Season Tickets 2022/23

[Robert]

Details announced:

https://ictfc.com/2022-23-season-tickets-support-your-local-team-support-ictfc 

It includes confirmation livestreams are not included. 

[IBM]

I look forward to getting my one this year at the Senior Citizen rate for the first time 

[+snorbens_caleyman]

15 hours ago, Robert said:

It includes confirmation livestreams are not included. 

Very disappointing.  I note that the announcement says "we are not allowed to show our home games". The implication being that it was not the club's decision, although there is no clue as to whether the club agrees or disagrees with the decision.

Would be interesting to know what, if any, consultation with the clubs took place before any decisions were taken.

[RiG]

Whether the club agrees with it or not the fact remains that the livestreaming of live games at 3pm on a Saturday was only ever going to be a temporary measure during COVID times. As soon as (the worst of) COVID was over then things would revert to "normal" and we would see a return to the blackout implemented by the Scottish and English FA's per UEFA regulations. At least for 2021/22 we got an extra years "grace" compared to England but I appreciate that will be small crumbs of comfort to those who came to rely on the streams.

Edited May 31, 2022 by RiG
"Rely" not "reply".

[+snorbens_caleyman]

2 hours ago, RiG said:

Whether the club agrees with it or not the fact remains that the livestreaming of live games at 3pm on a Saturday was only ever going to be a temporary measure during COVID.

Not necessarily.  If enough people  - or, in this case, clubs - want it, then things can be changed.  

Given that we have just had a lengthy period of no crowd restrictions AND live streaming, then it was the perfect opportunity to investigate whether crowds were adversely affected, or whether clubs actually made more money, very possibly through away fans who wouldn't have travelled anyway.

[Kingsmills]

Pity about the live streaming.

A number of Covid measures originally intended to be temporary have proved such a success that they have become permanent.

With a bit more flexibility and imagination on the part of the football authorities, this could have been another.

[RiG]

43 minutes ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

Not necessarily.  If enough people  - or, in this case, clubs - want it, then things can be changed.  

Given that we have just had a lengthy period of no crowd restrictions AND live streaming, then it was the perfect opportunity to investigate whether crowds were adversely affected, or whether clubs actually made more money, very possibly through away fans who wouldn't have travelled anyway.

Given that the crowds this season appeared to drop significantly, including a number of suspicious looking sub four figure attendances announced as 2,000 odd, I would surmise that the club are desperate to get people back to the ground rather than continuing to watch games from home what with any added value in person attendance brings.

The blackout has been in place for the best part of 60 years (in England at least). The chances of it changing on a permanent basis are slim I'd wager.

Edited May 31, 2022 by RiG

[Scotty]

4 hours ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

Very disappointing.  I note that the announcement says "we are not allowed to show our home games". The implication being that it was not the club's decision, although there is no clue as to whether the club agrees or disagrees with the decision. Would be interesting to know what, if any, consultation with the clubs took place before any decisions were taken.

The club have non-exclusive rights to broadcast their own games worldwide, subject to any local rules regarding UEFA (or other regional FIFA affiliated organizations) blackouts.  The SFA have always requested that 3PM-5PM blackout period on a Saturday, hence why anything on telly then was before or after that time. This means that while the club could theoretically broadcast to Ireland, Europe, North America, Australia, they simply cannot do it within Scotland thanks to that SFA request and within England thanks to the FA request. While I would love them to broadcast to Canada on a Saturday, the cost to provide that service would far outweigh the potential revenue so there would be no benefit to them unfortunately.  

 

3 hours ago, RiG said:

Whether the club agrees with it or not the fact remains that the livestreaming of live games at 3pm on a Saturday was only ever going to be a temporary measure during COVID times. As soon as (the worst of) COVID was over then things would revert to "normal" and we would see a return to the blackout implemented by the Scottish and English FA's per UEFA regulations. At least for 2021/22 we got an extra years "grace" compared to England but I appreciate that will be small crumbs of comfort to those who came to reply on the streams.

spot on. 

[Jaggernaut]

19 hours ago, IBM said:

I look forward to getting my one this year at the Senior Citizen rate for the first time 

I have also joined the seniors club for the first time. The discount helped ease the pain!

[gingerjaggy]

19 hours ago, RiG said:

Given that the crowds this season appeared to drop significantly, including a number of suspicious looking sub four figure attendances announced as 2,000 odd, I would surmise that the club are desperate to get people back to the ground rather than continuing to watch games from home what with any added value in person attendance brings.

The blackout has been in place for the best part of 60 years (in England at least). The chances of it changing on a permanent basis are slim I'd wager.

I believe that the Football League (who the blackout really protects) is being looked at as to whether it really serves any purpose. I think the blackout is to protect those in League 1 and League 2 because of the lack of TV revenue. I am now a ST holder at Ipswich Town and since their relegation from the Championship I believe the TV revenue dropped from 7m to 700k for being in League 1 so the bottom two leagues relies very heavily on fans through the gates to make an income and the blackout is to protect them encase I guess many decide to watch 3pm Prem matches on TV instead of attending. The fact they are going to discuss it suggests that eventually it will be removed. Having watched games during Covid on a screen it was a bleak fare and having the EFL IFollow down here where with VPN I can watch away games at 3pm it still doesn't have the same feeling even with fans back. The real joy of football comes from attending live but all the social interaction pre and post match. I think clubs will be able to stream to make another revenue income but the joy of still attending live will still be a greater pull than watching on a screen. 

[Scotty]

3 hours ago, gingerjaggy said:

I believe that the Football League (who the blackout really protects) is being looked at as to whether it really serves any purpose. I think the blackout is to protect those in League 1 and League 2 because of the lack of TV revenue. I am now a ST holder at Ipswich Town and since their relegation from the Championship I believe the TV revenue dropped from 7m to 700k for being in League 1 so the bottom two leagues relies very heavily on fans through the gates to make an income and the blackout is to protect them encase I guess many decide to watch 3pm Prem matches on TV instead of attending. The fact they are going to discuss it suggests that eventually it will be removed. Having watched games during Covid on a screen it was a bleak fare and having the EFL IFollow down here where with VPN I can watch away games at 3pm it still doesn't have the same feeling even with fans back. The real joy of football comes from attending live but all the social interaction pre and post match. I think clubs will be able to stream to make another revenue income but the joy of still attending live will still be a greater pull than watching on a screen. 

I think you nailed it from a fan perspective. (For me) it is all about the day out with the actual match being just a part of that. If you are going to go to the football then you are going to go whether its on TV or not in most cases. You might choose not to on a wet and windy night in January, but that decision might have been the same whether its on telly or not.  If there is an ICT game on a Saturday afternoon but Celtic -V- anyone is live on TV then I am still going to the ICT game

As I said in earlier posts, I could/would argue that removing the blackout could actually be better for some clubs. You may miss out on one or two folk in the local area who watch on telly, but you also broaden your potential viewership to a wider audience, in our case of users from the central belt and beyond as well as those outside the country who wouldn't go to the game anyway. If you can reach a critical mass so that it pays for itself then anything on top of that is just gravy