Leicester City fans will have to get used to more fixture changes – Lee Hoos
Lee Hoos admits television games are good business for Leicester City, but bad news for their fans because of the disruption they cause.
The club's supporters are poring over the first draft of the Championship fixtures which will change when the television companies announce their plans.
And City will also have to meet Leicester Tigers officials when their fixtures are released to thrash out the implications of the two clubs not being allowed to play on the same day because of policing and safety concerns.
The Football League say City stand to make around an initial £2.5million from a new TV deal agreed during last weekend's meeting in Portugal.
Championship clubs take 80 per-cent of the £264m three-year deal which sees five extra Sky games and 10 extra BBC matches being screened.
Hoos said: "It is a dual-edged sword because the deal financially benefits the club but the fans hate it when the fixtures move. I understand that because it will take time for them to be conditioned away from 3pm Saturday kick-offs.
"However, these TV games are a big revenue push for us and there are going to be times when we have to adhere to our media agreements."
City and Tigers also have to deal with not being allowed to play home games on the same day because of safety concerns.
The city council's Safety Advisory Group say the combination of the new 24,000-seater Welford Road stadium – plus the predicted rise in attendance now that City are back in the Championship – could lead to gridlock.
They fear 999 crews could struggle to get to the scene of an emergency because of the numbers of fans' cars on the roads.
Hoos said: "It would have helped us if the RFU used the same fixture compilers, which was supposed to be the case at one point but didn't happen.
"That would have eliminated some of the issues but now we have to see what we can do."
Hoos said some of the clashes may "fix themselves" if they are moved through television demands.
But he is confident the clubs can work together to reduce the disruption to both sets of fans.
Hoos said: "Their fans will probably say they have had their games moved more, and our fans will probably say the same. But I think there has been parity."
He added: "We have a good relationship with Leicester Tigers and we want to continue in that vein.
"They used the Walkers Stadium last season and they are winning there now as well – and so are we."
Leicester Tigers said they will discuss the implications of clashes when their own fixtures are released in the next few weeks.











6 Comments
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by Anon, Leicester
Thursday, June 18 2009, 1:28PM
“dave does that mean you wouldnt want games to be on BBC/sky because they canot leagally show 3 oclock kick offs on tv”
by anon, leicester
Thursday, June 18 2009, 1:25PM
“im a leicester city fan and i can c that the tigers are a much bigger club”
by Credit Crunched, Leicester
Thursday, June 18 2009, 1:03PM
“Portugal, what a logical place to hold the league meeting in the midst of a financial meltdown.”
by Cheshire Cat, Lincolnshire
Thursday, June 18 2009, 12:45PM
“Arla, less people affected! come off it last year a lot of Tigers attendances were greater than the Citys!”
by Dave, Leicester
Thursday, June 18 2009, 12:30PM
“Arla is spot-on.
The Tigers now know when there are lots of free Saturday's so why can't they play then ?
I don't see why they need to be incovenienced any more than the City fans.
And Mr. Hoos - I don't want "conditioning" to a move away from Saturday 3pm kick-off's thanks.”