It’s been a long time since armchair football fans without expensive TV subscriptions were treated kindly. Yes, we get to savour international football and even some domestic cup finals from time to time, alongside the perennial Match of the Day highlights packages.
But watching Premier League games live on terrestrial TV? Not a chance, as other than a brief hiatus during the pandemic, the EPL has been behind a paywall since its inception in 1992. The Liberal Democrats wanted to change that with a motion tabled that would have seen ten Premier League games shown on terrestrial television each season. However their fellow MPs, bizarrely, were not as enamoured with such a prospect…
Why Aren’t Premier League Games on Free to Air TV?
The Liberal Democrats have revealed that, as per their analysis, to watch every single televised Premier League game during the 2025/26 season would cost the average household £660 for the year. That’s as a consequence of subscribing to Sky Sports and TNT Sports, who will jointly hold the broadcast rights to the Premier League after signing a new deal with the EPL.
Despite pressures on the broadcasters to reduce their rates, with Sky Sports viewing figures down 10% in 2024/25 and TNT Sports’ down 17% year on year, there is unlikely to be any drop in price any time soon – particularly given that those two firms have forked out a collective £6.7 billion for the rights.
The bill posted by the Lib Dems would have seen ten Premier League games, the EFL Cup final and the play-off finals in the Championship, League One and League Two all switched to one or more of the free-to-air channels. Their culture and sport spokesman, Max Wilkinson, said: “I’m urging MPs of all stripes to back our amendment to tear down the paywall and make Premier League games available on free to air channels.
For too long, the jewel in the crown of British football has been locked behind an expensive barrier that keeps fans out while lining the pockets of broadcasters.
‘Maximise Broadcasting Revenue’
Other football tournaments that are already ringfenced for terrestrial TV include the World Cup and European Championships in both men’s and women’s football, alongside the FA Cup. However, ministers voted down the motion… with a desire to protect the profitability of broadcasters given as the reason. The government’s minister for sport, Stephanie Peacock, commented:
The government believes that the current list of events works well, and it strikes an appropriate balance between access to sporting events and allowing sports to maximise broadcasting revenue.
We all want to see more matches being televised, free-to-air, but that must be balanced against investment and not risk it.
Although ten Championship games will be shown on free-to-air TV in 2025/26 as a consolation prize, a Liberal Democrats spokesperson revealed the party was ‘deeply disappointed’ by the outcome of the vote. And so the wait for free-to-air Premier League games goes on, which given the power of broadcasters like Sky Sports seems unlikely to change any time soon – even government ministers are minded to help media outfits protect their profits, at the expense of the public’s coffers.
For context, it costs 60% more to watch Premier League games during the 2024/25 season than it did just five years prior, with the average subscriber paying £140.21 per season – compared to £89.23 in 2020. But the clubs involved won’t mind, with TV deals now a key revenue stream in their annual battle to satisfy Profit & Sustainability Rules (PSR). And there’s no legal requirement to show Premier League games on free TV, so unfortunately fans have a simple choice: pay up more than £100 per month for subscription services… or don’t.
Booze Ban Upheld
A bill posted at the same time as the Lib Dems motion in July 2025 would have potentially opened the door to alcohol being allowed in the stands once more. The Conservative Party had tabled a motion that would have forced the government to launch a new, formal consultation into the ban on alcohol at football grounds and whether the rule should be lifted.
Currently, fans are allowed to drink alcohol at English stadia, however that it only allowed in permitted zones like bars and on the concourse – booze is banned inside the stadium itself. The shadow minister for sport, Louie French, said:
The alcohol ban, which has been in place since 1985, was introduced to help curb hooliganism on the terraces during the problematic era of British football.
As football fans know, we have this legacy ban which sees fans rushing to drink their beer before kick-off and at half-time, this often leads to the fans being delayed entering the stadiums and overcrowding on the concourses.
However, once again, MPs voted down the motion by a margin of 347 to 179. Peacock claimed that such a motion was ‘outside the scope of the bill’, which will see a new independent regulator introduced to oversee the English game. It has been 40 years since the consumption of alcohol was banned within the seating or standing areas of football stadia in the United Kingdom.
Officially, the rules for English football state that alcohol cannot be consumed in areas where spectators have a direct view of the pitch, while in Scottish football there’s a blanket ban on the sale of booze outside of designated corporate hospitality zones.
Reducing Hooliganism
The prohibition was initially aimed at reducing hooliganism on the terraces, which was blighting the British game in the eighties – a problem so severe that UK clubs would ultimately be banned from competing in European competitions from 1985 until 1990.
The rules apply to the top five tiers of English football, with alcohol sales still permitted in the non-league pyramid. There have been attempts to overturn the rule previously, with critics suggesting that fans consume alcohol in greater quantities – and at a faster rate – before games and during the half time break. However the head of football policing, Mark Roberts, claimed that lifting the booze ban would have been ‘irresponsible’.
