Pro League turns off the lights: start of experimentation

Pro League’s idea to limit costs

In the aftermath of the meeting of the Lega Pro Board of Governors, which analyzed the problems of third-league clubs in containing the costs of running stadiums and sports centers due to increases in electricity and gas costs, the body that brings together Serie C clubs announced the start of experimentation related to the possibility for the home team to request to play at 12:30 p.m. on Sundays.

“The Governing Council has prepared the implementation of the schedule change project on the basis of a fair interrelationship between saving energy costs and a desirable increase in spectators at the stadium,” reads a note released Saturday by the Lega Pro. “To this end, it was decided to start an experimental phase to verify how these two factors can be governed: cost reduction and fan attendance. Already on these league days some clubs have asked, and their requests have been granted, to play at 12:30 p.m. on Sundays (not on Saturdays, a working day). Ultimately, it is stipulated that clubs playing home matches will have the option of bringing forward the match itself to 12:30 p.m. Already, 8:30 p.m. is not played unless the club has knowledge of an extraordinary attendance at the match. In the choices, the fans should always be placed first.”

“It is hoped that the clubs that play home matches will choose to experiment with the Sunday 12:30 p.m. time, so that, at the end, we will have concrete data on which to base future choices,” the Lega Pro contact persons say at the conclusion of the statement.