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Kick-Off Times on Saturday Afternoons


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It has long been accepted that Saturday afternoon football games kick-off at 3 p.m.. This was, historically, to allow workers to finish their shifts on a Saturday morning, head home for lunch and have time to get to the game. Given this working regime is hardly used anymore, should we consider moving the kick-off times an hour earlier to 2 p.m.?

Advantages

  • Savings to clubs in respect of floodlight costs.
  • Safety benefits of crowds leaving the ground and traveling home in daylight.
  • Hospitality packages make more sense with times arising nearer to a natural meal time.

Disadvantages & Possible Solutions

  • Long distance games already mean an early rise.
    • True, but you would get home an hour earlier.
  • Kick-off times out of synch with England.
    • So what? It's not as if the national stations give much coverage to Scottish football at present.
  • Overlap with 12.30 kick-offs.
    • Change the early TV kick-off to 12.00.

Any thoughts?

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Why not let clubs decide when they want their default kick off time within reason. Obviously tv games might not be included in this and if the opposition can argue a reasonable case why the default time would disadvantage them the league would decide on balance. Final matchday obv should be played at same time though.

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Only one other issue I can see is where a game is in marginal weather conditions. 3pm gives a pitch the longest possible time to thaw, during the depths of winter. That extra hour could mean a game being on rather than off. I wouldn't expect that to happen a lot, but surely a few extra games would be called off during a season.

Apart from that I would be more than happy at 2pm kick-offs. But as grazza says give individual clubs a scope to chose either a 2pm or 3pm kick off for a whole season.

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Floodlights would still be needed in winter is games kicked off at 2pm. What stats do you have to prove that it's more dangerous to travel home in slightly darker conditions? Many fans would still be travelling home in darkness anyway. Don't think it would make a difference to hospitality packages. If you're going to hospitality for any event, you aren't thinking about 'natural' meal times (people have different 'natural' meal times anyway).

Just seems like change for the sake of change. Can't see any benefits to it.

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