Both the Saints and Northampton Town FC have home games scheduled for that afternoon. Previous experience has shown that when this happens there are long traffic delays for supporters of both clubs and the general public in the areas surrounding Franklin’s Gardens and Sixfields, particularly after the matches have finished.
The vast majority of the Saints’ home matches have their kick off times set by the various TV broadcast partners of Premiership Rugby and European Professional Club Rugby. However the game against Newcastle is not being televised live, which has given the Saints the ability to move the kick off by an hour.
The staggered kick off and end times of the two matches will spread the impact of over 15,000 people leaving the two stadiums, meaning that supporters will be able to get home quicker than they would otherwise have had the games started at the same time.
“Our successes over the past few years mean that we are a popular team for our TV partners, who choose the kick off times for the matches they broadcast,” said Saints chief executive Allan Robson. “This in turn restricts us when it comes to moving kick off times on days that clash with Northampton Town FC games.
“However our home LV= Cup game against Newcastle is one of those rare times when we are not on live TV, which has allowed us to move the kick off time by an hour to reduce the impact on post-match traffic congestion supporters and the general public alike, and enable everyone to have a quicker journey home.
“We appreciate that many of our supporters will prefer us to kick off at 3pm, but we hope that they can understand why the move has been made on this occasion.”
Tickets already purchased for the game will remain valid for the amended kick off time.
The Saints has also confirmed that the home Aviva Premiership Round 7 home game against Exeter Chiefs has been brought forward to Friday, November 14th.
BT Sport has chosen its TV games for that round, and with the Saints game not included among those that will be broadcast that weekend, the club’s management has brought it forward to 7:45pm on Friday night to give supporters the opportunity to watch both the important game against the Chiefs and England’s home Autumn International against South Africa.
Tickets are on sale now for the Newcastle game at www.northamptonsaints.co.uk/buytickets
Should Season Ticket Holders not be able to make either game they can re-sell their ticket using the Saints’ partnership with StubHub. More information and instructions for how to do this can be found at www.northamptonsaints.co.uk/stubhub
Another change confirmed is the LV= Cup Round 2 away game at the Scarlets, which will now be played at 7:30pm on Friday, November 7th.
