Beginning on Sunday, March 13, Premier League fans in the USA and Canada will immediately notice a shift in the usual kickoff times. Matches are starting one hour later than the typical Premier League time slots in North America.
Yes, it has everything to do with the daylight savings shift that takes place in March. But don't get used to the new times: They won't be lasting for long.
The change is in fact due to a quirk of the international daylight savings schedules: Although the UK and most of Europe and North America observe daylight savings, they have different schedules for changing the clocks.
That has an impact on everyone operating on a schedule with the other continent: For two weeks, the time difference between the two regions is reduced by one hour. That applies to Premier League matches, Champions League matches and other European competitions that are consumed in North America.
MORE: Updated Premier League schedule in the USA
Why Premier League matches start one hour later
Countries in the Northern Hemisphere move clocks forward (and eventually back) to take advantage of the period of the year with extended daylight in the spring and summer. Countries make these changes at roughly the same time of year, but there's no fixed date agreed upon internationally.
In the USA and Canada, clocks are moved forward an hour on the second Sunday in March, while in the UK this change happens on the last Sunday in March.
With one region making the clock switch before the other, this leads to a two-week gap during which the time difference between regions is reduced by one hour. For example, the time difference between the UK and the Eastern timezone of the USA and Canada changes from five hours to four.
So for those two weeks, a match in the UK that normally kicks off at 8 p.m. locally will air at 4 p.m. ET in the afternoon in North America instead of the usual 3 p.m. ET slot.
Below are the Premier League matches impacted, though matches from several countries, including the European cup competitions, are also affected.
New Premier League kickoff times in March
There are only 14 Premier League matches in the two-week span that are impacted by the one-hour shift:
| Date | Match | Time (ET) |
| Sun, Mar 13 | Chelsea - Newcastle | 10 a.m. |
| Sun, Mar 13 | Everton - Wolves | 10 a.m. |
| Sun, Mar 13 | Leeds - Norwich | 10 a.m. |
| Sun, Mar 13 | Southampton - Watford | 10 a.m. |
| Sun, Mar 13 | West Ham - Aston Villa | 10 a.m. |
| Sun, Mar 13 | Arsenal - Leicester | 12:30 p.m. |
| Mon, Mar 14 | Crystal Palace - Man City | 4 p.m. |
| Wed, Mar 16 | Brighton - Tottenham | 3:30 p.m. |
| Wed, Mar 16 | Arsenal - Liverpool | 4:15 p.m. |
| Thur, Mar 17 | Everton - Newcastle | 3:45 p.m. |
| Fri, Mar 18 | Wolves - Leeds | 4 p.m. |
| Sat, Mar 19 | Aston Villa - Arsenal | 8:30 a.m. |
| Sun, Mar 20 | Leicester - Brentford | 10 a.m. |
| Sun, Mar 20 | Tottenham - West Ham | 12:30 p.m. |
When do Premier League match times go back to normal?
The unusual schedule will last for two weeks, until the UK and most of Europe join North America and similarly move their clocks forward on the last Sunday of March (March 27).
So by the time the April 2-4 slate of Premier League matches takes place, the five-hour time difference will be restored.
A similar scenario will unfold all over again later in the year when the two regions shift back their clocks on a different schedule at the end of daylight savings.
Daylight savings in the UK is scheduled to end on the last Sunday in October, while clocks in the USA will only go back on the first Sunday in November, meaning there will be one week where matches kick off an hour earlier than usual in North America.
Why are daylight saving schedules different?
Daylight savings was entertained as a concept for years, before first being introduced on a mass scale during the First World War. It was initially put in place by Germany as a means to conserve fuel, and that soon followed elsewhere.
During the 20th century, the use of daylight savings grew around the world, but in the USA it was only in the 1960s that a push began for a federal law on daylight savings, as the transportation industry struggled with daylight savings policies changing from state to state.
The initial U.S. law on daylight savings, the Uniform Time Act of 1966, saw the clocks move forward and back on a fixed schedule. The period of time for daylight savings has been extended numerous times since then to the dates we currently have.
So there is no single reason for the difference in schedules except that there has never been an international agreement on when daylight savings should begin or end, and each region came up with its own policy.