Sky Sports give Brighton a 692 mile round trip on a Saturday night
Only one of Brighton and Hove Albion’s opening seven Premier League fixtures has been chosen for television coverage – but typically it’s the biggest bastard of the lot travel wise.
Sky Sports have very thoughtfully decided to move the 692 mile round trip to Newcastle United to a Saturday evening. That means there is no way of getting back from St James’ Park using public transport.
The game will now kick off at 5.30pm on September 21st. BT Sport pulled the same stunt on Toon Army fans back in April when their visit to the Amex was moved to the same slot.
It won’t be the first time that the Albion have played on Tyneside on a Saturday evening either. Sky also moved the Championship meeting between the two to 5.30pm back in August 2016, but there was at least the small consolation of that being a Bank Holiday weekend which made staying in Newcastle a more attractive option.
Of course, an overnighter in one of the country’s best party cities will still appeal to some. But for most fans who enjoy games by train, it’s now a complete write off. So thanks for that, Sky.
The good news however is that is the only fixture that has been moved. A combination of the Albion being so dire in the second half of last season and the fact that we have a relatively boring opening two months of fixtures means that nothing else changes. BT Sport don’t want to subject their viewers to even one Brighton game.
It’s a far cry from last season. Of the fixtures that will make up the first seven games of the Graham Potter era, both West Ham United at home and Burnley at home were shown.
They’ve been ignored this time around. It’s also a significant drop from the four times we were shown in our opening seven games in 2018-19, when Manchester United at home, Liverpool away, Southampton away and Tottenham Hotspur at home were all broadcast live.
Two further rearrangements have been confirmed for later in the season, although they have nothing to do with television. As expected, the trip to Manchester United originally scheduled for Saturday 9th November has been put back 24 hours due to the Red Devils involvement in the Europa League.
Arsenal’s adventures in Europe’s second tier competition will also mean our trip to the Emirates moves. The Gunners will be in continental action on Thursday 29th November, forcing their Premier League game with Norwich City to take place on Sunday 1st December which buggers the Albion’s planned visit to North London on Tuesday 3rd.
No new date has been set for that one – and won’t be until the December round of television games are picked later in the year. We’d expect it to be simply a case of it moving 24 hours to Wednesday 4th December however.
