After a weekend of amazing drama what more can be done to protect the FA Cup?
WHAT more can be done to protect the FA Cup?
After one of the greatest set of quarterfinals in history culminating in yesterday's epic at Old Trafford, and with all the big teams playing fullstrength sides, the Cup seems to be undergoing something of a renaissance.
However, it is being played out against a backdrop of replays facing the chop from the third round onwards next season, and most fixtures going behind a paywall the following year.
Our reporters have their say...
ANDY DUNN
Mark Bullingham, the chief executive of the Football Association, rightly describes the FA Cup as ‘our crown jewel.’ What a shame he is selling off the crown jewel to the highest bidder, that happens to be an American television company.
Warner Bros. Discovery, who operate TNT Sports, have a four-year deal for the broadcast rights, starting in 2025. There will be a free-to-air ‘partner’, but we all know who will take precedence – the
New York-based media giant paying the big bucks.
We did not need the weekend’s quarter-final classics to know that the FA Cup is still in decent health and the imminent abolition of third and fourth round replays will not cheapen the competition. But putting a lot of the games behind a paywall is hugely disappointing.
The FA, don’t forget, is a notfor-profit organisation.
The final will remain free-toair because it is on the list of so-called Grade A sporting events protected by the government. What a shame the whole competition isn’t.
NEIL MOXLEY
Allowing any satellite broadcaster to grab the best ties – as TNT will do from 2025 – will damage the competition.
One of the main reasons why it is so loved is that the FA Cup allows people to tune in when they want. For instance, how many households – mine was one –with a general interest in football, watched the drama of the Ipswich Town versus Maidstone United tie unfold?
That gave us – sorry Tractor Boys – one of the best stories of this season. The romance of it all was captured by terrestrial television. For all to see.
If they want to protect the FA Cup, they should reverse this decision when the contract runs out.
NEIL MCLEMAN
Reports of the death of the FA Cup are greatly exaggerated.
Three of the quarter-finals were thrilling entertainment while only Leicester City have lifted the trophy from outside the Big Six in the last decade.
Credit to the Foxes for putting out a strong team against Chelsea (Noni Madueke, second right, celebrates scoring the final goal in Chelsea’s 4-2 win) while they are pushing for promotion to the Premier League. And this year’s surprise semi-finalists Coventry are just a great story to show that giant-killing is alive and well.
It is still a trophy that everyone wants to win. Getting rid of replays and introducing penalty shoot-outs is progress to help short attention spans and bigger teams still in Europe.
The new TV contract with TNT to show more games, but behind a paywall from 2025/26, has the safety net of continued free-to-air coverage in every round. Cricket and golf have both been hit by taking coverage off terrestrial TV – and keeping Wimbledon on the BBC ensures the fortnight stays at the centre of the nation’s sporting and cultural life. The FA Cup needs and deserves the same.
JOHN CROSS
The biggest thing that winds me up about the FA Cup is when they stage the draw before the round is completed.
So, wasn’t it wonderful that the semi-finals were drawn after the quarter-final epic at Old Trafford.
I wish they’d move the semifinals back to neutral venues like Villa Park.
But judge that against Coventry being thrilled about going to Wembley.
The replays issue wound me up last week. Next season, third and fourth round replays are being scrapped.
So it felt revisiting that was another chance to give the cup a good kicking.
What I don’t like about scrapping those replays is losing the money it brings in for lower league clubs. It’s another chance to say the cup is dying, but it’s really not.
This weekend produced classics between Wolves and Coventry, Chelsea and Leicester, Manchester United and Liverpool. What did they have in common? They all went for it because they know there is no replay. It doesn’t detract from the drama – it adds to it.
Long live the FA Cup.