Pay-per-view: Premier League fans raise £300,000 as scheme set to continue

Premier League fans boycotting pay-per-view games have raised over £300,000 for charity – but the controversial TV scheme is set to continue at least until next month’s international break.

Games had been available free-to-air since the Premier League returned without fans in June.

But that changed in early October.

Clubs said the pay-to-view measure was an “interim solution” to allow fans to watch their teams live.

However, on Monday Newcastle owner Mike Ashley called for a review, saying fans had “overwhelmingly rejected” the scheme and it should be reduced to £4.95 per game until Christmas. The pricing will be debated at a Premier League shareholders meeting on Tuesday.

The model is set to be extended to the matches on 6, 7 and 8 November, but it is understood clubs are likely to delay a longer-term decision until nearer to the Premier League getting back under way on 21 November.

The clubs, which voted 19-1 in favour of the move initially, want to wait on the latest information from the government regarding the return of fans to games.

On 9 November, the government will debate a petition about the return of fans which received more than 198,000 signatures.

BT Sport and Sky Sports reportedly want the pay-per-view model to be scrapped because of concerns about the damage it is doing to their reputation. The broadcasters provided an estimate of costs to produce the pay-per-view games and the Premier League sets the price.

The Premier League announced their broadcast picks for November on Friday, but there was no mention of pay-to-view games, with the league saying “additional broadcast selections will be announced in due course”.

The move has drawn criticism from football supporters, while former Manchester United and England right-back Gary Neville, now a Sky pundit, said the system “just needs scrapping”.

Speaking on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Neville added: “It’s finished, no one is paying for it, no one is watching it, it’s done.”

Which fans have donated in protest?

There have so far been nine pay-per-view games since the model started with Chelsea’s home game against Southampton on Saturday, 17 October.

Liverpool fans raised over £120,000 for North Liverpool food bank after their 2-1 victory against Sheffield United on Saturday, while Leeds fans donated £57,000 instead of paying to watch their side win 3-0 at Aston Villa on Friday.

The NUFC Fans Food Bank group has made over £60,000 after fans boycotted Newcastle’s 4-1 defeat against Manchester United last weekend, while Tottenham Hotspur fans have already raised in the region of £16,000 despite their first pay-pay-view game not being until their home match against Brighton on 1 November.

Arsenal fans had donated £30,000 up to kick-off in their 1-0 defeat by Leicester on Sunday, with West Brom, Sheffield United and Fulham fans also contributing.

Manchester United and Manchester City supporters have given £25,000 to a local foodbank – despite City not yet having featured in a pay-per-view game, as have West Ham fans.

Simon Huthwaite, from the St Andrew’s Community Network, which runs the North Liverpool food bank, said the donation will make a “huge difference”.

“St Andrew’s Community Network has been superbly supported by fans of both Everton and Liverpool and we are indebted to Fans Supporting Foodbanks for their unwavering dedication and coordination over the last five years,” he said.

“The £120,000 raised in such a short space of time is really an incredible testament to the fact that local people really understand and have totally got behind the battle against food insecurity and food poverty.”

Martin Cloake, the co-chair of the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust, said their involvement had come from “fan anger” and “that there was also a growing realisation that food banks really need our help”.

Leeds Supporters Trust called the charges “excessive” with fans already having subscriptions to sport channels and many still paying for a season ticket.

The next pay-pay-view match is Brighton’s home game against West Brom at 17:30 GMT on Monday.