Premier League to Stop Televising Every Game Live in 2020/21 Season
By Ali Rampling
Not all Premier League games will be available to watch on live television next season, despite top flight stadiums poised to remain at least partially shut into the 2020/21 campaign.
All of the remaining 92 Premier League games were broadcast live when the top flight returned behind closed doors in June as part of project restart.
Every game was shown on either Sky Sports, BT Sport, the BBC or Amazon, enabling supporters to continue to watch their team when social distancing measures prevented them from attending matches in person.
However, according to the Athletic, this arrangement was a one off due to the unique COVID-19 circumstances.
Next season, the Premier League will return to their usual broadcast model, with only the games selected to be televised by Sky, BT or Amazon available to watch live on television.
This is despite Premier League stadiums being expected to remain at least partially closed for the start of the season depending on the government's guidelines.
The BBC showed four live Premier League games for the first time during the rescheduled conclusion of the 2019/20 season, but they will return to just showing highlights packages for the 2020/21 campaign.
Having broadcasted their first set of games during the 2019/20 season, Amazon have the rights to a further 20 matches next year.
It has not been confirmed whether or not those who have opted to renew their season tickets will be offered a way to watch games that they are prevented from attending and are not shown on live television.
The 3pm blackout that was in place prior to the coronavirus outbreak prohibits games that are played at 15:00 from being shown on live television.
This rule was intended to encourage fans to attend live matches instead - which may not be possible for parts of next season depending on how the coronavirus situation in the UK materialises.
Water breaks are also poised to be scrapped ahead of the 2020/21 season as they have been criticised for disrupting the flow of the game.