Given the captivation Filipinos have for football as of late, what exactly is the next step to get people to be more interested in football?
The key would be to educate them about the game. Best way to do that? Well, that is to get them to watch more football. The more they watch, the more they get to learn. Add to that, educating them about the basics of the game, and it would be a fine way of having the sport inculcated on their minds.
What are the advantages of football as a television sport? For starters, it has fixed time limit. The game is 90 minutes long. You will have to incorporate extra time, which will not exceed ten minutes if you combine both the first half and the second half. Halftime can be short, plus a quick pregame and postgame and voila, it's pretty much limited to a couple of hours. In addition, there is no interruptions, so companies will have to be creative with regards to advertising (thus the long pregame for the Azkal matches just to put in the commercials). Compare that to baseball, who game is at the crossroads due to its length. With basketball, there is the break in play for timeouts that might be excruciatingly long, especially if it is a highly marketable match-up (i.e. Ateneo vs La Salle)
The idea for this post stems from this recent plug of TV5, through its sports network AkTV (IBC-13):
They are to be showing Barclays English Premier League and Bundesliga games on free television. Perusing through their calendar, they are to commence with the Bayern Munich vs Borussia M'gladbach game on Monday, August 8.Their first EPL match is Liverpool vs Sunderland on Sunday, August 14.
Although it is not live, (the BM vs BM actually commences on August 7, 1130pm and LFC vs Sun actually starts 10pm of August 13) the idea of showing top quality football on local television (not just cable) is a great way of showcasing the sport to people who not necessarily can watch the event. ABS-CBN also did that with its football coverage (via Studio23). Now, if we can get local football to be shown live, is going to be the next step. Getting more people involved with the sport means people become more aware and people become smarter and better in tune with the game.
Now, if only ABSCBN deign watch how the EPL is broadcast, they would have an idea of what savvy football fans have gotten used to in terms of broadcast quality and what shots to do and camerawork and all that.
ReplyDeleteThat should be a great step.
Truly, basketball has been the Pinoys best game of all times. Who would ever thought that football would be Filipinos' next favorite game. As recent events last year, Philippines has been recognized for being one of the best players of football in the recent AFF Suzuki Cup 2010.
ReplyDeleteBasketball Gym Manila