When I promised my 13-year-old son, Charlie, that we would go to as many QPR games as possible in 2021-22 to make up for not going to any last season, I hadn’t anticipated that the match schedule would be in a constant state of flux thanks to the capricious, all-powerful tyrant that is Sky Sports. It makes trying to plan your life more than a few weeks ahead impossible.
For instance, I booked an eye-wateringly expensive three-day break for the whole family in Margate from 27 to 30 December, meaning we would be in London to watch the Boxing Day fixture against Bournemouth at home and miss only one game on 29 December. But at the last minute Sky Sports has decided it would like to televise the Bournemouth game and insisted that it be moved to 27 December so it won’t clash with the Premier League games on Boxing Day. The upshot is that I’m now going to have to cancel the holiday or miss two games.
For supporters these changes are costly. And they aren’t all prawn-sandwich-eaters like me
It was a similar story with our forthcoming game against Derby. Originally scheduled for 3 p.m. on a Saturday at Pride Park, I bought return train tickets for my two sons and me. Then Sky Sports decided it wanted to show that game, so it had to be moved to Monday night. Not only did I lose the cost of the train tickets, but I also had to break it to Charlie that we wouldn’t be going to that match after all because it’s now on a school night.
Sky Sports was quick to jump on the Black Lives Matter bandwagon last year, issuing a statement of support and pinning BLM badges to all its presenters.
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