Calls for Scotland's Football Matches to be on Free-to-view Television

That the Parliament calls for broadcasters to work together with the authorities and regulators to ensure that more football fans are able to watch Scotland’s football matches on television, including the men's and the women's national team, without having to pay additional fees; believes that to encourage the younger generation to be inspired by the national sportsmen and women, they must be able to see them in action; considers that too often many of the sporting events are too expensive for families to attend or require costly subscriptions despite people already paying licence fees; believes that Scotland is one of the few nations in the world that is unable to watch the national teams on terrestrial TV, yet people are often able to have free access to other nations’ football matches, including England and Wales, despite being told, it understands, that there is no budget for Scotland games; understands that most European countries already ensure that their national games are free-to-view; highlights the work already done on this by The Hampden Collection and other Scotland supporters, who, it understands, successfully campaigned for Scotland’s Euro 2020 play-off final match to be screened free-to-air, a game that at its peak was reportedly viewed by 2.6 million viewers and helped lift the spirits of the nation during the COVID-19 lockdown, and hopes that the Parliament will support the Scottish Football Association, broadcasters and campaigners to work together in achieving this goal via sharing rights, additional funding or protecting international football matches and the national game as "crown jewel" sporting events.