Town reportedly brought in £750,000 from games streamed online last season.

The EFL has been streaming matches since 2017 with the income becoming increasingly important, especially so during the Covid-hit 2020/21 campaign.

The issue has also become controversial with individual clubs banking the profits on all the match passes they sell, including those for games played away.

Town sold 6,075 passes, which cost £10 each, for the game at Gillingham in January, a League One record, with the Gills handed nothing from that sum.

"In a lengthy article on the situation, The Athletic reveals that Town are understood to have made £750,000 from streaming last season and another of League One’s bigger sides Bolton £500,000, while smaller clubs received much less. Accrington chairman Andy Holt says that under the current arrangements his club receive only “£20,000 or £30,000” a year.

Midweek EFL fixtures are streamed live in the UK but currently Saturday 3pm games - other than in the exceptional 2020/21 season - remain unavailable due to UEFA rules, although it is probable that this will eventually change.

However, all League One and Two games played during the World Cup in November and December will be shown live this season along with Bank Holiday fixtures.

Town are set to switch from the EFL’s iFollow streaming service to their own TownTV when the current contract comes to an end next summer.

Photo: Matchday Images

Bazza8564 added 11:51 - Jul 18 I think we need to look at this within the context of our home gates going up to 26500 from 21500 first to last game and us having an average of 1850 going to away games with a good number of away games selling out. It simply shows how the clubs is being viewed on multiple fronts, all of which show healthy growth. I would also be interested to know how many saturday passes were sold, because everybody knows that logged in via a VPN you can still get access to those games in the same way....

2

LythamBlue added 12:03 - Jul 18 Living in Lancashire there is no way I could attend home games on a regular basis. If the rules did change I would happily pay to watch weekend matches. If there is a worry about spectator attendances being affected maybe it could implemented on a postcode basis?
2

jonwillpott added 12:16 - Jul 18 @Lytham Blue.....you need to add people who are unable to attend Portman Road due to health/disability issues too.....
5

TimmyH added 12:19 - Jul 18 Good news!...there's no doubt the club has a healthy following, there was no doubt subdued in the McCarthy era.
1

BigAlwasmyhero added 12:33 - Jul 18 As a life long ITFC fan living in N.Ireland we come under the same UEFA rules as if we lived on the U.K. main land. Unable to stream live Saturday games which is a loss of revenue to our club. Hopefully the ridiculous rule will change soon!
5

ArnieM added 12:59 - Jul 18 Don't know how much control the likes of ifollow have on the screening of football games but no doubt these companies would do all they can to prevent individual clubs from screening their own games . But why shouldn't ITFC do this if they want too. It's income the club is generating for itself.
1

pg888 added 13:01 - Jul 18 How can people claim they are unable to watch games on a Saturday. Download a vpn and watch every game!
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JewellintheTown added 13:01 - Jul 18 "Bigger clubs" have bigger overheads. Splitting streaming revenue is a big win for the smaller club but penalises the larger club who still have the same bills to pay. We'd be in the same boat if we played higher league opposition & would accept that. Keep as is. Encourages innovation & investment. If this winds up Andy Holt, even better!
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LythamBlue added 13:30 - Jul 18 @pg88 Yes, I can download a VPN. What I'm saying is that as a supporter, wanting to give something back to the club, I would be happy to pay for an annual, official live coverage pass.
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Beattiesballbag added 16:39 - Jul 18 There is no reason why other clubs should receive anything from the passes we have sold, they get the revenue for what passes they sell, if they are not so well supported why should the bigger club give them anything. They get bigger gate receipts from our away following & more ofton than not would receive even more if they didn't restrict the amount of tickets we are allocated. I would like to know when we switch to Town Tv, will we have to purchase passes for away games from the other clubs on ifollow as I'm assuming we won't be taking our cameras to away games ?

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Zuthernblue added 17:39 - Jul 18 Beattiesballbag don't we get a hand me down from the Premier League i.e the bigger better supported teams with big TV money? Should we send that money back?
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Blueknight85 added 22:28 - Jul 18 As others have said it would be interesting to see the figures for Saturday passes and Annual passes, I paid £140 for an ifollow season ticket and Paid for a decent VPN membership too. Watched all games home and away apart from 2 which were being shown internationally and therefore not available. It doesnt seem to effect stadium attendance and i believe many more people would watch through ifollow who either cant attend or wont attend which can only mean more money for the club. The idea that an "Arm chair" fan is of no use and a lesser supporter if they dont got to the stadium is Archaic and idiotic.

4

Beattiesballbag added 23:02 - Jul 18 Zuthernblue, not all the prem are better supported than us & the money they receive is not generated from individual purchases from supporters to a specific club, the higher up they finish the bigger the handout they receive. regardless of size.
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pg888 added 15:22 - Jul 20 @lythamblue even with a vpn you are still purchasing via ifollow of which the club still gets money from
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