OVER TWO AND A HALF MILLION people watched Celtic’s stars impress as Scotland overcame Serbia on penalties. Sky Sports opted to show the game free of charge and they were rewarded with a huge support turning out for the Euro 2020 play-off final in Belgrade.
Callum McGregor & Ryan Christie were brilliant from the start whilst Leigh Griffiths came off the bench to score his penalty but it was ex-Celt David Marshall that earned the plaudits with a fine left handed save to stop Mitrovic and end 22-years of heartache.
According to The Scottish Sun, viewers flocked to watch the game making it the most watched European qualifier for next summer’s tournament.
Celtic meanwhile will be forced to watch their important game against Hibs at the weekend on a PPV stream.
Previous visits to Ross County & St Mirren have been on PPV for Celtic fans, and no doubt there will be more to follow as the intensity of this season increase the nearer we get to a conclusion. The issue stems from the spread of games across paid for channels which seems to have changed under the Covid restrictions on fans attending matches.
Pay-per-view streams will continue until fans are allowed back into the grounds; although given the likely amount of supplementary cash that teams have earned, there is likely to be a clamour to allow it to persist in the mid-term future as they will likely be suffering the effects of the pandemic for several years to come. Clubs will try and use the PPV stream to maximise the lose of revenue from match days.
