Redaction Willow Austin with Joe Brophy
Published on 2024-02-26 13:25:30
This weekend’s Premier League action kicks off later than usual, with no early game scheduled for Saturday lunchtime once again. The English top-flight football continues to come thick and fast, but for a second consecutive gameweek, there will be no 12:30 pm kick-off. Last week, Arsenal’s Champions League match meant their game against Newcastle was rescheduled to the Saturday 8 pm evening slot. However, with no Premier League club involved in European competition this week, the TV schedule has been tweaked once again.
There will only be one late kick-off on Saturday evening, with Luton Town hosting Aston Villa at 5:30 pm. So why is there no 12:30 pm kick-off this Saturday? Simply put, there is no Saturday lunchtime game in the Premier League this weekend because no games were selected for broadcast. Under the current broadcast deal, TNT Sports holds the 12:30 pm Saturday slot with Package A. TNT broadcasts the rights to 52 Premier League games per season, divided by the weekend’s lunchtime slot and two rounds of midweek fixtures. Occasionally, TNT moves their early Saturday slot to 8 pm if the clubs involved have played an away Champions League game earlier that week.
This is only the third gameweek of the 2023/24 season that TNT has chosen not to show a live match at any time over the weekend. The broadcaster was also absent from the opening weekend of the season and Gameweek 17 in mid-December. However, TNT will return with their regular schedule for the next three Saturday lunchtimes, featuring matches such as Manchester United vs Everton, Arsenal vs Chelsea, and Newcastle hosting West Ham.
Gameweek 27 will kick off at 3 pm, with Adrian Durham, Ray Parlour, and Scott Minto live on talkSPORT. The trio will present GameDay Live from 2:30 pm, bringing listeners all the goals from the Premier League and EFL, including matches like Nottingham Forest vs. Liverpool and Everton vs. West Ham. Additionally, talkSPORT 2 will have live and exclusive coverage of Tottenham vs. Crystal Palace at the same time, a game not shown on UK TV.
Overall, while there may be no 12:30 pm kick-off this Saturday in the Premier League, there is still plenty of exciting action to look forward to across the weekend. With a blend of top-flight matchups and exclusive coverage on various platforms, football fans will have no shortage of entertainment as the season progresses.
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