Premier League Calendar - Understanding how the season works

The PL kicks off the weekend of August 11, 2023 and runs through Survival Sunday, when all 20 teams play simultaneously on May 19, 2024.

The first thing to understand…

The PL is a loooong season, a marathon not a sprint. All 20 clubs play a home and away game against each other - 38 matches per club. WHEN matches will be played has been determined (“matchday” 1, 2…38), as well as each matchup. Specific dates and times of each match will be set throughout the season. Unlike the NFL traditionally, the PL flexes many of their matches. For example, we know there will be matches the weekend of December 9, but who plays Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday - and when they play - is not yet finalized.

In addition, European competitions like the Champions League and International Breaks(when players go play for their country, like the USMNT) run in parallel to the season. This is a heavy load on players, and is a key area of focus for managers.

Side note on Load management

The average PL player runs 10.14km per match (more than 6 miles), and the Top players on the top clubs average 71 matches per year. As a result, clubs invest significantly in trying to figure out how to keep their best players fit for the stretch run. Fitness wearable technology has made every Gaffer a data analyst, tracking a players every move.

If you were to start a wearable fitness company, what would you name it? Fortunately, Seinfeld has already given us two options…..

Bro versus Mansier - watch this 2 min clip

These companies decided against either, and went with Catapult, Statsports, and ZebraTech (who partners with the NFL).

Back to this year’s schedule…..

PL # = Premier League Match Day # (1-38).

Europe = Champions League, Europa League, Europa Conference matches.

Europe Group = 32 teams broken into 8 groups of 4, with winner and second place advancing to sweet 16.

Europe KO = Knock out stage, sweet 16 & elite 8.

International Break = Players go play for their country if they’re on a team, if not they get a break. For Europe this year, teams will be qualifying for the EUFA Championships (world cup of Europe).

Transfer Window = Clubs can sell and buy players.

Each date is a rough estimate, as matches get scheduled around that date.

Teams with Europe competitions may have a PL match rescheduled during mid-week openings later in the season.

How to watch

You can watch the PL with your basic cable or streaming service on NBC & USA Network. If you are looking for more, see where you can stream all the matches and leagues below.

Premier League

NBC & USA Network will show some of the games each Matchday, with the remaining matches streaming on Peacock ($6/mo).

Champions League, Europa League, Europa Conference

Paramount+ ($6/mo) streams every game, with some games also airing on CBS and CBS SN

Other Leagues

The English Championship (Level 2 - the league below the PL) can be streamed on ESPN+.

Wrexham Fan? Good news. ESPN+ has the rights to the EFL, and while they normally don’t televise many League Two (Level 4) matches you can assume with the popularity of Wrexham they will be featured. If you haven’t seen it yet, go watch Welcome to Wrexham on FX. Season 2 will be coming out later this year.

Christian Pulisic and AC Milan will be on Paramount+ ($6/mo), who has the rights to the Italian league Serie A. Tim Weah and Weston McKennie (Juventus) will also be playing in Serie A.

Bundesliga (Germany) will be on ESPN and ESPN+ where you can watch Americans Gio Reyna (Dortmund), Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig), Brenden Aaronson and Jordan Pefok (Berlin), Paxten Aaronson (Frankfurt).

La Liga (Spain) will be on ESPN+. You can see Yunus Musah (Valencia), Sergino Dest (Barcelona).