National League changes laws on streaming

The National League, the top two tiers of English non-league football, has announced that it is changing its laws on clubs streaming and posting match highlights. The change allows clubs to post match highlights immediately after BT Sport’s highlights show on a Saturday evening, instead of the 48-hour ban previously in place.

Photo: The National League

By: Sam Feierabend

This move is crucial for clubs in the system as match highlights allow fans who are unable to attend the game, or casual football fans in general, to keep up to date on what has been happening with the club of their choice. Volunteers put in endless hours to provide high-quality media coverage for their clubs, and the ban in place previously delayed views, potentially losing clients who either forget the game has happened or are more eager to see more recent game footage if one had taken place in the meantime.

BT Sport originally gained the exclusive rights to broadcast The National League in 2013, with one game each weekend being selected for live coverage on a Saturday evening followed by a highlights show after. Whilst this is excellent for non-league to give such mainstream exposure, the rights only cover one league. The National League is comprised of three leagues; all clubs having to abide by the contractual agreement made between the league and BT Sport that no highlights of games can be posted online within 48 hours of matches being played. This aimed to keep exclusivity for the broadcaster, harming clubs who aren’t even included in the highlights show in the first place.

There are many issues with this. For clubs in the National League North and South (the leagues not included by BT Sport), fans have to wait for highlights of their team and media content creators have to sit on edited footage for the curfew to pass. In this time, it is common for more matches to be played, and a cycle of out-of-date highlights start to circulate.

Additionally, waiting to publish highlights means the potential for fan footage to start circulating before official club footage. An example of this came recently in the National League South clash between Bath City and Weymouth, where a  clip circulated of the Weymouth goalkeeper making four saves in a row before official highlights could be published. The original fan footage gained over 1 million views on Twitter. This loses interaction with official club tweets and social media, a key way of gaining interest and potential crowds for clubs who desperately need it.

Enter Ryan Reynolds. The Hollywood actor turned football club owner took charge of Wrexham FC in the National League in 2021 alongside fellow actor Rob McElhenney, has been vocal in recent months about the ban on clubs streaming their games. He believes that the ban is denying clubs extra income and a chance to increase their fanbase. His aim goes beyond what has been announced this week, as he is championing the creation of a streaming service where fans pay either per game, or a monthly subscription. Some of this may be to do with Wrexham’s newfound fame across the Atlantic but with no way for American fans to watch the team. After added pressure from the league’s main sponsor, Vanarama, the National League announced it would be meeting on 15 September to discuss the creation of a streaming service. This is not expected to start until the new year at the earliest.

In the short term however, clubs in all three leagues are now allowed to publish highlights on Saturday evening, as soon as the BT highlights show has ended – for midweek games this can be done immediately after the game. This is a huge step for those who create content at this level and the fans that watch it. However, BT Sport could go a step further in their relaxation by providing clubs with professional equipment for filming. Currently, they only rely on volunteers to provide footage for them, which is often on lower quality cameras, sometimes operated by students. For a company that made millions of pounds in profits last year, there is financial capability to be able to provide this even if just for the National League where their highlights are broadcast each week. This would raise the league to the professional level that it technically is.

This is a step in the right direction for the National League to help its clubs by finally listening to criticism of their contracts with broadcasters. It just took an A-list celebrity to tip the iceberg.