ONE of my earliest sporting memories involves sneaking a radio under the bedcovers and listening to Derby County beat Real Madrid 4-1 in the then European Cup in 1975. The radio may have been crackling, but the memory of my team tearing apart the best in Europe remains remarkably clear. The European Cup has since been renamed the Champions League, but I’ve always had the same attraction for an event that has seen the best playing against the best on dramatic nights of football.
Part of the attraction of the games was obviously the time it was played in England. The dramatic midweek evening kick offs made the matches readily accessible to a European audience. Yet this year Uefa have for the first time thought about an Asian audience in terms of kick off times and scheduling.
The economic power of an Asian audience was in danger of being reduced for the Uefa competitions. 8.45pm kick offs in Europe means late night in India and much worse in South East Asia. It’s an interesting shift in the minds of the European administrators to see two key changes arrive in the way that Uefa has scheduled the matches for this season and the next 2 seasons.
The Uefa Champions League final has been moved to a weekend for the first time, partly on the basis that Asian audiences can stay up later on Saturday 22nd May than on the Wednesday work nights when the matches used to be played.
Similarly the Uefa Europa League, previously known as the Uefa Cup, has had kick off times brought earlier. The Group Stages from September will see 2 games being played back to back live on Ten Sports, with the earliest game being in the evening Indian time – giving an opportunity to show top live European football to a much bigger audience.
Even Real Madrid president Florentino Perez recently called for his Spanish La Liga matches to be brought to earlier kick off times to allow Asian fans to be able to see Ronaldo live on television. La Liga has traditionally missed out on the big Asian tv rights fees attracted by the Premier League, because Barcelona and Real Madrid have played all their games after midnight Indian time to suit Spanish domestic television.
The catalyst for this change of thinking has been the rights fees attracted by the Premier League in Asia, where the 5 different match kick off times every week has been ideal way for a South East Asian football fan to see games in prime time, and has developed a huge fan base in the territory.
This week, the Premier League will start their sales process in Asia for the next three seasons of television coverage (starting August 2010). They’ve already attracted huge money in the Middle East (Abu Dhabi television kicking out the incumbent Showtime), and they will now be licking their lips at the prospect of ESPN STAR Sports battling it out with the local cable and satellite companies in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong.
The increased income from Asian television helps drive the spending of the Premier League and increasingly changes the balance of the European game. That’s why it’s so important that the top Spanish, Italian and German sides don’t lose out on the Asian revenue streams that will allow them to compete with Man U, Chelsea and co.
Even sports like Speedway and Darts are now moving start times on Thursday and Friday night to give prime time audiences live sport in the UK. It’s a lesson that Indian sport would do well to learn from. One day internationals played in Sri Lanka on weekday daytime slots last week or Indian football league matches played on a weekday afternoon are wasted opportunities for broadcasters, sponsors and above all for fans.
So I look forward to being able to watch more European soccer at a decent time this season, starting with the Champions League play off games on the 17th and 18th August. There’s certain to be no shortage of drama or big names involved.
As for Derby County, well after beating Real Madrid 4-1 at home, they lost 5-1 in the return leg and haven’t played in the European Cup or Champions League since. Sometimes being able to watch live is not always an advantage.
The author is COO, Taj Television Ltd.
