For many years the Premier League has had two distinct kickoff times on a Sunday: 2 p.m. and 4.30 p.m. local time. Yet this weekend will see three games take place — and not one of them will fill a traditional slot.
What’s worse for supporters is that two matches will get under way on Sunday evening, adding further complications for getting back home on public transport.
But why are the three games kicking off at such weird times? There’s three very different reasons, and for one game the schedulers had made an almighty error.
Original planned kickoff time: 4.30 p.m. (11.30 a.m. ET)
It’s the flagship for the English top flight late on Sunday afternoon, broadcast on Sky Sports. The biggest game of the weekend is usually selected in this slot, but this season a problem has emerged.
The local authorities, mainly the police, have started to take issue with the 4.30 p.m. slot. But games aren’t being brought forward to lunchtime, they are being brought forward by 45 minutes or an hour. Hardly seems worth it, right?
The FA Cup tie between the teams at Old Trafford on March 17 also kicked off at 3.30 p.m., while other games have also been forced to edge forward a little.
When Liverpool took on Manchester City in their top-of-the-table clash on March 10, Merseyside Police decreed that the game must kick off at 3.45 p.m. A week earlier, the Manchester derby started at 3.30 p.m.
It seems Manchester City vs. Arsenal wasn’t seen as problematic, however, with last week’s big match allowed to kick off at 4.30 p.m.
Original planned kickoff time: 1.30 p.m. (8.30 a.m. ET)
Local authorities are clearly diligent about moving games to avoid any problems. In this case the opposite happened — everyone forgot there was a massive event happening in Sheffield on Sunday. You can’t miss another major sporting event in the same city on the same date, can you? Perhaps you can.
When the television dates for April were first announced on Feb. 27, the game was set to be played at 1.30 p.m., leading directly into the big Man United vs. Liverpool game.
Three days later, on March 1, the Premier League said the kickoff time had been put back by four hours to 5.30 p.m., with a statement explaining this was “due to a request from the home Club. This kickoff time has been selected to allow adequate return travel for visiting supporters.”
Moving a kickoff time from 1.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. on a Sunday to make it easier for visiting supporters travelling 168 miles from London? Doesn’t sound right, so what’s the truth?
What the statement meant was playing it on another day (for instance, Monday night) would be more troublesome for fans than moving it to Sunday evening. At least there are still trains back to London after a 5.30 p.m. kick off.
Well, April always sees the running of the Sheffield Half Marathon, a charity event which since 2015 has been held in the city centre — and the route goes within yards of Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane ground.
The race begins at 9.30 a.m. with extensive road closures in place until 1.45 p.m. It would have been impossible to host a Premier League football match at 1.30 p.m.
Quite the oversight from Sheffield United and the City Council to forget about a Half Marathon event by Bramall Lane — but it came at a cost.
The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust was understandably furious, as many supporters had booked non-refundable travel as soon as the kickoff time was announced. But, for once, there was a win for fans as Sheffield United agreed to pay compensation for the gaffe.
“We are pleased to confirm that a compensation scheme will be set up for those left out of pocket by the decision to re-arrange Sheffield United v Chelsea on April 7th 2024,” the Trust said in a statement. “The scheme will look to compensate those who had purchased non-refundable train tickets and will be set up by Sheffield United following a proposal put to them by The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust.
“This is great news and we would like to thank SUFC and the Premier League for their support on this initiative. This is the first compensation scheme of this nature to be set up.”
Original planned kickoff time: 8 p.m. (3 p.m. ET), April 8
The Premier League announced on Feb. 27 that this match had been selected for broadcast on Sky Sports on Monday, April 8, with an 8 p.m. kickoff.
But, on March 20, a strike on the national railway network and London Underground was confirmed for that same day.
There was a brief hiatus while the Premier League hoped the strikes would be called off, but on March 28 it had to take the decision to move the game as fans would be unable to get to and from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in north London.
A statement read: “The Premier League apologises unreservedly to supporters of both Clubs, and all those affected, for the inconvenience and disruption caused by this late fixture change. The change has been made due to matters beyond the League’s control, namely the decision to implement rail and tube strikes on Monday 8 April and the subsequent reduction in available travel services. This has resulted in the local authority’s Safety Advisory Group determining that it is not possible to stage the match with the required levels of safety for attending fans.”
Thus, the game was brought forward meaning there will not one but two games taking place on Sunday evening.
The tube strikes were called off on Thursday, so the game could have taken place on Monday after all — but the arrangements for Sunday are now in place.
In further relief to the Premier League, planned tube strikes for Saturday, May 4 — when there were due to be several high-profile games so close to the end of the season — has also been abandoned.
It’s not the first time rail strikes have forced a Premier League game to be moved. Last season, Brighton & Hove Albion were due to host Crystal Palace on Saturday, Sept. 17 but it had to be postponed. It ended up being moot, as the death of the queen meant no matches took place on that weekend.