In the last two days, there have been two announcements from the television side of football that will be benefiting the Saddlers financially. Both of these will no doubt be welcomed with open arms by the club and fans alike. So what are they?
The first of the two announcements came yesterday (21st August). Our Carabao Cup first round match against Sheffield Wednesday has been selected for Sky Sports live coverage. Although I could not find official figures that Sky pay clubs for a match to be broadcast, we know that Walsall will indeed receive a fee, and although it may not be world changing, it is added income, that other clubs will not be getting. It is a very selfish view to have, but it gives us a bit of extra cash. I found a piece from 2012 looking into money generated by the FA Cup:
FA Cup forecast live TV payments 2011/12
Round Number of live matches Fee per televised club (£)
Round 1 3 £67’500
Round 2 3 £72’000
Round 3 5 £123’500
Round 4 5 £123’500
Round 5 5 £212’000
Round 6 4 £212’000
A couple of things to note here. Firstly, the FA Cup figures will be different to that of the Carabao Cup, with reported figures here that the Carabao Cup makes up around two – thirds of the EFL clubs annual UK Sky deal. So I would imagine the figures per game are high, considering the number. The figures above are also from the 2011/12 season. The amount of money pumped into broadcasting has increased year on year. So I think the Saddlers could be in for quite a healthy figure for one live match of football.
The next bit of good news for Walsall is that today it was agreed today between the EFL and Sky Sports, that fans will be allowed to stream matches involving their club, with the income from this going to the club, to help cashflows. For season ticket holders, this will be free, but fans wanting to watch who do not have a season ticket can pay £10 to watch their club. This news will be a huge relief to clubs across the leagues, as their biggest income streams are from fans attending matches. This is the closest thing to fans buying a match ticket as possible.
So good news all round. The income from a live cup game, and the club getting money from iFollow will really help Walsall keep ticking along.
