El Clasico
Madrid: For the first time, Spanish football’s showpiece event, El Clasico between giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, has been scheduled for a lunchtime kick- off ( 1200GMT) on Saturday as La Liga seeks to capture Asia’s attention and its cash.
“We are keen to provide our fans in Asia the opportunity to watch Real Madrid and Barcelona face off at a time that is convenient to them,” La Liga’s chief communications officer Joris Evers said.
With a potential television audience of 650 million people, according to La Liga, El Clasico is the most watched club match around the world thanks to its unique mixture of star protagonists and a fierce rivalry fostered over decades both on the field and off it by the distinct cultural differences between Catalonia and Madrid.
“It is the ideal shop window, the marquee match to show to people Spanish football,” Jose Maria Gay de Liebana, professor of economics at Barcelona University and an expert in Spanish football finances, said.
However, it is not just a boom in lucrative television rights that La Liga and its two biggest clubs are seeking with an early start this weekend, but a showcase for all of their lucrative sponsorship contracts.
Last year Barcelona signed a club record shirt sponsorship deal worth a minimum of 220 million euros over four years with Japanese online retailer Rakuten.
“They want to sell their products to international markets, above all in Asia,” added Gay de Liebana.
LA LIGA LAGGING
BEHIND
Such events are a sign of La Liga’s awareness of how the Spanish top flight lags behind England’s cash rich Premier League in the battle for Asian based fans.
The Premier League’s estimated $ 3.9 billion income from domestic and international TV rights a season dwarfs La Liga’s $ 1.9 billion revenue.
Moreover, whilst Asia is the Premier League’s biggest international market, it trails behind the Americas and the rest of Europe in La Liga’s rights deals.
“We have changed kickoff schedules so that they can be seen at reasonable times here in Asia and we will continue to take steps to ensure that this part of the world can enjoy La Liga as much as possible,” La Liga president Javier Tebas said.