EFL send streaming back to the dark ages

[StowieO]

I am a season ticket holder who lives 80 miles away in Stowmarket and is currently isolating, so cannot make todays game and am a little peeved!

As a season ticket holder, if I had the option of either streaming of visiting I would still travel down. I wouldn't want to pay again to stream though.

Also, I would consider streaming some away matches that wouldn't normally attend.

[Tent Keague]

I hear all the arguments for and against streaming.

But the O's need people in the ground, either for immediate revenue or for future growth. If we push streaming too much, we become a TV show. And we're not going to be able to compete (because ultimately the product, football, is poor) with other clubs, YouTube, FIFA, whatever else kids do nowadays.

Whatever way you dress it up, even if streaming was the full price of an adult ticket, the O's would lose out. Even if it is a single Mars bar or a bottle of water or an adult not having to drag along a child with them then the O's would lose out.

Geolocationary (is that a word) restrictions aren't perfect and I can imagine a lot of our 'International Support' are people purchasing a stream through a VPN via Botswana or Panama. Whilst this isn't legal, i doubt the club will enforce it too much.

There's also a concern for away support too. What is the point of home support if there is no away support. Maybe that's a different subject.

[Chelmsford Swimmer]

I get your point AW - I guess that's why the 3 - 5.15 blackout was introduced when live TV matches became possible

I wonder if there's a way of keeping the Saturday afternoon blackout for top flight games, while allowing those further down the pyramid to stream their games.

I think AWs point still stands. I think you fall in love with a club by attending. It's these die hard fans the clubs need to survive. Not sure you will become a die hard fan watching streaming with your dad. If there is a move away from physical presence to streaming, income might possibly improve short term, but over time I think the fan base and hence future income will decrease.

[StillSpike]

I get your point AW - I guess that's why the 3 - 5.15 blackout was introduced when live TV matches became possible

I wonder if there's a way of keeping the Saturday afternoon blackout for top flight games, while allowing those further down the pyramid to stream their games.

I think AWs point still stands. I think you fall in love with a club by attending. It's these die hard fans the clubs need to survive. Not sure you will become a die hard fan watching streaming with your dad. If there is a move away from physical presence to streaming, income might possibly improve short term, but over time I think the fan base and hence future income will decrease.

Yes. IF there is a move away from physical attendance to streaming, then all those things may well happen. But the word "if" is doing a lot of work in that statement.

My point is that I don't believe that the mere ability to stream a game (at a cost) will mean that people will choose that over attending live. The live experience is so very different from watching through a stream, that I don't believe significant numbers will seriously choose stream over attendance, if they are able to attend. It's my belief that streams will be in addition to actual physical attendees - not a dilution of them.

[Tent Keague]

That's true of people that have lived with watching football in a live environment. There is no comparison. Nothing beats being at a game.

But it will affect future support and attendances for the casual fan or those who have never experienced football before. There simply is no reason to stream an Orient game over a Premier League or Championship game. It'd even be a struggle to compete with League One and other League Two clubs for their £10.

I think that is why the owners see it as imperative to at least get around the top of League One as a start.and in a few years time try to cling on to where the Championship could head to.

At the moment the product that we offer is tier 4 football for the same price as tier 1 Premier League football.

[Tent Keague]

As a personal view, I think that when people attend they are definitely more invested in the game and wish the club a lot better than when watching on a sterile stream. They go with the emphasis of backing the team, the club, and all involved for a positive outcome. Whether that's in the bar, on the pitch, on the High Street buying a kebab.

I didn't like how I'd become as a supporter watching over the stream. I'd become negative and critical of the most minute point. An interview was stewed over for days, a misplaced pass meant that someone was sh*t, the Q&A sessions meant the world but gave me the hump when I didn't like what I heard. I suppose the reality was that I'd go from watching Liverpool to Man City to Orient and we were awful.

I really understand the predicament of Covid, Health Concerns, people with disabilities struggling to attend, cost, family life, etc. But through Covid we have been spoilt in terms of streaming. Football shouldn't be a product of TV. It shouldn't be viewed on a screen.

Maybe I'm the anomaly i've never seen football as entertainment. I see it as a competitive sport where I want my team to win or put in a performance I'm proud of at all costs.