Saints opening home game of the season against the men from Old Trafford has been selected for live TV , this is a game that always sells out and with so much negative feeling around football at the moment this will be a barometer as to how Covid 19 will affect attendances in the coming season.
Football is heading for a crisis, whilst the likes of Liverpool & Manchester United have season ticket waiting lists that can take years for people to get a season ticket, a situation that means that their supporters have to renew their season tickets or risk hardly seeing their team play ever again, as there is such a waiting list of people willing to take their place, but the majority of club's including Saints do not have that luxury.
Saints fans and most of there supporters of clubs not only in the Premier League but the lower divisions as well can opt in and out of being season ticket holders from season to season and with attending games next season still uncertain many seem to be opting to wait and see before committing to a season ticket.
The news that Saints game against Manchester United will now take place on Sunday 22nd August, 2pm , live on Sky, a day later than originally scheduled, might not be good news for the club.
Many Saints fan may now opt out of buying tickets for that game, football supporters seem to be sick of the constant changing of times for TV and the recent European Super League debacle has not helped and this is going to impact on attendances at all clubs , although I have to say that for most club's the impact of TV times on attendances seems to be selective depending on the form of the team.
This is going to be a season like no other and in some respects reminds me of the changes we saw in the 1980's back then crowds dropped as traditional fan bases walked away from the game due to several factors, not least the crowd trouble prevalent at the time.
Back then it was said the game was dying, but it reinvented itself and by the early 1990's was booming again, that boom period has lasted for over 25 years, but it looks likely that we are due a downturn now.
The big question though is can football with full stadiums still be maintained or will it become a thing of the past, have Sky TV finally won the war they began in the 1990's, will it now become the sport for armchair fans.