Travelling Leeds United fans are amongst the hardest hit by far flung games at evening kick-off times picked for television broadcast. An evening kick-off under the floodlights can be a fantastic experience for match-going fans; well, for the home fans anyway.
For away supporters, evening kick-offs can be a completely different experience, defined by mad dashes for last trains - if they’re even still running - or long coach journeys that don’t get you home until the early hours of the morning. Evening kick-offs are sometimes a necessity - such as matches being rearranged due to Covid-19 cancellations - but more often than not, the inconveniences doled out on travelling supporters is for the benefit of TV audiences.
A total of 184 Premier League matches have been picked to be shown live on TV in the UK up to May 2, the latest date for which the schedules have been decided. Just over half of those, 93, have an evening kick-off time (after 17:00), 54 of which took place on a school-night (Sunday to Thursday).
