An open letter to Sky Sports, TNT Sports, and anyone who governs football

It's time to give football back to the fans

In a day and age where literally everything is going up in price faster than a Formula 1 race car, football is the one thing that should be left alone.

Football is not just a sport, football is a lifestyle. Football saves lives. Football helps keep people sane in a testing world. Football literally pulls people through. If some people do not have football in their lives, then it’s not an exaggeration to say that their lives would be over.

I remember being approached by a number of people in our community during Covid when football was stopped and fans were not allowed inside stadiums. Genuinely, some of these people were telling me they were suicidal and were seeking help, which I of course gave to them. But this is just an example of what football means to some people.

Going to the football every weekend, using up a whole Saturday, meeting your pals, going with your family, however you do it, is literally life for so many. It’s not a business, it’s not a sport, it is LIFE. It is a lifestyle. It breeds down generations and generations of family members and it becomes a passion whether playing, watching at grounds, or watching on the TV.

Money has become a huge menace in this sport. There is ridiculous amounts of money on football today and it’s become ludicrous. The players earn way too much money, more money than you can even spend. And big bosses who run the clubs, the TV companies, and agents, all thrive off the game and literally milk everything they can to make as much profit as they can from the game. But it’s not from the game, is it? It’s from hard working every day people who literally live their lives pay check to pay check, trying to survive and trying to feed their families. They are the ones being milked for every penny they have. In this current economy, people have to sacrifice doing the things they love doing, the only outlet away from stressful jobs and working lives, and this in turn effects mental health and happiness. It’s so wrong.

Football should not be the thing that people are forced to give up just to put bread on the table. It truly does sicken me.

I keep seeing stories every day with the headline, ‘crack down on dodgy firesticks in the UK’ and threatening those who use them with fines and even jail time. Here’s an idea, why don’t those who govern the game force prices to be reduced for people to watch football on TV? Season ticket prices and tickets to go see live games are ever rising, but this article isn’t really about that, for now at least - the cheaper alternative for people who can’t afford to go to games is supposed to be watching it on TV, no? So what on earth is going on?

If people want to watch games ‘legally’ then they have to pay at least £70 a month to for TNT Sports and Sky Sports subscriptions. With the cost of living criminally rising to a ridiculous rate, how is the average person expected to afford that? Here’s another idea, why not just charge HALF that amount and get more customers whilst at the same time crack down on the massive so-called criminal enterprise of people trying to watch football every weekend simply just to save their own life? You might think that is extreme, but it’s reality.

You can go to the local park and watch your local football team play for free (sometimes), and I see more and more people selecting this option instead now.

It’s time that football was given back to the fans, and it’s time these companies are stopped. They are literally robbing poor people, how is that allowed? Football is the one thing that should be accessible for all? How is £70 a month accessible for all?

Make the prices realistic, and more average people will come. Without the fans, the game would not exist, TNT and Sky would not exist. Fans make this game, fans pay your wages, fans ARE football. Never forget that, and make the game accessible again.

What needs to happen is a one stop shop for ALL football games, one subscription service that allows you access to all games. One fair price to pay per month but make it realistic and affordable. I guarantee you, the average person would use a service like this. Those who govern, go and bloody govern and sort this out.

I guess it’s just a wider reflection of the world we live in, full of greedy rich people just trying to get even richer, whilst the average person struggles to put food on the table week after week.

Simon Phillips