There are 87 live games on British TV this week. Too much of a good thing? | Sean Ingle

Showing Premier League and European midweek matches live causes a dip in attendances that hits smaller clubs’ revenuesDuring the early 1980s, when English football began its slow-shuffle towards showing one live game a week, the Guardian’s venerable correspondent David Lacey warned of the potential consequences. In a column titled “The death threat of live television”, Lacey predicted: “Matches shown on the small screen, warts and all, far from stimulating interest,