City’s League One home meeting with Stockport County has been brought forward after being selected for live Sky Sports coverage, as the Cardiff City game has been.
The Imps will welcome the Hatters to Sincil Bank on Saturday 14 March, with kick off now set for 12.30 pm following the broadcast selection. That means two early kick-offs, back-to-back, with the Cardiff game on the seventh.
It also means that this weekend’s fixture against Bolton will be the only 3 pm Saturday kick-off at the Bank in over two months. Our previous 3 pm Saturday kick-off came against Cardiff City on December 14th, and the next is Blackpool on February 28th. It means by the time Rotherham visit on March 21st, we will have had just two in three months.
Obviously, when football sells its soul to the devil, there are consequences, and Sky TV are the devil. I had to chuckle reading the reports for our first Sky TV game, against Bolton in 1993, where it seemed such a novelty to kick off late. Imagine if we go up, we’re likely to have just as few regular Saturday afternoon games at the Bank.
It’s the price of success to some degree, and the trade-off for taking some of the Sky TV money. It’s also a glimpse into the future, where the armchair subscriber takes precedent over the rank and file supporter on the terraces. It’s a sham,e of course it is, but what can you do?
It’s certainly not affecting attendances. City’s average of 9,178 is currently up on last season, where we attracted 9,004 as an average. We do have some lower attendance games coming up: Wycombe, Orient and Wimbledon, but Rotherham and Stockport will certainly expect to fill the away end.
The average will also uplift this weekend, as the Bolton game is sold out, with more than 10,000 watching on from the now (almost) minority kick-off time of 3 pm, Saturday afternoon.
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