Javier Tebas, president of the Professional Football League, pronounced some words that will remain engraved in our memories. The executive commented that the Kings League was a circus, to be asked again about the competition in six months to see who would remember it. In three months, the Kings League has brought more than 92,000 people to the Camp Nou with a full house -something that only a very few matches get for FC Barcelona- and has made it into the TOP 10 most watched matches in the history of Twitch. The circus seems to have a pull.
I pay for professional soccer that is broadcast privately, I am a subscriber to a team in the league for more than two decades uninterruptedly (and several more non-consecutive) and I have watched the entire Kings League. We can debate whether it is more show than soccer, whether many of the players are really good enough and that there are many aspects to improve. It’s a normal and, of course, logical debate, but if the league thinks it’s just a few streamers wanting to waste time, the league is shooting itself in the foot. And with a shotgun, if you will.
This movie is already well-worn in human history: someone denounces a piece of content and it ends up working. It’s the same as always. The Professional Football League should sit down and look at what the Kings League has done with a critical eye, without being moved by hatred or rivalry. It should look at how it has managed to get more than 10 million viewers every day watching regional footballers (literally) and that the final has filled a Spotify Camp Nou.
There are details that can already be extrapolated. For example, as matches are played on 7-a-side pitches, more things happen. You are not going to change the bases of 11-a-side soccer, we agree, but you can approve as soon as possible a series of rules that FIFA is already studying, such as shorter matches and on time (if the ball goes out or there is a foul, the game is stopped, as in futsal), less interruptions and theatrics because the game continues (in the Kings League there is no waiting for anyone and the ball is kicked off quickly), unlimited changes without stopping the game (the player runs in and out, as in futsal), more evenly matched teams because there are no financially doped clubs (a better economic distribution of television rights would be nice), etc.
All these factors make the Kings League attractive. Also, there is a very important advantage. If someone wants to watch professional soccer, the amount of money they have to pay is incredible. You can’t watch all 10 games every weekend for an affordable amount. It is more expensive than any streaming platform. Soccer has become prohibitively expensive, as have team cards and tickets. Soccer without fans is nothing. It dies. And if that’s not enough, you upload a goal or a dribble to social networks, and the governing body knocks down your content. Who’s going to share soccer if you risk having your account closed down? Instead, the Kings League embraces the meme, the good play or the dribble and tells the user: share whatever you want. It’s advertising. More people see it, more spread.
Florentino Pérez alluded to the fact that young people are no longer interested in soccer (and this served to promote the Superliga). I don’t think we need a Super League or that young people have lost interest, what is necessary is that the fields are filled again, that the kids can watch any team without complications on television. In the Kings League, any kid only has to look for the channel of the competition on Twitch and watch the whole day in open and without spending a euro. More than 10 million viewers in the cumulative, we repeat. Normal, of course.
La Liga has in its hand a golden opportunity to study the format and see what it can look at to apply it. To dismiss it to the background would only confirm this immobility that leads to nothing. You may think that it is not soccer, OK. That there are no bases, OK. But it has been a resounding success. Without discussion.
