Conference seal two-year deal with BT Sport to screen live Premier games

The Football Conference and BT Sport have agreed a two-year deal for the new channels to show thirty live matches a season from the Conference Premier.

 

BT Sport will host live broadcasts from the grounds for twenty-five league matches, plus both legs of the play-off semis and the Promotion Final at Wembley, from the start of the 2013/14 season in August.

The deal will bring live football from the fifth tier, immediately below League Two, to a much wider audience than ever before, which will enable greater opportunities for marketing and sponsorship deals.

Simon Green, head of BT Sport, said in a statement which was published on www.footballconference.co.uk: “We are delighted that we’ve been able to invest in the non-League game and play our part in helping community clubs to flourish.

“We are not just interested in the glamour of the Premier League; we’d like to bring the excitement and grit of the Conference Premier to a new audience, as well as its existing strong fan base.

“There are some terrific clubs in the Conference Premier and some fantastic stories and characters, which we aim to develop in our coverage.”

Brian Lee, chairman of the Football Conference, said: “We welcome the opportunity to be joining the revolutionary BT Sport, which we are sure will be a 'game changer ' for ourselves and BT Sport.

“We feel that the prospect of showcasing our wonderful brand of live football to a potentially mind-blowing number of viewers can only enhance our product. We hope sponsors of clubs and competition alike recognise the huge step that we are now undertaking. We sincerely hope this is the start of a long and fruitful partnership for both parties."

BT Sport will show thirty-eight exclusively live football matches from the Barclays Premier League, including eighteen of the ‘top picks’ from August 2013 for three seasons.

The channels will also show live FA Cup, Europa League and Scottish Premier League matches, as well as top tier live football from Germany, Italy, France, Brazil, Australia and the USA, plus action from the FA Women’s Super League.

The announcement was made on the day when the Conference published their fixtures for their three divisions.

Dartford, who finished in eighth-place in the Premier last season, finishing as the highest ranked part-time club in the division, begin their campaign with a home game against Alfreton Town on 10 August.

Tony Burman’s side will then travel to relegated Aldershot Town (who begin the season minus 10 points after going into administration during the summer) three days later.

Last season’s Conference South champions Welling United will travel to last season’s FA Carlsberg Trophy winners Wrexham on the opening day of the season.

Jamie Day’s side then welcome Cambridge United to Park View Road on 13 August.

The Conference South season kicks off on 17 August and there are four Kent sides in the division.

Bromley kick-off their Conference South campaign with an away game against Hayes & Yeading United, before Mark Goldberg’s side welcome newly-promoted Whitehawk (who clinched the Ryman Premier League title last season) to Hayes Lane on 20 August.

Dover Athletic travel to newly-promoted Gosport Borough on the opening day, before Chirs Kinnear's side welcome some familiar faces to Crabble on 20 August in the shape of Ebbsfleet United.

Ebbsfleet United welcome Havant & Waterlooville to Stonebridge Road on the opening day of the season, before Fleet’s new manager Steve Brown makes a swift return to Crabble with a number of former Dover Athletic players.

Tonbridge Angels have home advantage on opening day when Boreham Wood visit Longmead Stadium, before Tommy Warrilow’s side travel down to Eastbourne Borough in midweek.

Meanwhile, The Football Conference issued the following statement concerning the timing of the fixture lists.

“In response to some who comment about the fixture making process in the Football Conference in as much we should have released them before today, here are some facts which need to be borne in mind.

“The Premier League and Football League fixtures were published on Wednesday, 19th June.

“Forty-six Conference clubs, via a fixture questionnaire they submit, request to be opposite thirty-six different Football League clubs.

“Twelve Conference clubs actually seek to be opposite another Conference club due to either close proximity or financial based reasoning behind such requests.

“There are three ground shares (Gloucester/Cheltenham, Kidderminster/Worcester & Woking/Hayes) where 100% success rate must be targeted.

“There are several other obligations that must be met, which are sought by some clubs due to local and national events or issues affecting the staging of home fixtures on certain dates. Then of course a number of clubs have policing arrangements, which may be impacted on policing fixtures in the Premier and Football Leagues.

“Added to that is the differing entry levels for Conference clubs in the FA Cup and FA Trophy plus England `C` scheduled matches.

“The Football Conference fixture list was published, in a disciplined fashion, on Wednesday, 3rd July, fourteen days after the Premier and Football League fixture lists.

“To achieve this, our fixture list had to be completed by Friday, 28th June in order to allow sufficient time to prepare the list in a well presented package and a format accessible to meet all member club wishes.

“Everything was therefore completed within fourteen days, so all in all, when we are not top of the “pecking order” so to speak, such a turn around to accommodate the wishes of the member clubs is not as easy as some may at first think.

“And the leagues below us still have the same issues to contend with.”

Conference Premier fixture list:  www.footballconference.co.uk/fixtures.php?division_id=7&month=August#Fixtures

Conference South fixture list:  http://www.footballconference.co.uk/fixtures.php?division_id=21&month=August#Fixtures