Everything different about Leeds fixture release: New TV slots, fixtures confirmed until January (2024)

It is nearly time to get the calendar down from the wall and start writing in football fixtures for the new season.

For the first time in a long time, Leeds United fans will be able to write a lot more of their matches in pen rather than pencil as the EFL’s new broadcast deal brings stability to the fixture list.

When the 2024-25 season gets under way, a new bumper £935million ($1.17bn) domestic TV rights deal between the EFL and Sky Sports will bring about a raft of changes to kick-off times, fixture rescheduling and where fans can watch their team.

Domestically, iFollow — or in-house channels such as LUTV — is out and Sky Sports is the new home of the EFL. International fans will still be able to watch matches on iFollow or LUTV.

When are fixtures announced and what is changing?

The official fixture list will be published on Wednesday, June 26 at 9am. There will be a later announcement, anticipated to be sometime in July, confirming which matches have been selected for broadcast on Sky Sports along with any changes to kick-off times. This list should include all games running up to the January break for the third round of the FA Cup.

It will be a welcome change for Leeds fans to be able to plan so far in advance. Previous rules allowed for fixtures to be moved at five weeks’ notice although, in some cases, games have been moved with even less warning. Leeds’ healthy travelling support will benefit from more certainty over when games are being played and whether they will need to book hotels or be able to travel by train without the need to rearrange at late notice.

And there is more good news for regular matchgoers among the Leeds fanbase, who have made their dislike of Sky’s dominance over fixture rescheduling well-known in chants during recent seasons.

Leeds will be selected less often on Sky after Daniel Farke’s team were shown 33 times in 2023-24. As part of the new deal, the EFL has promised more parity for teams shown on TV, with a commitment for each of the 72 teams to be broadcast a minimum of 20 times. Championship clubs will be selected a maximum of 24 times.

A record 1,059 matches will be broadcast throughout the season. The majority will be Championship games (328) with League One and League Two getting equal air time (248 matches each).

All 15 play-off matches will be shown live at the end of the season — but Leeds will not want any part of that after last year’s final defeat to Southampton at Wembley continued their play-off curse.

Will kick-off times change?

With more games being shown live on Sky, but the traditional 3pm blackout remaining in place, it will mean a wider spread of kick-off times, which will likely affect Leeds. As part of the five-year deal, just 26 EFL games will take place in the 3pm slot on a Saturday — and therefore be protected by the blackout. Of these, seven will be in the Championship, with 19 in League One and League Two combined.

Five Championship matches will be shown in the UK over the weekend, along with five from Leagues One and Two. These could take place in an earlier 12.30pm kick-off on a Saturday, as well as frequent slots on Friday evenings and Sunday lunchtimes (12.30pm kick-off) as is common currently. Leeds could also feature in selected picks on Thursday or Monday nights as well.

This means there will be 11 games from the Championship shown on SkySports+ each weekend.

Most of the games shown on Sky are expected to be midweek games, broadcast in a similar way to the red button function used in recent years.

Every game on the opening day, the final day and Bank Holiday matches (Easter, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day) will be broadcast live.

Will Leeds benefit and will broadcast quality improve?

When iFollow first launched in 2017 for overseas fans and began streaming to UK viewers the following year, it was often a one-camera broadcast of limited quality. Over the years, those rules changed to a four-camera requirement for Championship games, although some clubs have more.

The new deal with Sky will see an improvement on this offering, with a minimum of six cameras at Championship games and four cameras for League One and Two games where the requirement was previously one camera.

Across the leagues, annual TV income will increase to £180million plus an additional £7m from domestic and a further £7m from international streaming.

What about cup games and fixtures after Christmas?

Every Carabao Cup match is included in the new broadcast deal, meaning 93 games will be shown live, as well as 127 Bristol Street Motors Trophy games.

By the start of November, an announcement will follow regarding the selection of Leeds’ fixtures to be shown live up to the start of March. After that period, decisions will be made on a four-week rolling basis from the start of February — which is closer to the current system.

(Top photo: Ed Sykes/Getty Images)

Nancy Froston is The Athletic's Leeds United writer. She previously reported on the EFL covering the Championship, League One and League Two as well as a three year spell writing about Sheffield Wednesday. Follow Nancy on Twitter @nancyfroston