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Post by deejayrobertson on Oct 22, 2022 13:07:27 GMT 1
Afternoon all. Stuck at home with the kids instead of on the way to Stafford, so the mind wanders. I read earlier this week that there’s rumblings among some non league clubs about moving Saturday kick offs to midday in winter to reduce the need to put the floodlights on. Now I love a Saturday 3pm kick off as much as the next person, but this doesn’t seem like the worst idea to me, needs must and all that. It’d be better if we didn’t have to, but I wouldn’t object if it made a noticeable difference to the bill. What say you?
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Post by Nik on Oct 22, 2022 14:33:55 GMT 1
I have no idea how much power traditional floodlights use but a security light on your garage/garden used to be about 1000W (compared to about 30W for LED).
A business owner was telling me the other day they were getting quoted 75p per kWh for when the six month support ends. So four hours of a home security floodlight would cost £3.
Say you need 300,000W worth of the traditional bulbs to light a pitch (I’m guessing), I could see why shifting kickoff to save £500 a week might be worth it.
(All those numbers might be gibberish because energy prices aren’t that high yet and I’ve no clue how much power our sort of floodlights draw)
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Post by MrP on Oct 22, 2022 16:05:43 GMT 1
Afternoon all. Stuck at home with the kids instead of on the way to Stafford, so the mind wanders. I read earlier this week that there’s rumblings among some non league clubs about moving Saturday kick offs to midday in winter to reduce the need to put the floodlights on. Now I love a Saturday 3pm kick off as much as the next person, but this doesn’t seem like the worst idea to me, needs must and all that. It’d be better if we didn’t have to, but I wouldn’t object if it made a noticeable difference to the bill. What say you? Seems a sensible approach during further “unprecedented times” |
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Post by AFootballFan on Oct 22, 2022 21:57:20 GMT 1
I think I could get used to the games being at 1pm. It wouldn’t be ideal, but it would be a world away from having no games at all for months during the worst of the pandemic…
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Post by bigj on Oct 22, 2022 23:51:31 GMT 1
We all need to link hands when it gets dark - after all, many hands make light work....
I'll get my coat.....
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Post by troll on Oct 23, 2022 8:55:37 GMT 1
Northern Counties East have already approved a number of early kick offs. It might be something to consider on a game by game basis - more suited to games where there is less travelling than some of the longer trips. I don't know you'd want to have been at Stafford for a 1pm kick off.
This would be like when I first watched Guiseley in the pre floodlight days. I think it was a 1.45 kick off for County Cup games on a Saturday.
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Post by rawdonlion on Oct 23, 2022 9:21:01 GMT 1
I think this is aimed more at clubs further down the pyramid who’s support is much lower, so less income, and generally have older, more inefficient floodlights thus cost more to run.
Personally it wouldn’t make much difference to me but people working Saturday mornings, people involved in girls football (they generally play Saturdays) and others that just prefer a 3pm kick off might be affected.
If we average 500 per game it’s an extra £1 per person which wouldn’t bother me (these are based on the rough sums above) but maybe others might not be so happy. Hard to tell until it happens I guess.
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Post by netherfieldlion on Oct 23, 2022 19:53:44 GMT 1
I wouldn’t be going to games if they kicked off earlier. The pre match “social” is a key element to the game day experience for many of us. Especially away from home.
I’d rather pay a bit extra for a 3 o’clock kick off home and away.
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Post by deejayrobertson on Oct 23, 2022 20:06:19 GMT 1
I don’t know anything about the running costs of a Saturday matchday at Nethermoor, but some good points have been raised here. I wonder if the bills do spike dramatically, we might end up having to put ticket prices up to cover it. Depending on the size of the spike, maybe shifting the kick off to remain in daylight hours (and maintaining consideration for the opponent) may remain an option for some clubs as an alternative to unpopular price rises.
There doesn’t seem to be a right or wrong answer here, and as the situation develops I guess maybe we need to stay open minded.
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Post by adambrid on Oct 24, 2022 17:40:02 GMT 1
Interesting debate this, I think if it was to happen it would have to be on a game by game basis, eg if Stafford had Morpeth away it would be totally unfair on players and staff to travel all that distance that early in the day.
netherfieldlion has raised an interesting point though, would local businesses suffer by having an earlier kick-off or would they prosper because people would have more time after an earlier kick-off to go to them?
AB
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Post by adambrid on Nov 1, 2022 20:39:17 GMT 1
We'll all see what an early kick-off feels like in our first home game of December as our clash with Morpeth has been moved to a 12:30pm kick-off to avoid a potential clash with an England World Cup tie: guiseleyafc.co.uk/early-kick-off-for-morpeth-new-date-for-lancaster/Our clash with Lancaster City has also been rearranged for Tuesday 20th December after it was called off because of both sides progression in the Isuzu FA Trophy. AB |
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