There has been talk for years of a European League; the Champion’s League extended to season length. Everyone else would essentially become feeder clubs.

These are very worrying times for all spectator sports, football being just one of them. I understand why the government have made this decision. You can’t be telling people they can’t gather in groups of more than six and then let thousands of fans in a stadium, the public just wouldn’t stand for it but it wouldn’t surprise me if the league had to be restructured maybe going back to a third division north and south again, maybe even all the teams below the championship having to go part-time.

There are a couple of issues. One would be the existing rights contracts. So there is already a full schedule of matches for Sky Sports Subscribers, plus BT sport, plus NBC, Bein sports etc. Why would any of these people want to pay more? They're probably paying 20-40 a month as it is, could be more.
This leads to the other issue: price, especially when balanced with demand. You say 26 thousand would buy the Palace season ticket, perhaps more. Maybe you're right. However, I would think there wouldn't be that many who would pay the full price of a season ticket in one go to watch Palace - or pretty much any team. The price would have to be cheaper. I would maybe pay 20 a month to watch every Palace game on TV. Perhaps people would pay more?
However, even if say 30,000 people paid 20 a month for Palace and the club was given half (less seems more likely, considering the amount of TV money we already get). It's still 600,000 a month overall, gross before anything else. That's nowhere near enough to do more than pay a few player's wages. It nowhere near replaces lost matchdays income.
Man U and Liverpool etc, Real Madrid: those are the kind of teams that could perhaps get a million, or hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Again, doing nothing much to help a situation. In fact, accelerating a breakaway of 'elite' [glory hunting fairweather] clubs across Europe.
I just wonder how much people would pay and how many would subscribe to teams like Barnsley, for example? I don't think it would help much but it isn't a bad idea. Some kind of virtual ticket - run by the clubs themselves - may get the clubs a bit more money than a Sky deal? But it still has the problem of existing rights.

Edited by ASCPFC (23 Sep 2020 8.14pm)

Red and Blue Army!

I could see Sky and BT etc being cut out completely one day as really with the internet the clubs could stream their own games along with their other content that’s already going out, they would earn more that way. BUT it would not help the vast majority of the lower leagues as younger fans would slowly gravitate towards the big boys and the divide would grow even across the premier league the earning difference would be huge and unassailable.

Football is a crazy business as the players are taking so much from the clubs they play for in persuit of the premier league, it’s led to supporters often sitting in out dated stadia with crap facilities and paying good money for the privilege.
Football could well do with a rebalancing of the finances, I can’t imagine any money coming from the government so it could well be a messy painful time

I think something like that might happen.
Premier league clubs agree a package but some of that will come from the players.
that way the government wouldn't feel so bad about giving some money to the clubs further down the ladder.

I suppose it means that at least you can go to the pub to watch the game and see the end result before you get kicked out.

A stairway to Heaven and a Highway to Hell give some indication of expected traffic numbers