What are the Implications of Early La Liga Kickoffs?

What are the Implications of Early La Liga Kickoffs?

What are the Implications of Early La Liga Kickoffs?

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By Tanuj Lakhina, writing from Delhi

Real Madrid played Osasuna at 12 pm (Madrid time) last Sunday at the Santiago Bernabeu. It was an easy and convincing win for the Merengues as they beat their opponents 7-1 with Cristiano Ronaldo bagging yet another hat-trick.

The early kickoff is a concept introduced by Liga de Futbol Profesional (LFP) to compete with the English Premier League and gain some more eyeballs in South East Asia and far East Asia, where the Premiership attracts far more attention. Rayo Vallecano played host to Espanyol in the first week at 12 PM, Betis hosted Vallecano at 12 PM the next week, Gijon played Bilbao at 12 PM on 30th October and now one of the big clubs played early on.

While this early kick off may have been a problem for viewers and fans in North America for whom it would have been early morning, it was the perfect setting for fans in countries like Indonesia, China and Japan who otherwise are accustomed to setting alarms for ungodly hours in the middle of the night to see their favourite teams and stars in action.

If numbers after the Real Madrid game are any indication, then the early kickoff proved to be a huge success in the Asian countries. China’s CCTV5 reports 120 million viewers watched the game live on Television in China, while a further 100 million saw it online on zhibo8.com. Spanish news agency EFE quotes Beijing alone accounting for 60 million viewers as per Beijing TV. It’s worth noting that Beijing’s population was recorded as 19 million in early 2010.

Affan Ferdian, a Real Madrid fan in Indonesia explained the increase in numbers of fans in their local bar to watch Ronaldo and co. play. He said, “Usually people in Indonesia just watch the Real Madrid or Barcelona games because it’s a very late start in Indonesia. We have to watch the game at 1am - 4am. Do people get up to watch other teams like Valencia, Athletic Bilbao etc? I doubt it.

When asked whether La Liga can compete with English Premier League for the same time slot, he said, “We will watch football if there is a great player, a big team, and when it’s airing on television here. Valencia vs Levante / Atletico Madrid vs Real Zaragoza at 2 AM? We would all choose to sleep. Real Madrid vs Barcelona at 4AM? Everyone will watch, for sure.“ 

Another Real Madrid fan in Indonesia – Meithy Tamara, also vouched for early kickoffs to stay. She said, “I think, early kickoff is suitable for people in my region because we don’t need to wake up at midnight, and it’s quite effective for us.” She, however, remained sceptical about La Liga having the capability just yet to take the top slot from English Premier League. “That depends on the teams playing, for the example, if Manchester United is playing against Arsenal, it will gain more audience because both teams have a huge following here and there is a bigger expectation.

If number of spectators in the Bernabeu are any indication then the noon kickoff didn’t really make much of a difference in Spain and to the travelling fans, but it will surely make an impact in TV audience and the much talked about TV revenue for Spanish clubs. The question is, will this added TV revenue go to clubs other than Real Madrid and FC Barcelona or will these two get richer in the process?

If LFP does decide to stick to the current TV revenue format and divides the added money between the “smaller” clubs then they would benefit from this early kick off. However, if the early kick off doesn’t attract much attention when smaller teams play then there won’t be much of a significant addition to TV revenue to help the clubs.

Discussions are also on to have El Clasico (Real Madrid v Barcelona on 11 December) as an early kickoff to suit the Chinese market. Early kickoffs don’t have supporter in Barcelona. Sandro Rosell, Barcelona president, told Spanish daily AS, “I do not like to play at 12pm because I am a football traditionalist. Camp Nou should only host matches in the afternoon or evening, but we will be supportive and will comply with the law, even if I do not like it.

What are your thoughts on the early kick off of La Liga and whether it can sustain to compete with the prowess of English Premier League’s dominance in far East?

You can read more of Tanuj’s writing here. Comments below please.