Could energy crisis force MK Dons and others to kick off earlier?

Spiralling energy bills and the cost of living crisis could prompt football clubs into discussions about earlier kick-off times, MK Dons chairman Pete Winkelman has suggested.

Energy bills at Stadium MK cost around £2 million per year, and with costs increasing, the club is having to rethink how and when they use everything.

Although new LED floodlights were installed for the Women’s European Championship matches in the summer, the existing floodlights are ‘ten times less efficient’ according to Winkelman.

With the nights now drawing in, and the cost of keeping the lights spiralling, the Dons chairman believes football needs to consider changing the traditional 3pm kick-off time to allow clubs to play without having to turn on floodlights.

“It's a really big debate we're going to have to have, and football will have to be on the front foot to see what we can do to mitigate,” he said.

“There are lots of things we can do, not using floodlights for example. The new ones are so bright, but the older ones are using 10 times as much power.

“We're doing everything we can to look at the basics, and that comes down to not using the power. So everything that can be turned off, we're turning off.”