I
cannot for the life of me understand the poor attendance or come to terms with
this sinking trend all too familiar on Premier Soccer League match-day.
Last
Friday the beginning of the 2012/13 season was supposed to herald a new brave
era. So much optimism when the Premier Soccer League Chairman Irvin Khoza
announced the league will be divided into four quarters with winner of each
quarter pocketing 1.5-million.
Speaking
at the launch of the new season, Khoza said there was no doubt that the
premiership has become a competitive league. Yes that is so true. But there is
also no doubt that empty seats at the stadiums leave us chocking with
disappointment.
The
defending champions, Orlando Pirates kicked off their campaign against Golden
Arrows and one will think that the fans will come out in numbers to support
their team but as usual the Orlando Stadium was half empty.
Football on
Television
Since
SuperSport started televising Premier Soccer League, there is so much football
on our screens and fans can easily follow their teams instead of going into the
stadiums. I can spend less on TV and follow my team while sitting at home with
these endless soccer shows on television.
Technological
advancements have seen the introduction of DSTV mobile which means at not more
than R50 a month I can follow my team at even less price. It is for this reason
that, previously out of 380 Premier League matches only 138 are shown in the
UK, so that fans fill up the stadiums.
Less concern from the
clubs
Gate
takings are supposed to be a great source of income and clubs in Europe look
forward to profit on match day revenue but this isn’t the case back here at
home.
PSL
clubs seem to be dragging their feet when it comes to marketing themselves, so
that they are able to bring in more fans to the stadium. We only get to see big
crowds on big matches that do not require so much effort to sell them to the
fans.
In
this manner, logic will suggest that clubs are making more money from TV which
seems to be outweighing gate takings. We can only speculate that even though
the stadiums are empty on match day, clubs are more than happy with the money
they generate from selling the television rights because they don’t seem to
doing anything about.
On
the positive note, TV has certainly changed the local game for the better, with
so much money we see teams being able to compete and becoming financial viable
which also attracts sponsors on board.
By Terence Mthembu
eMail: terencemthembu@hotmail.co.za
Twitter: @Terrypedia
