Armchair fans face Champions League choice

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11/08/2004, 9:48 AM
A face

Armchair fans face Champions League choice

Armchair fans face Champions League choice

August 11, 2004

With all 24,000 tickets for tonight�s Uefa Champions League clash between Deportivo La Coruna and Shelbourne selling out early on Tuesday, armchair soccer fans can still watch live television coverage from Lansdowne Road � but the Irish champions will have to compete with Manchester United for the attentions of the sitting room audience.

No more tickets are available for the highest-profile match in Shelbourne�s history, vindicating the club�s decision to move it from Tolka Park to Lansdowne.

Read more at www.eleven-a-side.com
11/08/2004, 10:16 AM
the 12 th man

did they officially make the pitch smaller ?(landsdowne)
11/08/2004, 10:22 AM
rerun

It's depressing to see that the capacity of Lansdowne Road is only 24,000 when
the temporary seats are taken out. I don't go to Ireland games, but I think
that if FIFA (or UEFA or whoever) hadn't of given the FAI a derogation for, it
seems, an indeterminate amount of time, we'd be heading towards getting a
stasium built all the quicker. FIFA suspending the rules only allows the FAI to drag their heels all the more.
11/08/2004, 10:42 AM
Hoops

Quote:

Originally Posted by the 12 th man

did they officially make the pitch smaller ?(landsdowne)

Ye, it was made a bit smaller, i think its aabout the size of Tolka now
11/08/2004, 1:00 PM
City Hero

Quote:

Originally Posted by rerun

It's depressing to see that the capacity of Lansdowne Road is only 24,000 when
the temporary seats are taken out. I don't go to Ireland games, but I think
that if FIFA (or UEFA or whoever) hadn't of given the FAI a derogation for, it
seems, an indeterminate amount of time, we'd be heading towards getting a
stasium built all the quicker. FIFA suspending the rules only allows the FAI to drag their heels all the more.

Anyone know the status of the new developement at Lansdowne. Is it waiting for planning approval or what. I would have thought that Bertie would have fast-tracked this process like he does for Rock bands playing at Slane. It must be more than 6 months ago they unveiled the plans.
11/08/2004, 11:45 PM
ShelsTim

A re-worked Landsdowne would have the fans too far away from the ground and apparently it's not archetechturally stable. In order words, they'll turn it into a bigger heap of **** than it is now. They should build a 60,000 seater in Athlone, how's that for de-centralisation?
12/08/2004, 10:02 AM
pete

Be interesting to see the viewing figures from last nights games.
12/08/2004, 10:48 AM
A face

.................................................. ..

Quote:

Originally Posted by pete

Be interesting to see the viewing figures from last nights games.

I was going to start a new thread on that ...... that would make interesting reading to say the least, considering that they weren't advertising the Shels game all over the place.

Is there anyway we can get our hands on them ??
12/08/2004, 10:54 AM
pete

RTE put the top 10 shows from their channels on Aertel page 369 i think but will be few week delay before displayed. Dunno how can get TV3 ratings.
12/08/2004, 11:58 AM
Macy

Quote:

Originally Posted by pete

RTE put the top 10 shows from their channels on Aertel page 369 i think but will be few week delay before displayed. Dunno how can get TV3 ratings.

Need someone in Advertising I'd imagine. There must be people on the boards who have those connections....
12/08/2004, 12:06 PM
WeAreRovers

I have the figures in front of me but they won't be released officially till this afternoon. What I can tell you is that RTE outperformed TV3 by almost 2 to 1 and the press release will be headed "Shelbourne beat Manchester United in Champions League" :)

KOH
12/08/2004, 12:10 PM
tiktok

Quote:

Originally Posted by WeAreRovers

I have the figures in front of me but they won't be released officially till this afternoon. What I can tell you is that RTE outperformed TV3 by almost 2 to 1 and the press release will be headed "Shelbourne beat Manchester United in Champions League" :)

KOH

Nice one WAR ;) :D
12/08/2004, 12:12 PM
Schumi

Quote:

Originally Posted by WeAreRovers

RTE outperformed TV3 by almost 2 to 1

Nice one! :)
12/08/2004, 12:17 PM
pete

Quote:

Originally Posted by WeAreRovers

"Shelbourne beat Manchester United in Champions League"

Excellent!

I'll speculate & say that'll get it onto top 5 Network 2 shows this week at say 190k viewers...

Ratings from couple of weeks ago...
12/08/2004, 12:34 PM
WeAreRovers

Lads - 317,000 for Shels v Depor. Fantastic figures.

KOH
12/08/2004, 1:09 PM
pete

Quote:

Originally Posted by WeAreRovers

Lads - 317,000 for Shels v Depor. Fantastic figures.

KOH

Staggering numbers! I'd be surprised if many CL games over the last few years on RTE beat that by much.
12/08/2004, 2:16 PM
brendy_�ire

Quote:

Originally Posted by WeAreRovers

Lads - 317,000 for Shels v Depor. Fantastic figures.

About twice as many people that tuned into the 2 SFC 4th Qualifying Round games.
That's Dublin-Roscommon and Tyrone-Leitrim. 2 games ye would expect to get big viewing figures for, with Dublin's massive population, and Tyrone's massive football following.

Looking at a figure like that for last night, surely RT� (and advertisers) must realise that there is a market for TV coverage of the eL.
12/08/2004, 3:03 PM
pete

Great figures although probably be foolish be able to carry those numbers off on consistent basis.

Wouldn't be much of a stretch to suggest that irish people sick of watching the same thing that been shown on foreign channels already & want something they can't see elsewhere...?
12/08/2004, 3:28 PM
Sheridan

Quote:

Originally Posted by WeAreRovers

Lads - 317,000 for Shels v Depor. Fantastic figures.

I don't know much about ratings, but wouldn't a big national team game normally pull in around 700,000+?

To be entirely frank, I'm very disappointed so many people watched ManU.
12/08/2004, 3:35 PM
pete

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheridan

I don't know much about ratings, but wouldn't a big national team game normally pull in around 700,000+?

Would have to be massive international game like last game of qualifier to pull those numbers in.

To put in perpective 317k in or around Irish rugby international figures & 190-230k be figures for RTE Premiership highlights. For most of the year anything above 200k gets into Network 2 top 10. Looking at anpother way i;d guess RTE would barely have got half those viewing figures for whatever crap movie was scheduled.
12/08/2004, 3:37 PM
tiktok

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheridan

I don't know much about ratings, but wouldn't a big national team game normally pull in around 700,000+?
To be entirely frank, I'm very disappointed so many people watched ManU.

Jesus, every silver lining has a cloud inside it. :rolleyes:

It wasn't a national team game, it had a Man Utd game as competition on TV3and it's already been mentioned in other threads that it was the game of choice in most pubs. 317,000 people tuned in, 24,000 attended,

IMO that's huge.
12/08/2004, 3:46 PM
Sheridan

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiktok

Jesus, every silver lining has a cloud inside it. :rolleyes:

It wasn't a national team game, it had a Man Utd game as competition on TV3and it's already been mentioned in other threads that it was the game of choice in most pubs. 317,000 people tuned in, 24,000 attended,

IMO that's huge.

Fair enough, I stand corrected. I'm the last person in the world who wants to detract from the significance of this. Looking through the Evening Herald last night, with four pages about Shels at the front, and four more at the back, in-depth profiles of every player, interviews with Jason Byrne's wife...felt like a parallel universe.

IIRC, though, televised domestic football has consistently outperformed foreign football in the ratings stakes when given the chance, which just makes RTE and TV3's apathy towards the eL seem even more baffling.
12/08/2004, 3:53 PM
tiktok

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheridan

IIRC, though, televised domestic football has consistently outperformed foreign football in the ratings stakes when given the chance, which just makes RTE and TV3's apathy towards the eL seem even more baffling.

Spot on, can the cost of sending an OB unit really not cover the advertising revenue that could be generated from a regular 250,000+ audience. :rolleyes:
12/08/2004, 4:18 PM
WeAreRovers

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheridan

IIRC, though, televised domestic football has consistently outperformed foreign football in the ratings stakes when given the chance, which just makes RTE and TV3's apathy towards the eL seem even more baffling.

In fairness, the FAI and the League are dire at marketing their "product" unlike the GAA and IRFU. Broadcasters look at audience share more than raw numbers (25% last night BTW, which is astonishing) and selling advertising is the be all and end all.

If the FAI had their sh�t together and had any balls they would take the eircom League rights off TV3 after last night. Showing a foreign team in adirect competition with our own Champions is not on and diminishes Shels achievements. I'm glad they got a kicking in the ratings.

And while I'm at it Eircom League Weekly does more harm than good for football in this country.

KOH
12/08/2004, 4:31 PM
brendy_�ire

Quote:

Originally Posted by WeAreRovers

And while I'm at it Eircom League Weekly does more harm than good for football in this country.

How so? .
12/08/2004, 4:39 PM
WeAreRovers

Quote:

Originally Posted by brendy_�ire

How so? .

Have you ever watched it? It's beyond awful and reinforces the casual observer's prejudices re Irish football. In other words it makes our League look crap and that does more harm than good.

Roll on Setanta's deal with the FAI.

KOH
12/08/2004, 4:40 PM
pete

Quote:

Originally Posted by WeAreRovers

Have you ever watched it? It's beyond awful and reinforces the casual observer's prejudices re Irish football. In other words it makes our League look crap and that does more harm than good.

Its pretty good for community tv though ;)
12/08/2004, 4:49 PM
WeAreRovers

Quote:

Originally Posted by pete

Its pretty good for community tv though ;)

:D

Nail on head!

KOH
12/08/2004, 5:47 PM
eoinh

Quote:

Originally Posted by WeAreRovers

Lads - 317,000 for Shels v Depor. Fantastic figures.

KOH

Excellent. For the away leg you would imagine the viewing figures to be even higher.

Two reasons - the ties involving english clubs are effectively over and the away leg for shels is practically a knock out cup tie game.
12/08/2004, 7:10 PM
ShelsTim

It was a once-off(at least until next year) against the Champions League semi finalists, it doesn't mean that the average joe will want to watch an eL game every week or two weeks. Showing the big, important games gets viewers and that's what the companies do. TV3 now are branching out a bit and showing some less important games, eg. Pats-Cork, Derry-Waterford. In my view, they should go for the bigger games all the time as they have the rights.

Stop moaning, EL Weekly is the best TV3 can do, there won't and shouldn't be any extra live games as a direct result of this European run.
12/08/2004, 7:18 PM
tiktok

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShelsTim

Pats-Cork, Derry-Waterford.

you must be a WUM. :rolleyes:

because of the interest the Dolan move would have raised, City-v-Pats on that day was the big game, regardless of whether it ended up being dour or not.

If Derry had lost they could have gone down straight instead of to the play-offs, the prospect of Derry being relegated made that a big game too.

I'm not arguing they did well for us last season, but on the weekends they chose to show games I thought they picked well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShelsTim

In my view, they should go for the bigger games all the time as they have the rights..

They're contracted to show two games a year, but no-one actually has the 'rights' to EL coverage. ERoll on Setanta.
12/08/2004, 7:48 PM
CuanaD

I actually think that TV3's eL weekly is a good show & shows the league in a good light - I just want lots more coverage. Therefore, roll on Setanta.
13/08/2004, 8:13 AM
liamon

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShelsTim

... there won't and shouldn't be any extra live games as a direct result of this European run.

Debateable. But surely these viewing figures call into question the decision by RTE/TV3 not to cover CCFC's european games this year. Without any major football on tv as competition, these would surely have pulled in decent viewing figures.
I know Nantes/NEC/Malmo are not as attractive as Deportivo to the average bar stool "fan", but many of them would still have tuned in.

Next year, I shall expect better!
13/08/2004, 1:35 PM
pete

Live League game should be cherry picked for th biggest games. I'm all for showing non dublin teams but no idea what possessed TV3 to show Waterford v Derry last year as was non event & useless crowd. Top the table teams should be rewarded with more tv coverage!
13/08/2004, 3:52 PM
brendy_�ire

Quote:

Originally Posted by pete

I'm all for showing non dublin teams but no idea what possessed TV3 to show Waterford v Derry last year as was non event & useless crowd. Top the table teams should be rewarded with more tv coverage!

Because it decided which team was to be relegated last season. Makes sense to show.

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