Football and Tv now go hand in hand. Like ebony and ivory. Together for ever in harmony. This wasn’t always the case and those read this blog who were born after 1992 – The year fitba’ was founded – meaning that they still have their own teeth and hair may find this hard to fathom but…….we only used to get a few live matches a year and it was a BIG occasion.
Cup final day was an event. Home internationals used to see house parties with loads of lager lovelies being strewed over paisley patterned carpets. World Cup’s were worshipped as you had a whole month of live games.
Now? You can watch Crawley battle it out wie Shrewsbury on a Monday if Corrie is particularly boring that night. All 8 Big Cup games at once? Nae bother, press the wee read button and make sure you have a viable direct debit.
The Others were in talks today. I’m sure they were discussing the Tv deal that we currently have. The live games in the William Hill Scottish Cup at the weekend showed the problem that the SPL and the Scottish game as a whole have.
Hearts v St Mirren. Great game, watched by no-one. Dundee United v Us. Fantastic crowd, noisy and colourful. Motherwell v Aberdeen. Decent crowd again providing noise and colour. Also…it was also a decent game.
While some would argue that Hearts v St Mirren was the best game of the weekend the other games provided the better spectacle for the casual watcher. They looked like big occasions while Tynecastle looked a like a game shoved to a 12:30 kick off for Tv.
How do you measure the success of your Tv deal? The money you earn or how many homes get to see your brand? We seem to be hung up on the money when we should be trying to ensure that as many people as possible see the product. We currently earn £13m a season from Sky/ESPN. This seasons last 32 of the Zooropa League (this is where we should be aiming) saw three teams from Portugal, four Dutch, three Belgian, two Greek and two Polish. Apart from the Portugese who have individual deals (which cover everywhere from Australia to Africa), all the rest are a collective. Ekstraklasa have a deal which doesn’t see them sell any rights outside Poland (it does incorporate Bet 365) while the Dutch deal see’s counties as rich and varied as Hungary, Sweden and India get the pleasure of PSV, Ajax and, eh, VVV Venlo. The Greek Superleague get’s 42m Euros a season, while the Jupiler League gets an incredible 45.7m Euros a season. Yes….45.7m a season. Our Tv deal is already $hit and that is with Celtic and R*ngers, clubs, whom I think dwarf anything in the Belgian League (and the Greek). So, if the fantastic happens – R*ngers going out the game – what’s to stop us wanting a new deal but one with different priorities? The SPL’s viewing figures are good. Games are split between between Sky Sports 1 & Sky Sports 4. They constantly make top 10 viewing figures even the games that don’t involve Us and Them. You have St.Johnstone v Aberdeen drawing 197,000 viewers a few weeks back and Hibs v Hearts 260,000. Celtic v Peterhead drew nearly 300,000. Motherwell v Killie in a bore 0-0 drew 64,000. Our ESPN figures see us either topping the charts (unless we are up against an EPL game) or easily top three. We always out strip the more expensively purchased Bundesliga, Serie A and Eredivisie. Yes, ESPN market share is smaller (compare the 260,000 to 87,000 for a Embra’ Derby) but we are one of ESPN’s top hitters. Remember also, Sky get the BIG SPL games. The Tv Deal needs to represent the maxim exposure we can get not just the best money. We need to work with companies that want to work with us and not just want us to fill air time. The SPL have to make sure the live games are spectacles that means full stadiums (something the Bundesliga does spectacularly well). Sky, ESPN, BBC, STV, Apple, Mircosoft, Google, Yous Tube actually, anyone that has the power to show live football on any format has to be offered the chance to get a slice. We need more partners not less. We need a loosing of the rules and more flexibility. The fans? Well, we will embrace Friday night, Saturday lunchtime/ nighttime, Sunday lunchtime/nighttime & Monday nights if it’s £10 entry just so that 5 folk in Japan can see the game. This R*ngers affair has caused nothing but negativity while our viewing figures are positive and we should be looking at this whole thing as a positive.
It’s about time clubs grouped fans and made them sit together to make an actual attempt at creating an atmosphere, will also look fuller for tv cameras if people are set out right, which may in turn get the numbers up as it looks like its decent to be at the game rather than watching from home. It would be easy enough to put the big tights over certain areas and if they have half a brain stick an advert on it!
The Bundesliga have the full stadiums to a tee. Lower the prices and as you say bunch fans together, block tickets for supporters buses (though this does happen at Celtic away games).
Any game that is moved for Tv should be a tenner to get in and weans for free.
We need access to the American market and now is the time!
Fox Soccer (our biggest soccer broadcast channel) just lost the MLS and have resorted to showing 1995 reruns of FA Cup matches.
The US is a huge market for Celtic waiting to be tapped. Soccer fans know who the hoops are but have no idea of the history or how massive the club is.
Why do Chelsea, Arsenal and Man City all have commercials in TV to sell their tops? Because their matches are on TV, three times a week in reruns!
Good bye to Tax Dodger FC. Good bye to the O.F. Good bye to the shackels that tie our beloved club to true bigotry.
Hello to a new dawn of mass media access in new markets and the “Sky type” money that comes with it.
HH!
The SPL should be on the phone to Fox. As has been pointed out we are only to fill dead air but that’s what we need to do to get exposure. If Fox have dead air we should volunteer to fill it.
Will reply later on. Some interesting ideas.
Big thanks for making me feel old. I remember when listening to games on the radio & even then if another game was being played that was a no-no especially on European nights.
Celtic fans seem to always get the raw end of things, the travelling to the other ends of the country for 12 o’clock kickoffs. Lets face it Scottish footy is just there to fill in any cracks in the scheduling. The stats of other countries was a bit of a shock i didn’t realise just how big the difference was. We need to be treated better.
Don’t know if anyone remembers 1988 a trip to Aberdeen & a 1-0 win then staying in the ground about an hour after the game celebrating as if we won the league (i might not have been an hour but it was a long time). That was one night i didn’t mind the journey.
Fingers crossed we get into CL group to avoid those bloody 6.05 kick offs in the EL.
There was a great article in When Saturday Comes regarding the changing face of football on tv. Rules and regulations were relaxed late 80’s (teams weren’t allowed to have sponsors if they were to be shown in the highlights programs or on the news!) and I remember the Friday Night match and the legendary Thomas league winning goal (as eulogized in Fever Pitch) was frowned upon when ITV asked to show it.
I canny remember radio restrictions but do vividly remember listening to us v Rapid in the kitchen on the wireless and the Partizan Belgrade game.
I can’t remember that game but I do remember the last game of the season mid nineties when the celtic support sang american pie for the whole second half.
The figures were a shock (it only took me half an hour in google to find out the facts and figures in this blog) and after watching some cracking Zooropa League ties tonight (Schalke were impressive, Sporting nearly threw it away and Udinese were out fought and disinterested) I feel that the Tv scheduling does nothing to enhance that competition.
It’s a damn good watch.