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National League Boreham Wood chairman Danny Hunter is unhappy with DAZN TV and the National League Board. In particular he dislikes matches where the kick-off time is moved just for DAZN with no thought for away supporters.
In a very long, but very reasoned, article he explains why.
I now turn to something that I find extremely concerning, frustrating and disrespectful toward all National League clubs and our supporters across the board, namely the behaviour of DAZN as a broadcast/streaming partner and the National League Board in regards to fixture changes with minimal warning which is become alarming.
DAZN as a broadcast partner, in my opinion, show very poor production value and limited viewing numbers in the main and they do not hit the standards we should reasonably expect. It’s worrying, if we want to grow our level of the game, to partner up with a streaming company who do not have a wider football audience at our level, or in my opinion the infrastructure to show off our football in a positive light, which is a huge concern.
I also dislike the current treatment of the loyal fans at our level, which is ably demonstrated by the current late live matches scheduled and the Christmas scheduling, which is uncaring and makes no sense for away supporters. As an example, our recent FC Halifax match just last Saturday was DAZN’s chosen late 5:30pm kick off game. It involved 49 FC Halifax fans having to overcome a 400-mile round trip to attend and those fans are a perfect example of the stupid kick off times that are now dictated by a streaming company toward our member clubs supporters.
If I may, and I know this will be a lengthy article, I would like to explain why I feel so frustrated by certain things. For starters, and for those who don’t know, our broadcast partners are DAZN, a well-known streaming company who make their profit through single streams, subscriptions and advertising other sports through our streams.
Throughout my film career and film industry background, production value and production quality was always driven from the production company and its well trained and professional staff. Trust me DAZN’s production content and value must be more consistent in football, or you will not last. DAZN in football have a very big problem in my opinion with their unprofessional and inconsistent production value, which is seen in poor camera work, poor sound levels, poor and often biased commentary. In truth they are overseeing a sloppy, poor and expensive streaming service.
The money on offer from DAZN to member clubs is inconsequential, especially if we want to grow our game, if we want to showcase our football and advertise our biggest asset, which is the quality of our product. As such it is my opinion that we urgently need a more professional (non-streaming) broadcast partner.
After all, and let me be very clear here, it’s the National League football clubs and our supporters who buy these sloppy DAZN streams, thus paying any stream income percentage wise that we might receive back. As such it’s our fans who are purchasing these substandard streams and that frustrates the hell out of me. Why? because the National League Board are seemingly happy to give-away our greatest asset, namely the ‘live’ game, on the cheap.
In truth, it’s also very disrespectful and perhaps my biggest frustration, to continually have these stupid late 5:30pm kick offs within DAZN’s normal weekend schedule for no good reason. These games are timed to be “AWAY SUPPORTER UNFRIENDLY “, as such around 65% of away fans DO NOT now travel to these games and who can blame them?
These ridiculous 5:30pm Saturday time slots affect the home gates and produce unnecessary club losses, that at times far outweigh any match fee on offer and that cannot be right. Late weekend kick offs at our level DO NOT work for away supporters, and our product as a whole just cannot compete with the live football already available on Sky and TNT in those time slots.
Those time slots showcase both the EFL and Premier League games and us owners know we are competing with broadcast companies like Sky and TNT who consistently provide far better production value, a better more accessible service, better camera work with multi cameras, far better match coverage and an informed and unbiased match commentary.
These non-stream broadcast companies are just bigger and better broadcasters, who also pay fair remuneration that helps fund the clubs within the EFL and Premier League and they cover those leagues professionally and with care. At our level of football, the 5:30pm kick off time on a poorly produced stream, is a terrible idea especially for travelling away fans and DAZN and the National League already know that.
So why won’t the National League listen to people like me and why won’t they take into consideration the away fans’ needs? Surely, they understand the transport and travel issues on the weekend that the loyal away supporter must overcome? The late Saturday 5:30pm game is a perfect example of DAZN, a streaming company who from the outside look as if their choosing to go up against bigger EFL and Premier League Clubs and their broadcasters, which in normal circumstances would be ridiculous.
So how could these weekend 5:30pm kick off times assist a streaming company in driving up viewing figures? In truth they don’t, as what assists DAZN’s stream purchases are finding non-league games, where the better supported clubs within the National League are playing long distances away from home and giving them a 5:30pm kick off.
That leads to around 65% or more of away supporters not travelling and then buying the DAZN streams – it’s that simple and has nothing to do with DAZN growing our game or driving up viewing figures or competing with Sky or TNT for their advertising revenue. A great example of this would be Carlisle United playing away at Southend Utd the other week with a crazy 5:30pm kick off. The away support though good was still much smaller than it would have been for a normal Saturday game with a 3:00pm kick off.
This streaming company knows the regular away fan is street smart and knows that late weekend kick offs will give them transport issues. As such DAZN know it would then make sense for most away fans to stay at home and buy themselves a stream seat for just £10 or in some cases watch the game using an illegal fire stick.
The only logical reason why our 5:30pm games are being streamed ‘live’ at a time Premier League and EFL games are shown, is because DAZN are NOT competing for their viewing figures or the advertisers that Sky or TNT already have in their pocket. They are simply relying on the better supported non-league clubs away fans not travelling and then buying the DAZN stream and boosting their monthly subscription sales.
If this continues it will turn loyal non-league away fans into armchair fans very quickly and sadly that’s a fact. As such it’s my opinion that the 5:30pm Saturday kick off is not good for our level of the game, it’s not good for existing National League away fans who traditionally love attending away games and I’ll explain why in a little more detail if I may?
A large chunk of away support, around 65% to 70% now do not attend the 5:30pm game if the journey is more than an hour and a quarter. That means around 30% to 35% of away fans are still attending the 5:30pm game but know beforehand it will not finish until around 7:30pm. They are your club diehards, who then have to get away from a ground, get through a high street and in our case get to Elstree and Borehamwood station.
From there they need to make their next train connection. with some knowing they might well need to leave the game slightly early just to make their connection. These are the most loyal non-league fans, who travel up and down the country to follow their club regardless and know 3pm kick offs on a Saturday are doable, but the 5:30pm kick off slot is a bloody nightmare.
As such I’m saying to the National League and DAZN, these late games are completely unacceptable to the diehard away fan, there is no financial gain to the home club and our games are getting poor viewing figures compared to other broadcasters, as such the only people who gain from these late games are DAZN through stream sales.
So is it correct to drive 65% of away fans away from attending games, simply to try and gain a few extra streams, of course it’s not. Imagine if you are a hard-working diehard away fan and you are forced to leave a game early after making a 400-mile round trip, just to make your connection to get yourself into Kings Cross or wherever, before catching your next train connection back to, say, Halifax or Carlisle…….. imagine missing the winning goal or your connection and then getting back at silly o’clock?
DAZN in their wisdom have now decided that their pre-Christmas weekend programme was never going to attract enough stream sales or Christmas subscriptions to satisfy their sales team and targets. So, in their wisdom they’ve decided to move all 12 pre-Christmas games and promote their nonsense, through the guise of the “12 days of Christmas”.
No warning given, no thought given to away fans who might have prebooked their travel and no thought for how these DAZN decisions would affect stadium atmospheres, home gate receipts or the cancellation of club hires and Christmas parties. In truth why have DAZN made the loyal away fans and the member clubs life more difficult just before Christmas for no good reason?
Why did they make 49 loyal FC Halifax fans make the late trip here just last Saturday, surely it’s not to facilitate a few extra streams and subscriptions, as that’s what it looks like? These things simply make no sense to me, when some of those FC Halifax fans were going to be lucky to be home by 1:00am.
Remember nobody is getting rich here, as this deal with a stream and subscription company is not remotely a Premier League or EFL type deal. So, for transparency BWFC are given a £6k match fee for a chosen home DAZN televised game and the away team will receive just £2k.
Trust me no club wants to disrespect the away fans for such fees and so I keep asking myself one simple question – who negotiated this streaming deal and where is the National League Board and DAZN’s respect toward the member clubs and more importantly toward our incredible National League supporters who are the lifeblood of this league?
The efforts of the fans at our level are immense and their costs are considerable. For me, our 65 fans who recently travelled up to Gateshead deserve a bloody medal. Those heroes would not have been able to get back from that game if it had been a chosen 5:30pm ‘live’ game. As such now’s the time for DAZN to listen to the club owners and others who run clubs, because we don’t want blood money, we just want our broadcast or streaming partner to look after our fans.
I’m asking DAZN and the National League Board yet again, why are the clubs being forced without any consultation, to accept these fan unfriendly time slots and fixture changes for the paltry amounts of money being offered? Why don’t we just agree you can keep your money as it’s paltry anyway, but that you change your time slots to earlier ones, so you’re not stiffing our loyal away supporters.
Another serious question, is why are the National League Board facilitating this nonsense, then act all surprised when the 5:30pm Saturday time slot dissuades 65% of loyal away fans from travelling, while it dilutes the match day experience and the atmosphere for the home fans…. is it done simply to force away fans to buy a £10 stream.
How does that attitude remotely help grow our game? How do substandard streams and more importantly ridiculous timetables help away fans and those who love ‘live’ football and love the friendships made from travelling and being part of an away army and the non-league family – DAZN and the National League Board wouldn’t know, because most of them have never been part of something as intimate as belonging to a fanbase and being part of a travelling army.
After hearing about the DAZN “Nightmare at Christmas” idea, now subsequently promoted as the “12 days of Christmas”….. I strongly voiced my concerns as I wanted to discuss things rationally to understand exactly how this incredibly poor idea in regards to away fans, got Board support and how this DAZN streaming deal actually got signed off and by whom?
The League made it clear to me that DAZN have for the duration of this “poor man’s deal”, been given unlimited broadcasting power over all member clubs. The National League spokesperson said, “if DAZN give us four weeks’ notice then we are powerless to intervene”, which in layman’s terms means they have abdicated all responsibility and chosen not to protect its member clubs and our supporters.
These dictatorial late ‘live’ streaming broadcasts, are being manipulated regarding the fixture list, thus ensuring more away fans of the bigger clubs are being forced into NOT travelling and by doing that the fans are being manipulated into BUYING more DAZN £10 streams and possibly signing up to monthly subscriptions or more – it’s that simple. If you don’t believe me just look at the data.
DAZN it seems have even been given complete autonomy to disrupt all member clubs and its supporters at the very start of the Christmas festive period, DAZN have then manipulated the dates and times of further games in January, simply to facilitate getting extra stream and subscriptions sales, it’s insanity. I know that for a fact, because they have targeted the Southend Utd, Carlisle Utd fans and the bigger clubs, by continually moving their games and giving them the late Saturday fixture. It’s designed to make the normal away fan stay at home and buy the DAZN stream and I think Carlisle Utd and Southend Utd fans have on investigation been well and truly stiffed by this streaming company, especially with their pre-Christmas weekend and January late fixture changes.
In my opinion it is a shameful way for DAZN to behave, and I believe all supporters across the board should now seriously consider if they want to reward this type of streaming behaviour by boycotting the purchasing of DAZN streams or the monthly subscriptions covering the “12 days of Christmas” and January.
I respectfully say to DAZN and the National League Board, you shouldn’t underestimate our non-league supporters’ strength because if they decide to mobilise and they just might, they could if they choose, show DAZN and the National League, that fans collectively do have a voice, should be listened to and they can if they choose shut this deal down in ten minutes.
DAZN and the National League must understand the entertainment providers are the member clubs, the players, the staff and the most important ingredient of all the fans. Trust me it’s certainly not a streaming company who provide no infrastructure, no competition, no facilities nor the budget needed to create a very good footballing product and if DAZN left us tomorrow the game at our level would continue to grow.
It’s the clubs and owners themselves who pay the wages, pay the bills, pay the players and collectively it’s us who provide the entertainment, attract the supporters, who keep our clubs alive and it’s our loyal staff who keep the wheels turning. DAZN are just a steaming company, in truth they are a ship passing in the night nothing more.
So, I respectfully ask DAZN to help build bridges, reconsider the impact you are having with your unreasonable scheduling at our level and please try and understand how you are affecting all member clubs and our supporters. Understand how you will affect our festive function hirers, and I ask you to seriously reconsider the “12 days of Christmas”, as it is a shortsighted selling point on your behalf, but it’s nothing more than that.
In truth it’s an ignorant idea so close to Christmas for our level of football and so I respectfully ask that DAZN revert back to our original fixture date and time of 3:00pm on Saturday, 20th December. It is only my opinion, but I believe the National League Board have lost its mind and sold off the family silver (our biggest asset) being our ‘live’ broadcast to a streaming provider for a pittance.
The Board agreed a deal with a streaming partner without once consulting with its member clubs, a streaming company who have limited production staff, have very little football outreach at our level and all for the princely sum of a £6k home live match fee and a £2k away fee.
Let me now bring to your attention all National League non live games streamed by DAZN at 3:00pm on a Saturday and in midweek. As these games are now being stolen off the streams and watched by thousands of users of fire sticks, each and every match day yet nothing is done about this.
So, I’m saying to DAZN, all member clubs, all fans, all chairmen and all owners, this steaming deal with DAZN needs checks, balances and detailed further discussion. It’s clear no Chairman or Owner wants to put their head above the parapet and tackle this problem head on at this point with the National League Board, but trust me now is the right time to sit down and rehash a deal with DAZN and if possible, find a way to end it.
To explain my frustration in regards to DAZN’s recent “12 days of Christmas” streaming extravaganza, where they have moved all 12 games the weekend before Christmas was not even discussed with any member clubs. How dictatorial is that and that decision alone has disrupted every club, every player, every member of staff, loyal fanbases and disrupted most clubs training schedules and groundsman.
Remember this DAZN decision was only made to sell extra streams and force up subscription purchases. Remember it was done without any consultation with the member clubs and with absolutely no regard given to a clubs business model which involves our fans, our community and our facility hires.
So, I repeat, to both DAZN and the National League Board, stop being so disrespectful to the member clubs. Without us you don’t have a league to preside over, a product to stream or a game to watch and make money from. We all deserve to be communicated with and addressed respectfully, as your decisions seriously affect our clubs and our fans.
Trust me BWFC does not want a £6k fee to treat visiting supporters badly, we just want DAZN to respect all travelling fans because the Carlisle Utd and Southend supporters are being shafted. We ask that you respect the member clubs and supporters wants, needs and wishes, which in our case means changing your match schedule back from the new 4pm slot on Sunday 21st December, to the original 3pm kick off (or earlier) on Saturday 20th December.
We are respectfully asking DAZN to look at things from an away fans perspective and not look to shaft them for the sake of a few extra stream sales. That is the correct thing to do, as that would take into consideration things like a 600 mile plus round trip for Carlisle Utd fans and it would tell everyone that DAZN listened to reason.
I feel DAZN must sit down with all member clubs and its owners, so we can all understand a streaming companies business model, its ambitions, and how it believes it will grow our game? We need to ascertain if their principles align with ours, as DAZN need to understand what travelling supporters face in getting home after these unnecessary 5:30pm Saturday kick offs.
I believe when DAZN choose the 5:30pm games, it’s not difficult on most occasions to choose a more local game with say less than 60 miles by road to travel. It really is not that difficult to organise, and it would help every away supporter and every home teams’ gate receipts in an instant – fact.
DAZN should consider 12:30pm kick offs for matches that (with a little thought), could involve the furthest mileage games chosen, as that would help the away supporter who still wants to travel…..DAZN could perhaps designate an employee if they so choose, who understands away fans, train travel, coach travel and car travel – it’s really not that difficult to respect your customers and it would help every away supporter, help every home stadiums match atmosphere and help attendances.
It’s simply wrong on every level, to play games with a 5:30pm kick off and move 12 games from Saturday, 20th December with 3pm kick offs (that had been scheduled way back in July), then without warning in Carlisle Utd’s case, re-schedule their pre-Christmas away game to 4pm on Sunday, 21st December, simply to assist DAZN’s streaming sale policy.
These changes being so close to Christmas is both shameful and ridiculous and DAZN in my opinion will not survive as the National League’s official streaming partner, without recognising that loyal away supporters really do matter. I feel though through further discussion, we could all help move the needle and ensure club owners, the clubs themselves and our league decide to stand up for the diehard away supporters and not sell our souls to the devil for a £6k fee.
DAZN and the League must remember, the away fans at our level are not the wealthiest group but are the lifeblood of our clubs, and our fans are not remotely like the fans who attend Premier League games – but are equally passionate and incredibly loyal. Most fans at our level are from our local communities, most live within a 5-mile radius of the clubs they support, and all have genuine concerns about the 5:30pm time slots and these late fixture changes, as non-league fans often book their train tickets or hotels early to get their discounts.
I make no pretence, I’m not a streaming fan as in my opinion DAZN’s production value and standards do not serve my football club, this league or the supporters at our level correctly. I do not believe their streams show a consistent or professional production level. In my opinion their programme content for the non-live 3pm streams is almost non-existent. So, other than the chosen live game, they are streaming the majority of our games with no true care, no consistency and little professionalism.
As such in my opinion DAZN’s production value is poor and it’s fair to say hugely inconsistent and so I repeat, they often use our part time club staff, local radio and volunteers to produce their streams and it shows. All club personnel and local commentators are doing their best but in my opinion, the single camera work is often shocking, the sound quality is at times terrible, the Wi-Fi connections are sporadic and because DAZN are using a clubs par time media or local radio teams to prop up their production teams, you are always going to get a bias in commentary which often ruins the streams you’ve paid for.
In truth we are not being given a professional or consistent service, nor the production support and financial remuneration that we most definitely deserve. In any business you need to know when to walk away from a deal or you risk compounding your problems even more by undervaluing your worth. In my honest opinion that’s where we presently sit and the National League Board now need to wake up and smell the coffee.
Our problems are simple, we have partnered with a limited streaming company with no track record in non-league football. This company gives us very little production value, they have very limited viewing figures, no football outreach that will allow us to grow our level of the game and by our NL Board allowing 12 games each week to be streamed on a match-day for little remuneration, we have also opened ourselves up to fire-stick piracy while being dictated to with early and late kick off times, so to only receive a £6k home fee for a ‘live’ match with the away club receiving just £2k is laughable.
The National League Board now need to understand that sometimes “No deal” is better than a “bad deal”, and undervaluing our product is killing us. Can anyone explain why we are paid almost nothing but still helping DAZN by providing them staff for free to help them produce 12 very poor streams every Saturday?
Our stupidity as I’ve said is laughable, as we know these games are being stolen through fire-stick piracy which on top of these ‘live’ 5:30pm broadcasts are seriously affecting home gate receipts and away support. The National League should listen to the experienced businessmen amongst their member clubs, as we do in the main know how to run our football clubs.
We also know how to deal with broadcasters and know the National League Board has given away our greatest asset that being the ‘live’ game and that is not helpful. Put simply, if DAZN cannot improve their production value or outreach and if we continue to have our product stolen by fire-stick piracy, then to continue with this deal means we could be the architects of our own financial downfall.
I believe collectively as member clubs, we all have to show improved leadership, more common sense and if need be, a steely resolve. In my opinion we must consider walking away from this deal if necessary and we should already be looking for a National (non-stream) broadcaster, as our product is far better than is presently shown. So, let’s get around a table and discuss what can be improved with DAZN, let’s deal with the enemy from within and let’s find ways to improve these very poorly produced ‘non live’ streams, that are sold by DAZN but find ways to stop them getting stolen each and every week by fire stick piracy.
These illegal firesticks allow every stream to be shown free up and down the country – every fan knows it’s going on and many people we know have these firesticks including club sponsors and many of our fans. The facts are well known to everyone and firestick piracy is not going away and is happening every Saturday and in midweek, with clubs now losing tens of thousands of pounds in lost revenue.
Every match-day our National League matches are stolen off a firestick and in some cases these games are being put up in the bars and club houses of certain member clubs and that also affects travelling support. These are all known facts and no doubt the National League, it’s Executive and the streaming company will now try to silence me and make me toe the line….. but that will not happen as it’s not healthy, it doesn’t raise standards, it doesn’t improve our product, and it doesn’t lead to progressive change.
Let me wrap this up by saying to the National League Board, you kept your member clubs in the dark and proceeded without authority to sign off on a streaming deal which you knew would be defeated if it was put to a vote – that was clearly wrong. That behaviour in truth is a very outdated business way of working and would not be tolerated and challenged at Premier League level, at EFL level and quite possibly in the Dog and Duck League?
For the National League Board to exclude its member clubs (who all have one vote) from voting on something as fundamentally important as a broadcast deal, is perhaps open to a legal challenge? I will take advice on that, but will firstly sit down with my key people to see if my opinion holds water (it’s called open and honest communication). If my inner circle think it does, then I might contact my fellow National, League Chairmen and Owners to get their thoughts on this.
I feel if the Board and DAZN do not want to listen to reason then we might collectively need to make a legal challenge to this deals validity. To do that as a responsible owner, I must be very sure that this course of action best serves the league, its member clubs, the fans and players alike.