There was a large dose of suspense, drama, scenes of the absurb, wild jubilations as goals which moved teams from distress to joy for the winning sides and apprehension for those teams that required things to happen in other venues for them to shout eureka were some of the talking points of Sunday’s dusk of the football season in all the European leagues.
Not forgetting the fans who held their radio sets underneath their armpits following the proceedings of matches which would determine their fates at other venues, especially the Premier League was astounding. It had all the trappings of the end to end stuff peculiar to the beautiful game globally. The drama, thrills and frills on Saturday in England had the battles at the top – The winner of the league, the teams to make the last Europa Cup ticket between West Ham, Manchester United and Arsenal for the last qualifier to the Europa season.
At a stage, those at home hardly watched their clubs’ matches which were tense and opted to track other games by constantly changing the channels on television sets they watched to follow all the trends. But the one which almost caused a heart attack was the game where Liverpool was leading 2-1 and Manchester City also led 3-2 at that stage. Like thieves at night, Reds fans rose together like a parade to celebrate a purported ‘equalizer’ by Aston Villa, which turned out to be fake news.
There were also some exciting moments at the bottom of the league rung in England. Leeds relied on a 94th-minute goal to seal the Premier League ticket for another year, leaving Burnley fans sulking with some elder ones weeping while trying to wipe tears off the faces of their little ones. For Manchester United’s fans, there was nothing to cheer for as they consoled themselves with the Europa League earned from West Ham’s ill-luck, not as a result of their efforts. Imagine Manchester United being beaten by Crystal Palace on the last day. Not even the presence of their new manager could motivate the players to play better than they had done during the previous 37 weeks.
All the excitement among fans inside the different stadia came courtesy of superb television coverage, giving fans a second chance to evaluate disputed calls from match referees. Qualitative commentaries brought the games nearer to the fans, especially those at home who watched the matches using television sets or Manchester City and Liverpool’s supporters. The commentators introduced interesting and well-researched analyses drawing examples of what happened in 2011/12 when City’ won the league by beating QPR 3-2, with the winning goal coming off the lethal scoring boots of Sergio Aguero. Aguero outwitted former Nigeria defender Taiye Taiwo.
Footages of that game with all its drama kept fans of Liverpool on the high with the fanatics praying for other such crazy moments. Such a reversal of fortunes never came, leaving Manchester City to cart home the Premier League diadem for the fourth time in the last five years while Liverpool left to rue missing out on winning four trophies which the English media called quadruple. It must be stated here categorically that Manchester City was the best playing side this season scoring goals with aplomb.
While the games across Europe ran their minutes out, I took time off to monitor the streets outside. I was stunned to see empty streets. Virtually everyone was inside their houses. Those who sat out of joints and viewing centres to watch the matches quaffing their choice drinks blended with steaming hot African delicacies created their own scenes by celebrating goals scored against their adversaries.
This writer chose to spoil the fun by asking if such settings can be recreated in the Nigeria League? I wanted to know if the country has unbroken electricity supply? I asked again if Nigeria’s league had a calendar which the sponsors could use to plan their budgets for the season and beyond? I challenged my listeners to name five stadia in the country with lush green pitches reminiscent of what we saw during the matches which would elicit good soccer artistry from the players? There was also the suggestion of inadequate security around the country for such scenarios to be recreated in the domestic game. Our hearts sank when I raised the issue of Nigeria’s dwindling economy and its spiral effect on the going rates in the market against other nations’ currencies?
For the domestic league here to be in sync with what operates elsewhere, our calendar must tally with theirs. We must run the game as business such that basic things around the league are done transparently. This is one of the ways to attract businessmen and indeed the corporate world to associate their brands and services with the beautiful game here.
Sometimes, I wonder what our leagues organisers showcase to sponsors when there isn’t television and broadcast rights in the game? It is also disturbing that players and coaches’ welfare packages are neither here nor there. Match officials are at the mercy of hooligans and beasts who turn them to drums who they beat to stupor. These urchins walk free on the streets because the league organisers consider security as a joke. What excuse would these organisers give for hearse which are found at league venues instead of well equipped ambulances?
Perhaps, there is the need to remind our organisers about key parametres others have set which come as good dividends to effectively make the game beautiful. I have chosen three top leagues whose marketing layouts explain why their leagues run seamlessly. They are EPL, La Liga and Bundesliga.
According to Reuters: ”La Liga have confirmed a record breaking TV rights deal worth €4.95bn from the start of the 2022/23 season. The contract lasts for five seasons, up until the end of the 2026/27 campaign, for all televised top flight games in Spain and Andorra on a co-sharing deal between Movistar and DAZN.
”As part of the agreement, as confirmed via an official statement from La Liga, the two stations will each show five of the ten games from a given match day.
”Movistar will have a slightly stronger end of the deal as they are permitted to show all ten games from three match days per season. The deal represents a significant increase in the previous deal, signed with Telefonica in 2018 for an estimated €2.9bn, according to Reuters, with president Javier Tebas indicating his confidence of continued growth for Spanish football.
”Premier League TV money jumps past £10bn as international revenues exceed domestic.For the first time the overseas broadcast rights revenues for the Premier League will be higher than the domestic broadcast deal.
”Club bosses were told that the value of the international TV deals will be £5.3 billion in the 2022-25 cycle. Add that to the £5.1 billion domestic TV deal and the premier league will bank more than £10 billion in broadcast revenue over its next commercial cycle.
”The international TV revenue boost comes at a time when the broadcast rights market has generally been challenged by new forms of distribution taking audience away from traditional channels.
”The scale of the international increase in broadcast deals is even more remarkable considering that the international TV revenues for the 2013-16 cycle was £2.42 billion – a more than doubling of the revenue figure over the six intervening years.
”For the 2016-19 cycle the international TV revenue grew to £3.82 billion, and for the 2019-22 cycle to £4.27 billion.”
”The value of TV rights for the Bundesliga will drop slightly over the 2021-2025 period from 1.16 billion euros to 1.1 billion euros per season, German football league CEO Christian Seifert said.
‘’With a total figure of 4.4 billion euros, it is the first decrease in the value of a newly negotiated Bundesliga rights package since 2002, and none of the expected new players such as Amazon figure in the new deal, with current broadcasters Sky and DAZN sharing the matches.”