William Duncan

The Business of Sports

Professor Dawn Hiscock

April 8th, 2015

The Effects of Social Media, Media, and Technology on European Soccer

Sports are a bonding agent for the entire world. With its youthful, energetic fan base,

sports have been able to keep up with modern trends while not losing sight of the

traditions that makes sports so enjoyable. European soccer, undoubtedly the

world’s most popular sport, commands a “relatively young, international fan base”

who are leading the charge into the shift into a technology-dominated world.

Innovations in social media, media, and technology are allowing soccer to be a

leader in the world’s plunge into the digital age.

Social media has grown at a rapid pace since the development of websites

such as MySpace and Facebook. The later has been the standard of success of today’s

social media channels, proving so with continued success, innovation, and growth.

The emergence of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram has presented athletes and

sporting brands a whole new, efficient, and inexpensive channel of advertisement.

European soccer, the most popular sport in the world, dominates the social media

world. Cristiano Ronaldo just eclipsed Shakira as the most popular Facebook page

ever, with over 102 million likes (https://www.facebook.com/Cristiano?fref=ts). FC

Barcelona, Real Madrid C.F. and Leo Messi also made the top 12 most popular pages,

each amassing more than 75 million likes. ("Statistics of the Top Facebook Pages.").

Social media has become an extremely effective and efficient mean of advertisement

for players, clubs, and leagues. F.C. Barcelona, for example, can post a picture on

Facebook announcing the time and place of their next match with no advertising

costs (https://www.facebook.com/fcbarcelona?fref=ts). With their success on the

field and their massive social media following, 81 million likes on Facebook alone,

F.C. Barcelona is able to promote their event to literally millions of people with just a

click of a button. There is no cost for posting a picture, so clubs who use social media

effectively take advantage of this and promote themselves as much as possible on

social media.

Clubs can use social media to close the gap between fan and club. With

videos, pictures, and posts, clubs can give the fan media a way to get to know the

team and club better, something that was impossible in the past unless one went to

a game and got a tour of the facilities. F.C. Barcelona shows pictures of practices and

videos of casual player interviews, which allow the fans to get to know the side of

the player off the field. The relationship, which clubs can foster with the fans by

effectively advertising through social media, promotes strong growth and raises

awareness for the club.

Clubs are not the only group that can use social media to advertise

themselves. Players have been using social media extremely effectively to promote

their brand. Fans crave to get to know their favorite players. Now, through the

different channels, they can. Players can use the different social media channels to

promote themselves by giving an inside look in their lives. Two players who do

excellent jobs at self-advertising are Neymar Jr. and Leo Messi, star forwards for F.C.

Barcelona. Neymar is exceptionally good at promoting himself through Instagram

(https://instagram.com/neymarjr/). Pictures and videos of he with his friends,

practices, and simply goofing around allow fans to get and like to know the

personality of Neymar. The more Neymar connects with his fans and allows them a

view into his life, the more fans will want to see him play or buy his jersey, which

makes him money. Leo Messi, known to be a quiet person, utilizes Facebook well to

promote his values. Photos of he with his family, teammates, and advertisements of

causes which he supports gives fans insight that he is a family man who is a normal

guy and actively cares and supports causes that matter to him. It is easy to like a

person like that, who is a good person, who is very much like the average guy, yet is

the best soccer player in the world. Messi does an excellent job in making videos of

him speaking directly to his fans (https://www.facebook.com/LeoMessi/videos).

While he may not be a talkative person, by speaking to his fans through videos, he

shows that he cares about his fans and increases his likeability, which leads to

people buying his jerseys and Adidas gear, making him more money.

Athletic brands also use players’ social media channels in a similar manor for

free advertisement. The two largest athletic brands, Nike and Adidas, fully take

advantage of sponsoring players as a method of advertisement. Brands will have

their sponsored players talk about and show their favorite new products from their

sponsored brand. Nike’s soccer poster-boy, Cristiano Ronaldo, is always promoting

Nike gear or wearing Nike gear in his pictures. Not only does this show the inside

life of one of the best soccer players in the world, but it is free advertisement for

Nike. When a fan sees Cristiano Ronaldo wearing a cool Nike hat or a new pair of

boots, the fan wants to be like Ronaldo, so he/she will buy the gear, making Nike

and Ronaldo money. Currently, Ronaldo’s profile picture on Facebook is he smiling

and pointing to his signature Nike boot. He is showing how excited he is to have his

own custom boot, and being a polarizing figure, convinces many to buy the boot for

Nike. Messi is a similar type of advertisement for Nike’s rival, Adidas. Messi also has

his own signature boot, which he promotes through pictures and videos for Adidas

as well. Sport, in particular European soccer, has taken advantage social media to

promote players, brands, and clubs. The free advertisement and ability to connect

with fans have fostered growth in all accounts.

Television and Internet are also having a profound effect on European soccer

and it’s growth worldwide. The Internet has allowed fans from around the world to

connect with their favorite teams. Other than the aforementioned social media

channels, Internet websites such as ESPN FC (http://www.espnfc.com) give

American fans the opportunity to keep track of European soccer from across the

Atlantic. Since American soccer is not on the same level as European soccer,

Americans might tend to follow European soccer more closely, which is great for

European soccer. Websites such as ESPNFC.com and UEFA.com allow the game to

expand to non-European countries, which only develops the game further, creating

more revenue and popularity for the sport.

Television has been a huge asset for the growth of sport. However, in the

past, European clubs have been able to individually negotiate television rights

rather than as a league. For the 2015-16 season, for example, F.C. Barcelona agreed

to a deal with Telefonica for a whopping 140 million Euros, compared to smaller

clubs in La Liga, who might receive 18 million Euros from television (Corrigan,

Dermot. "Barcelona Agree €140m Deal to Sell TV Rights - Report."). Due to this

discrepancy, larger clubs in leagues with no league-wide television contract, such as

F.C. Barcelona or Real Madrid in La Liga, are allowed to find their own deals. Being

the larger clubs, they are able to command a larger television contract, leaving the

smaller clubs to only be able to negotiate minuscule deals in comparison. This leads

to a huge imbalance in viewership in leagues like La Liga, which drastically restricts

the smaller clubs’ viewership and severely limits their opportunity for growth. On

the other hand, leagues with a more balanced approach, such as the Premier league,

offer more balanced revenue sharing, leading to better overall competition between

teams – La Liga has been dominated by Real Madrid and F.C. Barcelona for as long as

anyone can remember. The better overall competition in the Premier League

prompted Sky and BT Sport to pay a record 5.136 Billion Euros for television rights

in the 2015-16 season (Smith, Ben. "What Does Record TV Deal Mean?). This way,

lower tier clubs in the Premier League are able to bring in more revenue, allowing

them to purchase better players, keeping the balance of competition more equal

than their La Liga counterparts.

There are other television programs about European soccer as well. Barça

TV, for example, is a television channel owned by F.C. Barcelona. It specializes in all

things F.C. Barcelona: soccer, handball, basketball, etc. It cannot, however, broadcast

actual games. The channel must resort to showing highlights and discussion based

programing since the rights to televise games go to Telefonica. Barça TV is very

similar to ESPN in its programming, except it cannot broadcast full games. While

Barça TV is available to most people in Barcelona and Spain, Telefonica and the

channels that broadcast full games are not. People are forced to go to bars or

restaurants to view games, since many times, they cannot afford the subscription to

view games. This strategy does promote game attendance, however. According to

Statbunker.com, top-tier clubs F.C. Barcelona and Real Madrid are first and third

respectively in average game attendance of UEFA clubs as of the 2013-14 season,

each averaging over 70,000 fans per game (Home Attendance UEFA Champions

League 13/14.). With high attendance numbers, the powerful clubs are able to

collect more ticket revenue on top of the massive television rights deals that they

have negotiated.

Along with the growth of social media, television, and Internet in European

soccer, the sport has also seen technological development within the game. One

example of technology influencing the game is goal-line cameras installed in the goal

posts so that referees can more accurately judge what is a goal and what is not. The

technology, called “Hawk-Eye” and “GoalRef,” is quite expensive for teams,

reportedly costing about “$200,000 per stadium” (Bell, Jack. "Soccer to Adopt Goal-

Line Technology). The technology’s necessity is debated, however. UEFA President,

Michel Platini, is strongly against the new technology, being quoted in 2010 as

saying, “Eyes have always functioned and have always worked, so I am more in

favor of testing the experience of whether the referee there has seen whether the

ball went in or not, let's wait and see how the [five-official system] works before

seeing whether goal-line technology is important" (Press, Associated. "UEFA's

Michel Platini: Video Not needed). The technology was approved, nevertheless, and

it was implemented exponentially to arrive in time for the 2014 World Cup.

Disputed goals have raised the question if this technology is necessary. Of course,

there are traditionalists, like Michel Platini, and pro-innovation supporters, who are

in favor of new technology, in every sport. Whether or not the technology is able to

take a permanent place in soccer, such as instant replay has in the National Football

League or Major League Baseball, is up to the leaders of the game.

Ultimately, the growth of social media has led to athletes, clubs, and leagues

to be able to effectively increase advertisement efficiency by freely posting on media

channels. Social media allows the groups to connect with their fans and relate to

them. As the fans see more into their favorite player’s lives, they are more likely to

buy related products. Media, television and the Internet to be specific, has a direct

influence on competition within individual leagues. Revenue sharing and league-

wide television deals like the Premier League’s new 5 Billion Euro deal allows the

entire league to be more competitive and fan friendly, unlike La Liga, who allows

teams to individually negotiate television rights. Lastly, innovations in technology,

such as goal line cameras, are the source of controversy in the soccer world. The

integrity of the game is questioned when referees are not trusted to make calls on

their own. However, other major sporting leagues have trusted technology for

instant replay to make critical decisions, which is why soccer is likely to follow.

Works Cited

Bell, Jack. "Soccer to Adopt Goal-Line Technology." The New York Times. The New

York Times, 05 July 2012. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/06/sports/soccer/soccer-to-adopt-

goal-line-technology.html?_r=2>.

Corrigan, Dermot. "Barcelona Agree €140m Deal to Sell TV Rights - Report."

ESPNFC.com. N.p., 17 Feb. 2015. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

<http://www.espnfc.com/barcelona/story/2303144/barcelona-agree-

140m-euro-deal-to-sell-tv-rights-report>.

"Home Attendance UEFA Champions League 13/14." Statbunker Football. N.p., n.d.

Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

<http://www.statbunker.com/competitions/HomeAttendance?

comp_id=468>.

Press, Associated. "UEFA's Michel Platini: Video Not needed." ESPN. ESPN Internet

Ventures, n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

<http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/5499700/european-

soccer-president-michel-platini-says-video-technology-not-needed>.

Smith, Ben. "What Does Record TV Deal Mean?" BBC Sport. N.p., 11 Feb. 2015. Web.

08 Apr. 2015. <http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31386483>.

"Statistics of the Top Facebook Pages." Socialbakers.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2015.

<http://www.socialbakers.com/statistics/facebook/pages/total/>.