Sky Sports announced a new broadcast agreement earlier this week, with a couple of elements that will be relevant to Arsenal fans.

  • Sky Sports secures a new £935m deal with the EFL, benefiting Arsenal fans with increased access to Carabao Cup and EFL Trophy matches.
  • All 93 Carabao Cup matches will be shown on Sky, avoiding situations where Arsenal’s matches aren’t available for viewing.
  • EFL Trophy matches, including Arsenal u21s games, will be broadcast on Sky Sports, offering fans better access to these matches.
Arsenal's Spanish manager Mikel Arteta speaks during a pre-match interview with Sky Sports ahaead of the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Arsenal at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on September 28, 2020. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths / POOL / AFP)
Arsenal’s Spanish manager Mikel Arteta speaks during a pre-match interview with Sky Sports ahead of the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Arsenal at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on September 28, 2020. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths / POOL / AFP)

Sky Sports’ new £935m deal with the EFL is largely focused around lower-league football, with the broadcast giant securing the rights to hundreds of games in the Championship, League One, and League Two from 2024/25 to 2028/29.

But there were also a couple of changes relevant for Arsenal and their supporters.

For a start, all 93 Carabao Cup matches will now be shown on Sky. This is a positive change, as it will avoid the scenario that we’ve had on multiple occasions in recent seasons where Arsenal’s match isn’t being shown anywhere on any channel.

Many Arsenal fans had to tune into social media streams by fans in the crowd to watch the Gunners play Brighton this season.

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Secondly, the Saturday 3pm blackout is set to stay, at least for the remainder of this deal.

You can make your own mind up on whether that’s a good or a bad thing. For anyone who wants to watch all of Arsenal’s games and can’t get match tickets, it’s probably not great, and illegal streams will likely continue to thrive.

Nathan Butler-Oyedeji with the EFL Trophy Player of the Group Stage award (Photo via Arsenal Academy on Twitter)
Nathan Butler-Oyedeji with the EFL Trophy Player of the Group Stage award (Photo via Arsenal Academy on Twitter)

Finally, all EFL Trophy matches will now be broadcast on Sky Sports. The Arsenal u21s have competed in the EFL Trophy in recent seasons, and that will likely continue in the coming years.

For those that follow the u21s and have a Sky subscription, this is likely another positive, as the current system involved shelling out £10 to iFollow for every individual game.

As long as these new games are included in the existing subscription, fans will no longer need to pay extra for an additional service to see the Arsenal u21s in action in the competitio

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