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Football voted to preserve the 3pm TV blackout last month – but Wanderers CEO Neil Hart believes a change to that policy is on the horizon.
A new £935 million broadcasting deal, which will kick-in for the 2024/25 season, will see more EFL matches than ever before beamed live or streamed.
But led by the Premier League, the long-standing rule that at least half of games will remain 3pm Saturday kick-offs, and will not be shown live, has been preserved by the 72 member clubs.
Hart has already warned Bolton fans that they may have to adapt to fixture changes when the new deal takes effect, which will include games being moved for scheduling reasons to new Thursday and Sunday slots along with Friday night, Saturday lunchtime and evening.
And though the new five-year deal was voted through unanimously, there is still a divide in the views of many in football when it comes to whether the current restrictions on 2.45pm-5.15pm on Saturday should remain.
Hart – who has been openly in favour of change – believes the debate will be opened up again before the end of the decade.
“Football wants to protect the 3pm window because I think there is a fear factor that we won’t get bums on seats,” he told The Bolton News. “That is the trade-off.
“I don’t think there is anything like live sport. The ones who want to come and watch it will always do it. But I accept others may have a different view, and that’s OK.
“I am in favour of making football completely inclusive, and I understand the commercial implications behind it.
“But you go to other countries, like the US, and everything is televised. The NFL, the NBA, it is all streamed and yet the games are all played in front of full houses, courts, stadia and arenas.
“There will come a time in the future when we need to be brave with this. How soon that happens, I don’t know.
“It is an interesting debate and I don’t think there is a right or a wrong answer here.”
The 3pm rule – otherwise known as UEFA Article 48 - has been in place since the 1960s but has been relaxed for certain situations, including lockdown.
Premier League chief Richard Masters said recently: “We’ve been proponents of Article 48 for the entire Premier League and I don’t see that changing in the near term.”
Before the new broadcasting deal there was speculation that the EFL may look to push the boundary but clubs eventually voted to preserve the status quo.
“I am in favour of opening it up, I have never shied away from that,” Hart said. “But it is not part of the deal that has just been signed.
“We took recommendation from the EFL executive, who are very accomplished and know what they are doing. We and 71 other clubs backed and supported that view.”
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