By Adam Williams, Finance & Governance Correspondent

28th Apr, 2023 | 6:03pm

Finance Insider Column: Premier League to abandon historic rule for Man City - £700m+ jackpot on the cards

The Premier League don’t bend too many rules for Man City – the 115 charges brought against them for allegations of financial impropriety in February are a testament to that.

But the protocol they are set to suspend for the reigning champions next Saturday (6 May) is over 50 years older than and – many would argue – more culturally significant than any financial fair play statute.

The 3pm blackout, which has been in place since the 1960s, prevents UK broadcasters from airing live football between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturdays.

But City’s game against Leeds United – a fixture with huge implications at the top and bottom of the table – will be broadcast at 3pm so as not to clash with King Charles III’s coronation.

The rule that broadcast will infringe was designed to protect attendance throughout the pyramid, but it has long been a point of contention for stakeholders at all levels of the game.

Some say it is only inertia and small-c conservativism that are preventing us from scrapping the blackout, which they argue is anachronistic, redundant and commercially prohibitive.

Others insist that removing the broadcast embargo would have a detrimental effect on the lower rungs of the pyramid, with more fans staying at home to watch elite teams on TV as opposed to going out to support their local club.

Certain analysts claim that advocates for removing the blackout haven’t taken into account the value of scarcity and that making more games available to watch live would not inflate the value of TV deals as some suggest it would.

Piracy is seen as a major issue by almost every club, league and institution within football, and it has been argued that the blackout encourages more UK consumers to access illegal streams.

Sources have told this site that the Premier League estimates around 10-15 per cent of domestic broadcast income is lost to piracy, equating to around £750m over a three-year rights cycle at the current rate.

It is also understood the organisation has launched several initiatives to combat piracy, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region.

But those plans do not extend to applying to scrap the blackout, which Premier League CEO Richard Masters recently reaffirmed his commitment to.

Football Insider has been repeatedly told that their support is genuine and that the decision to air Leeds’ game at Man City is not indicative of a wider plan to remove the embargo.

The same is not as true of the EFL’s top brass, who are far more open to the idea of abolishing the initiative in order to maximise the product they can offer to broadcasters.

It is understood that the EFL believe they can double the value of their next broadcast deal, which is currently worth £119m per year, and that removing the blackout is one way that can be achieved.

Opinion is as split in EFL boardrooms as it is on the terraces, with those canvassed by this site sitting on the fence when it comes to the future of the 60-year-old system.

News that the EFL was considering its removal came as DAZN threw their hat into the ring ahead of bidding for the 2024-27 cycle with the caveat that they wanted to air every single Championship, League One and League Two match.

The EFL has now chosen Sky as its preferred bidder and the two organisations have entered into a month-long period of exclusivity as they attempt to hammer out a deal.

That would suggest that immediate interest in abandoning the blackout is cooling.

One executive of an EFL club told this site, however, that it is “inevitable” that the blackout will be aborted at some point in the not-too-distant future, if not ahead of the next rights cycle then the one after that.

In other news, Man City explore conditions of Kieran Tierney deal.