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I wonder what the RTE sports mob thought of the move by Virgin?
Are they bothered really or were their hands tied financially!
Maybe RTE Head of Sport Declan McBennett & RTE Director of Content (Whatever that means?) Jim Jennings were more concerned with their real interest like the Rogby & GAA!
With the broad welcome for the VM announcement, should more clubs possibly show their approval by playing games on a different night where possible? There should be the extra positive return of a highlights programme as part of an agreeable solution.
Sligo and Longford play on Saturday nights, so you could use the data from LOI.TV to see if it effects viewership.
I know for myself, if I was at home, I would stick on some Longford games.
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Friday night is great, but if you set up a game on a Sunday (lets say), you could also have the benefit of making a game a weekend "an event", and promoting it as such. To go beyond that, League and TV could work together to schedule fixtures to have big games spread evenly (Derbys for example).
There is a gap in the calender on Sunday evenings in Ireland, as EPL and GAA are normally finished by early evening. Sporting wise it is currently occupied by the NFL (which is why I think it has grown in popularity here).
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What I like personally with the Virgin deal is that it is somebody that wants to actually show the league. Compared to Virgin and Setanta Sports before, always felt RTE never captured the spirit or 'the bite' of the league, and made it feel more like a chore to watch, even if the play on the park was good. There was always a 'dragged dad' vibe with RTE.
Not to get too poetic, but LOI was an always excellent watch that has a beauty in its raw-ness, and wishing it was more refined (and corporate friendly) only misses its uniqueness.
Sometimes you just have to accept LOI for what it is, and buy into it.
Even if the deal brings no money directly to clubs, it still feels like an opportunity for clubs and the FAI to make money by other means. I'm thinking along the lines of a centralised advertising deal to attract big brands – national TV exposure every week is valuable, and, no matter what game is on, there’s their ad on the hoardings. I know local advertisers can be massively supportive of clubs and don’t always do it for the value they get from their spend, but, for example, a multinational car manufacturer would bring in more for redistribution around the league on a multi-season contract than all the local dealerships' advertising combined, even if an FAI ‘administration’ slice came off the top. Digital advertising hoardings in all grounds would go a long way to making it attractive. Back of the envelope calculation - 36 games, 100 minutes screen time (regulation and additional time) is 200 30-second hoarding changes per game, more with replays during analysis. Say six elite level advertisers, that's about 35 changes each per game or about 1,250 per season. Audience size is the issue, but VM being commercial are going to want to maximise it so they can charge more themselves during the ad breaks.
I wonder as well if the deal might tempt more clubs to sell naming rights to grounds, or for more than they’re currently worth.
This TV deal could open up new options for advertisements to all the Premier clubs.
It will create more possibilities for potential sponsors who were undecided on funding a club, but with the exposure now available, it may persuade their decision.
It will compliment all the other social media options for clubs when they are involved in a match coverage.
It can only be a positive deal going forward for the LOI!
If it opens up options for Premier clubs, they might want to talk about possibly moving the rest of the Premier games to another night where possible. If VM were in favour of the other games on another evening, can VM then also offer a highlights programme on another evening to give all clubs air time?Quote:
Originally Posted by nr637
Rovers crowds are on average about 3k less on nights that arent friday.
It would be crazy for us to switch.
At the end of the day if we cant build an audience on a regilar Friday night slot without depending on the 20k+ people attending the other Premier league matches on any particular night it isnt going to work for Virgin.
It's great to be posting about TV deals for the LOI and the possible effect on attendances at other games!
How times have changed with our domestic game!
The Greatest Little League in the World, Id say!
First 5 tv games of the season:
Virgin Media Two:
Shelbourne vs Derry City - Friday, February 14th
Bohemian FC vs Shamrock Rovers – Sunday, February 16th
Galway United vs St Patrick's Athletic - Friday, February 21st
Shelbourne vs Shamrock Rovers - Friday, February 28th
Waterford vs Cork City - Monday, March 3rd
great to see they're going with a double-header for the first weekend. They can skip some Monday night in August instead
Looks like Virgin are going to arrange the games to suit. Not all the coverage will be on Friday nights. I reckon some of the games will be moved to other dates to suit, as the season moves on. Looking forward to having an LOI live game on during the Rogby Internationals and the GAA season when RTE would takE a dive as if the soccer was in hibernation during these times! :)
You could be right but the two games scheduled that arent Fridays were always going to be on the Sunday and Monday..the Rovers game in the Aviva is a standalone fixture and the Waterford v Cork game is on a double header weekednwhen everyone is playing on the monday anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by nr637
I hope they show a fixture on the Friday of that Waterford game as well (the next Friday) as the certainty of a game every Friday in a regular slot is important to build a viewership imo
Looks like they're happy to carry a mixture of teams and to move around the country a bit, which is great to see. That was always a valid criticism of RTE.Quote:
Originally Posted by joey B
Will be interesting to see how they present games on the day, and how much pre-game effort they put into promoting the fixtures across their network.
Kerry v Finn Harps - Friday, February 14thQuote:
Originally Posted by joey B
Cobh Ramblers v Kerry - Friday, February 21st
Kerry v Dundalk - Friday, February 28th
Priorities!
Isn't it great that we now have a dedicated thread discussing a proper LOI TV deal!
Just think of all fun it will create for posts & duscussions as it will cover the Premier League 36 game format, no breaks due to RTE's poor coverage and excuses!
?
New Radio deal!
Off The Ball have signed up to broadcast 30 premier division games on radio
https://x.com/offtheball/status/1888...163733424?s=46
This is actually great news. Shows how much the interest in the league is growing. I don't think anyone is going to say Radio is the next big thing but there are a lot of places that have radio playing constantly and channels like newstalk, radio 1 are the default because they don't play music and so are deemed inoffensive.Quote:
Originally Posted by 2 Year Contract
What is the frequency for this Radio show for all those who don't know please! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by 2 Year Contract
It’s on Newstalk. 106-108Quote:
Originally Posted by nr637
I watched the game om VM 2, and despite Mr negativity Kerr I listened to what he had to say. I was hoping he would be positive about the league, the new season and a record breaking crowd. But no he remembers crowds as big. I'm now of to slit my wrists, he is dreadful, the dullest fckure ever to be on tv and a bad advert for a league on the rise. They need to get someone who is positive and upbeat.