More watch snooker than FA Cup

David Bond, Deputy Political Editor @djbond6873

13 April 2012

The Embassy World Snooker championship proved a bigger ratings winner for the BBC than the FA Cup Final.

The FA Cup drew its lowest viewing figures on Saturday when only 6.3 million tuned in to BBC1 to watch Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-0.

Audiences for the football peaked at 7.4 million, but 7.5 million last night watched Peter Ebdon's 18-17 victory over Stephen Hendry. The competition's climax just before midnight got a 60 per cent audience share.

Meanwhile, the Football Association said today it was "pleased" with the BBC's coverage of Saturday's FA Cup Final even though it attracted its lowest television audience on record.

Arsenal's 2-0 win over Chelsea was watched by just 6.3 million people on the BBC, incredibly 300,000 less than the audience which watched Tottenham play Chelsea in their Worthington Cup semi-final second leg on ITV1 this season.

The figures are a stark reflection on the popularity of the FA Cup Final - a game which once brought the country to a standstill.

And they are a major blow to the BBC which has made the competition a central part of its programming since paying the lions' share of a £400m three-year deal with Sky for the rights to cover live FA Cup and England matches from the start of this season.

FA spokesman Paul Newman dismissed the criticism and blamed Saturday's good weather and the bank holiday for the audience.

But he added it wouldn't have to compete with other bank holiday attractions next year when the FA Cup Final is restored to its position as the final match of the English season in the middle of May.

"We are very pleased because the final peaked at 7.4m which is pretty good for a hot Saturday in the middle of a bank holiday weekend," said Newman. "We won't have that problem next year as the FA Cup Final will back in its traditional position at the end of the season."

Despite the FA's comments today, the long-term decline of its showpiece competition will alarm it.

TV viewing figures for the Final have fallen alarmingly over the last five years. In 1997, the last time the BBC had the rights to the tournament, the Final was watched by 11.1m. Few games attract those sorts of figures these days but only European-Champions League games get close. As this season's top 10 TV audiences for live football shows Champions League matches on ITV1 are now the game's biggest TV draw with Manchester United in particular attracting the biggest audiences.

Only one domestic match figures in the table and that again involved United, this time in the FA Cup third round, against Aston Villa.

Liverpool also appear to be more popular than FA Cup winners Arsenal. Not one of the Londoners' live Champions League matches made it into the top 10.

The decline in football's popularity on TV has led to a crisis at the lower reaches of the game. The collapse of ITV Digital has left many Football League clubs facing a stark future and hundreds of players are likely to be out of work before next season.

But, according to a new programme on football's cash crisis, it's not only the smaller clubs which should be worried. Football: Against The Wall, fronted by Match of the Day presenter Alan Hansen and screened on BBC1 tonight, says that unless Premiership clubs tackle the problem of rising players' wages many will face serious problems.

Hansen said: "The problem is players wages but no one seems to have an answer.

"There's all this talk about wage caps but that will never work because clubs can't reach a collective agreement and you can't blame the players. What player will turn down an extra £5,000 a week just because they don't think it's for the good of the game? That's just human nature."

West Ham goalkeeper David James agrees. Instead of blaming players' greed he accuses the clubs of poor financial management.

He said: "Clubs are spending more money than they have got. It's all about keeping up with the Jones's.

"Manchester United have left everyone else behind. Not only is their football quality second to none but their merchandising and money making machine is in a league of its own."