English Premier League to introduce Sunday morning kick-offs

The idea is under consideration by the top tier clubs to further increase the incredible ever growing amounts of cash banked by English Premier League clubs, The Mag reported.

Taking into account the fact that the Premier League have already in the past tried to force through the idea of playing some league matches overseas in order to grab more money, I think we all know that there are no boundaries where certain people and money are concerned.

The current Premier League TV deals still have two of the three years still to go but once one set of three season deals are agreed, the planning is already starting on the next one.

Initial negotiations will begin in the near future on the three year deals that will cover 2019-2022 and money from overseas is now growing at an even faster rate than the UK TV deal.

However, the Premier League believe that they are still only scraping the surface on what they could potentially get via overseas viewers, especially in Asia.

To this end, they are considering moving matches to Sunday mornings to fit in more with when is best for Asian viewers to watch games.

The Premier League hoping this will increase the number of viewers in Asia watching English top tier games and of course more importantly (for them) increase the amount of money from these overseas TV contracts.

The Mail report that as many as 22 live games could be moved to kick-offs before 12pm, with a likely 11.30am kick-off, from the 2019/20 season.

The proposal was included in the briefing notes for the PL summer meeting that was held this past week.

Obviously concerns about the impact on supporters who actually go to matches will be way down the list of priorities, if indeed they feature at all.

Newcastle away at Bournemouth or Swansea on a Sunday morning at 11.30am – brilliant!

Even home matches would be a shocker for many Newcastle fans, with thousands of United season ticket holders travelling considerable/decent distances for games at St James Park.

There is also another angle to this, due to the fact that at the minute the cash from overseas TV deals is split evenly between the 20 Premier League clubs.

Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool already believe that they should be getting more than the rest from the overseas cash because they drive more viewers, especially in Asia. So to get their approval for the new Sunday morning kick-off times idea, they may insist on a bigger share coming their way.