail Catering Award at the Stadium and Hospitality Events Awards. Your scran looks banging.

[@josecipriano3048]

The greedy bastards have failed to identify the biggest threat of them all: if they keep charging exorbitant amounts of money and cracking down on illegal streaming, people won't just start paying whatever they want. Football is not like food or utilities, if people can't watch it for a reasonable amount, they just won't watch it.

[@danielmacgregor8721]

If the TV revenues weren’t so high or important to clubs business plans it wouldn’t matter about the streams as much (not standing up for illegality, more the business side of clubs relying on TV revenue), TV made the PL and TV will break the PL. What needs to happen to keep people watching is like what the NFL does, a yearly subscription and you can watch whatever game you want… that is the way ahead, direct streaming services on a centralised platform, let SKY etc die, the PL would make sh*tloads running it themselves on a streaming platform

[@seandelap8587]

When you have to pay an arm and a leg just to watch a single match is it any wonder that people are restoring to other means most people don't have unlimited pockets so what else are they supposed to do

[@montanaprime]

Alfie, I am waiting on an in-depth video regarding the changes to UEFA competitions and the prospect of the Saudi pro league wildcard access in the future

[@punkrokkme7]

24:40 Alfie let me clear about this; we are always asking for your prediction. Thanks for the videos dude

[@isaacwilliams398]

£20 a month for a premier league streaming service feels like the best of both worlds.

[@isaacwilliams398]

Families can’t afford to watch football in person, or via streaming, they can’t afford to buy official kits for their children, they can at times not even afford to feed themselves. It’s a joke this country at times

[@pritapp788]

For consumers of the baby boomer and Gen X generations, perhaps that sounds like a reasonable deal. Younger consumers have grown up with the habit of loads of content available for free (it's not actually free) or very affordable subscriptions on platforms such as this one and Netflix, not to mention illegal streams. What will be their willingness to pay crazy amounts just to watch football? These are the consumers which the Premier League needs to conquer, but at the moment it's just milking it existing older cash cows and not even taking stock of the competition (both legal and illegal). Anything competing for the attention of viewers is competition for football. You might be able to go after a few illegal streams but how do you outlaw KZbin, Netflix and other American content giants?

[@isaacwilliams398]

@@pritapp788 you can’t really, not without putting more money into that than it would be to set up their streaming service

[@mattborgi18]

Very interesting video. Here in Malta, I pay €6 p/month for a sports package that includes the Premier League (ok, Michael Owen is horrible as a pundit, but you've got to take what's available to you), Serie A, La Liga, the Bundesliga, Formula 1, MotoGP and ATP tennis. Fair buck, if you had to ask me. Ok - the cable service is then something else that has to be paid for (and at €32 p/month, it contains a lot of rubbish channels and is not cheap) - but if you had to take the sports package in isolation, it's incredibly affordable. The mind baffles as to how the average British consumer is being cheated and robbed out of any hard earned money for such an inferior quality of service.

[@nbarrett100]

If police in the UK don't have the resources to respond to burglaries, they probably don't have the resources to visit everybody who uses VIPbox

[@ronniekiven7177]

Which websites do you use because there is a lot of buffering in the sites I use to stream football

[@izutwo100]

Then again what? Yes, mindset. People always like "Why you must pay when you can get for free?".

[@T.E.S.S.]

no

[@lokmansahat6220]

Hello, Alfie. Can you make a video about what is going on with Malaysian football right now? With the senior national team are prepared for playing at Asian Cup in January next year, Johor Darul Takzim(JDT), one of Malaysia biggest football club are aim to achieve 9 time Malaysian Super League in row in this season and Malaysian under 17s squad are crash out in group stage on AFC Under-17 Asian Cup.

[@SuperAnimeking100]

Makes me as an American very thankful for services like Peacock and ESPN+. Seriously atp if a draconian measure does take place i wouldn't be surprised if poorer British ppl abandon the league and the popularity of the sport goes down like it did with Rugby and Cricket. Why even pay for all that in the UK when Onefootball shows the sport for free

[@sampsta1505]

I assume its a clause in the TV rights deal but I'm surprised clubs dont take the initiative to set up/look into streaming (via various streaming sites (twitch, kick, KZbin to name a few) for their non-televised games, as realistically if you could get a well positioned camera to track the ball or multiple choice cameras so a viewer could flick though different angles of the pitch and even if it was shit you could make minor improvements each time until its a workable service.

[@kth6736]

How did the Bayern-PSG final in 2020 feature an english club?

[@lucaslonchampt613]

Paris is in England, duh

[@Lgx-ie4if]

Still 5 out of the last 6 finals…

[@macriggland6526]

Premier League needs to form its own media-wing and sell games on a pay-per-view basis. It’s high quality, maybe charge $10 per game.

[@mbusox]

Have you seen la liga

[@T.E.S.S.]

the most sensible thing would be the PL streaming everything themselves, plus integrating your idea somehow. but it won't happen.

[@macriggland6526]

Yeah, and low income people could only buy one game of their favorite team, while rich people with more time could queue up 4 or 5 games per weekend. Pay-per-view has the opportunity to be lucrative but it doesn’t have to be out of reach for large chunks of the population @@T.E.S.S.

[@jamesamihyia7573]

He literally spoke about how they tried this a couple years ago and it failed miserably because it should not cost £8 to watch a football match

[@macriggland6526]

It was 14.50@@jamesamihyia7573

[@friendlybane]

I live in the US, so NBC has exclusive PL rights. They split the 10 games like this: Peacock (online streaming platfrom) 6 games and USA/NBC Sports (TV Channels) 4 games. Peacock is relatively affordable for me ($5/month) but in order to watch the other 4 games on USA or NBC sports, I have to pay for a large streaming package that costs at least $40/month, just to have access to one channel. Definitely not doing that. So I pay for Peacock and get access to 6 games. The other 4, I watch on illegal streams. I have no problem paying for PL games, but I won't pay for multple costly subscriptions because NBC arbitrality splits the 10 games to make more money.

[@the1HLT]

I enjoyed this video and found it interesting throughout.

[@BALHAM69]

#thepeopleschannel a video on the Bangladesh premier league and the rise of Bashundhara kings would be good A team who went into the top flight after promotion and won the last four league titles now! Are they the next Newcastle? Are they a team to keep a eye on next few years? Thanks Alfie 😊

[@pejwl_music]

in czech republic we have a website that allows every club of various sports broadcast their matches so people can watch it for free, legally. theres usually football matches of the third highest local competition and lower. ofc football here is played on much lower level but i just felt this might interesting thing to add to this topic

[@user-cl5kj7oq6y]

Imagine going broke paying for access to watch a bunch of pampered millionaires play a game. What a world we live in.

[@dreamjackson5483]

Great stuff as usual

[@StriclySegaEurope]

UK prices are Wild! Over here in Denmark, it IS expensive, but not near, and we Can watch all games

[@GokuMcDuck]

Once met this Beautiful Danish Girl. Lene Pfeiffer Petersen was her name.

[@deborahluck539]

DAMN, YOU ARE SO GOOD!!! Hello from Las Vegas (talk about corruption)

[@billmartin4093]

So you are telling me some guy who drunk and drove and killed 2 people gets 14 years and one person who streamed a fucking football match illegally gets 11 years behind bars? How is that even.. What the fuck.

[@dvdv8197]

Incredible segment, Alfie, WOW!! Thanks.

[@T.E.S.S.]

"segment"

[@dvdv8197]

@@T.E.S.S. yes?