Summer football in Scotland. Is it a good idea in principle?

[Hibbyradge]

Would you support a move to summer football in Scotland?

In addition to voting in the the poll, what are the reasons behind your preference?

[MyJo]

Restructure into leagues of 16 playing a 30 game season, run the season from March to November with a mid-season break in July to accomodate for summer holidays and international tournaments.

Our teams in Europe will be better prepared for the qualifying rounds in the summer if they come mid-season, we differentiate ourselves from the english leagues and try to operate a bit more like the scandanavian countries rather than trying to be a poor knock-off of the english game

[Jones28]

Yes, absolutely. We need to give our game as good a chance as we can in Europe and the summer football switch would mean our teams would be more prepared.

[theonlywayisup]

No! No! No! Never!

As a keen golfer, please define what we mean by Summer football.

The weather is Scotland over the 'summer' is often grim. Endless days of rain, often heavy rain.

The weather in March / April / May and September / October is often the most settled that we get.

The weather in November to February is colder, but it's amazing how many mild, dry, calm days we get. I've always maintained that there's been better days for playing golf in the winter than during the summer.

Add to that many people will be away on holiday from June through to August - either to tie in with school holidays or to avoid school holidays - and thus buying a season ticket would be a non-starter. The big loser is the football club deprived of season ticket income.

So for me, that's three less season tickets and I know there will be a lot of others in the same situation. Anyone purchasing season tickets due to summer football will be considerably outnumbered by those choosing not to purchase one.

On paper, it's a fine idea, but not workable unless you live in a country with harsh winters and a 'summer'.

[GreenNWhiteArmy]

It's a no from me. Always has been.

Restructure the league. 16 teams - 30 games and keep the split totalling 37 games.

Reallign the calendar to July - April thus pre season starts in June (or late may) for those involved in European football meaning they get 4/5 weeks training before any games.

Bingo

[Sir David Gray]

Nope not for me. I do various other things during June and early July and moving the football season to this part of the year would have a significant impact on me taking out a season ticket.

The weather in Scotland is also not good enough in the official summer months to justify moving the season to this time of year. Some of the worst rainfall I've experienced has come in July.

I'm also quite happy having something to do at Christmas/New Year time. This period is bleak enough without having any football!

[theonlywayisup]

Heavy rain can happen anytime of the year, but it's amazing how often we get wet summers. See below for the period from December 2016 to June 2017. The website stated "2017 has been quite a remarkable year in Edinburgh as regards precipitation, after what was the driest April on record, June has now been declared the wettest on record at the Botanic Gardens in the city. Here are the accumulations from the 14th of December last year (fig 1) from the SYNOP reports". Summer football, anyone!!

[Bishop Hibee]

No. Summer months in Edinburgh have the highest rainfall. http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2650225 Also due to global warming our winters are not as harsh anymore. Add this to the fact that I go on holiday in July or August and have weekends away then summer football would mean it would not be worth my while having a season ticket due to the games I'd miss.

Lets promote Scotland's national sport positively and not try gimmicks like summer football.

[Hibbyradge]

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Restructure into leagues of 16 playing a 30 game season

Clubs would face a loss of 21% plus income from home games, and advertising and sponsorship revenue would also reduce along with TV money.

A structure like that would probably put clubs like Killie, Ross County and St Johnstone, at least, out of business.

The bigger clubs would be severely restricted in the quality of player they could recruit so the standard of play would deteriorate and attendances would fall even further.

How would the league counter all that?

[Hibbyradge]

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No! No! No! Never!

As a keen golfer, please define what we mean by Summer football.

The weather is Scotland over the 'summer' is often grim. Endless days of rain, often heavy rain.

The weather in March / April / May and September / October is often the most settled that we get.

The weather in November to February is colder, but it's amazing how many mild, dry, calm days we get. I've always maintained that there's been better days for playing golf in the winter than during the summer.

Add to that many people will be away on holiday from June through to August - either to tie in with school holidays or to avoid school holidays - and thus buying a season ticket would be a non-starter. The big loser is the football club deprived of season ticket income.

So for me, that's three less season tickets and I know there will be a lot of others in the same situation. Anyone purchasing season tickets due to summer football will be considerably outnumbered by those choosing not to purchase one.

On paper, it's a fine idea, but not workable unless you live in a country with harsh winters and a 'summer'.

I'm a very keen golfer too, but football game takes less than 2 hours and there are 6 other days a week to golf if you can't manage to arrange a game around the Hibs match.

[NAE NOOKIE]

For the first time I voted no in one of these polls. IMO our summers have been so wet recently I can see the pitches having a worse time than they do in the winter ... I remember an Intertoto cup tie a good few years back where it rained so heavily during the game a part of the pitch got badly damaged and it never recovered for the rest of the season, that was one game.

Another guy made a good point about season tickets as well ...... with school holidays and other summer activities getting in the way I can see why a lot of folk would be put off buying a season ticket covering a number of games they couldn't go to, the empty seats that should be occupied by existing ST holders at some of our early games is decent evidence of that.

I can still see the advantages as well though .... there's no doubt our teams would be better prepared for Europe and I could see more casual walk up fans who might usually be put off by the cold deciding to go along a bit more. There's also little doubt that having a good chunk of the season where we aren't in competition with English football could lead to better TV deals.

Of course, what Hibs should be doing is converting Easter Road to a fully enclosed stadium with a sliding roof and a good heating system ...... apart from making the football a lot more comfortable it would also give Edinburgh a 20,000 capacity indoor venue for concerts and the like, which is something it badly needs ... it would make us a fortune

[gogs_t]

Definite no from me.

Far too many other things happen over the summer months and while I would do my best to work them round games, it would be difficult not to miss a few games and/or miss the other activities. As others have said, I seriously think it would have a major impact on season ticket sales. I've had a ST for as long as I can remember even though I know I'm going to miss at least a couple of games. The extra games I would miss would make me seriously consider getting one.
Apart from that, some of the winter months can be bleak enough without a match to look forward to and I actually enjoy watching a game in January more than watching one in July.

While some seem to embrace the notion, I honestly believe it would be massively detrimental to the future of the Scottish game.

[MyJo]

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Clubs would face a loss of 21% plus income from home games, and advertising and sponsorship revenue would also reduce along with TV money.

A structure like that would probably put clubs like Killie, Ross County and St Johnstone, at least, out of business.

The bigger clubs would be severely restricted in the quality of player they could recruit so the standard of play would deteriorate and attendances would fall even further.

How would the league counter all that?

There probably will be a loss of income from less games but along with the reduction in revenue there will be an overall reduction in costs that will soften the blow.

While clubs will lose out on income they also won't have to pay the associated costs of staging these matches including, policing, stewarding, staff costs etc. Having a complete shutdown during the winter for 3 months will also allow smaller clubs to save a lot of money on stadium running costs with electricity/gas and undersoil heating etc while the players will still earn basic wages but won't be forking out on bonuses, appearance money etc during those 3 months either whereas just now there is really only 6 or 7 weeks where the players are "inactive".

The quality of players we recruit into scotland would be unlikely to change much but could potential benefit from a summer league, different transfer windows could allow us to get some players in February for example without competition from english teams. Players might love the idea of not having to train and play over xmas and new year like they do just now?

Advertising, sponsorship and TV revenue is determined by the quality of the product and the level of exposure. Right now the scottish leagues have absolutely nothing unique or different about them other than the old firm we are seen as a poor relation of english football, even our leagues are copying the engligh leagues with thier names etc.
Make Scottish football stand out, do things differently, give us a unique selling point and increase the exposure of the league and these revenue streams don't have to decrease, quite the opposite in fact.
The Betfred cup is a good example of this, a bit of a different structure, some experimental rules, competitive matches at a time when there is little else on and suddenly it has a decent sponsor, more matches are being televised and the prize money is higher for this competition than it is for the scottish cup.

[HappyAsHellas]

We can't have a league where no games are played in winter conditions. On top of that sadly, the main thing in the game now is tv money. World cup and Euros would see a blanket ban on games every 2nd season which would make our laughable tv deal worth less than it is now. What do people want to do during weekends in winter? Go shopping or something? As the advert says baws to that.

[MichaelTheCelt]

Voted yes but there is a fair argument from the no side too. One thing I don't think can be disputed is it might give our teams better preparation for Europe.

[HappyAsHellas]

How many more games had the giants from Luxembourg played before disposing of der hun? I think too much is made of this as it doesn't seem to be much of an issue down south where they typically start a week or so after us.

[IGRIGI]

Would've said yes before but now it's a no from me, weather is a hit and a miss during the summer months and I wouldn't like to see the club take a financial hit during the typical holiday period.

[Haymaker]

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Voted yes but there is a fair argument from the no side too. One thing I don't think can be disputed is it might give our teams better preparation for Europe.

It would give them better preparation...

... BUT what happens when we start getting knocked out because we're knackered by November? Or if we get through and have to start games in February?!

[ancient hibee]

Season Ticket sales would go down the Swanee.

As someone said the Luxembourg minnows were at the same stage as Rangers.Should Scottish clubs progress in Europe they would have to play games in our close season.Not for me.

[jgl07]

Absolutely crap idea. I am amazed that Doncaster and Regan haven't already implemented it.

The only Leagues to do so as far as I can see are Ireland, Sweden, Iceland and Norway. Even Russia dumped the idea.

[Keith_M]

I used to be in favour but I think it might adversely affect the attendance at games, with so many people having holidays at that time, so I'm not sure.

I can see the possible advantage when playing some european teams but, tbh, Scottish clubs get humped out of Europe just as often by teams that play in the winter as well.

[jacomo]

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Clubs would face a loss of 21% plus income from home games, and advertising and sponsorship revenue would also reduce along with TV money.

A structure like that would probably put clubs like Killie, Ross County and St Johnstone, at least, out of business.

The bigger clubs would be severely restricted in the quality of player they could recruit so the standard of play would deteriorate and attendances would fall even further.

How would the league counter all that?

Only if you assume all else remains the same.

What if a 16 team league proved more interesting and competitive, driving up attendance?

What if this led to higher viewing figures and more interest from sponsors?

What if other games were arranged to make up for the shorter league campaign?

[judas]

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It's a no from me. Always has been.

Restructure the league. 16 teams - 30 games and keep the split totalling 37 games.

Reallign the calendar to July - April thus pre season starts in June (or late may) for those involved in European football meaning they get 4/5 weeks training before any games.

Bingo

Yes. This is the best solution.

[Hibbyradge]

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It's a no from me. Always has been.

Restructure the league. 16 teams - 30 games and keep the split totalling 37 games.

Reallign the calendar to July - April thus pre season starts in June (or late may) for those involved in European football meaning they get 4/5 weeks training before any games.

Bingo

16 plus split couldn't work.

After the split, teams would play each other once.

Some teams would have to play more games away than home.

Some more home than away.

What if a club had to play 2 away games against both Celtic and Rangers and only 1 at home?

Or 2 home against each and only 1 away?

Would the teams competing for the title be happy to play their opponent away more than at home?

Etc etc etc.

[Sir David Gray]

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Season Ticket sales would go down the Swanee.

As someone said the Luxembourg minnows were at the same stage as Rangers.Should Scottish clubs progress in Europe they would have to play games in our close season.Not for me.

I see what you did there!

[LaMotta]

lots of people voted yes but not one person providing a good reason as to why it should be done. No surprise as ive never heard a coherent argument backing up summer football.

[pacorosssco]

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Would you support a move to summer football in Scotland?

In addition to voting in the the poll, what are the reasons behind your preference?

Bigger league with home away only fixtures start league june and winter break. Kinda like dutch league

[ballengeich]

During winter football, and anticipating games, is one of the things which brightens the long dreary days. In particular it stops children moping round the house on Saturday afternoons. In summer families have lots of outdoor things to do so would be less inclined to attend.

[pacorosssco]

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During winter football, and anticipating games, is one of the things which brightens the long dreary days. In particular it stops children moping round the house on Saturday afternoons. In summer families have lots of outdoor things to do so would be less inclined to attend.

Break after new year and also many skint then so glad of less costs?

[Forza Fred]

As someone who has already lived through a switch from winter to summer football.....I can
promise the world won't change substantially as a result.

I'd much rather expose my self to the elements in cauld weather rather than freezing weather though.