Perez and Agnelli are running this line that the new generation are bored by football in its current state. Is there any data to back this view up?
Are the yooof really losing interest in the beautiful game?
- Thread starter Classical Mechanic
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Their research is probably their grandsons like to play Fortnite and thus they've concluded they need to turn the Champions League into Rocket League
I don’t think so but a lot of the youth can’t afford to watch it that’s for sure
If anything all this super league business made me aware of how much I actually still care.
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This nails it.
They talk about viewer numbers being down, but how much of that is due to it consistently being broadcast from behind a paywall?
Many people these days, especially the younger generation, are able to access these games through streaming which means they have no need to pay the subscription and won't be counted in their viewing figures.
One of the main problems is that football is far too spread over numerous viewing platforms meaning multiple subs for the average fan. People can only afford so much.
Many people these days, especially the younger generation, are able to access these games through streaming which means they have no need to pay the subscription and won't be counted in their viewing figures.
One of the main problems is that football is far too spread over numerous viewing platforms meaning multiple subs for the average fan. People can only afford so much.
No, he chats shit and wants more ££. His justification is that these days fans follow players more than clubs, or they follow more than 1 club. It's absolute trash.
There younger fans who aren't fans of clubs but players. Fan who followed Madrid because of Ronaldo then switched to following Juventus because Ronaldo moved there.
However these arent the sort of fans in my opinion who will pay to watch football or go to games or pay for a subscription or buy the merchandise. Attention span of goldfish.
To be fair, there are plenty of other distractions for their spare time. Being a gamer myself i can see how they would rather play on their xbox/playstation and only watch highlights of games or the last 20 minutes. However as they get older and become adults their habits will change. Have some kids and MOTD or a live game is precious "me" time for dads and mums who like football.
Personally i think there are too many games and too much football. Less is more.
However these arent the sort of fans in my opinion who will pay to watch football or go to games or pay for a subscription or buy the merchandise. Attention span of goldfish.
To be fair, there are plenty of other distractions for their spare time. Being a gamer myself i can see how they would rather play on their xbox/playstation and only watch highlights of games or the last 20 minutes. However as they get older and become adults their habits will change. Have some kids and MOTD or a live game is precious "me" time for dads and mums who like football.
Personally i think there are too many games and too much football. Less is more.
Yes agreed. When CL was on ITV viewing figures were huge.
You won't have accurate data, yutes like kayaking on rivers.
That's a good point. For most games, it really is ridiculously easy to find a good stream with English commentators. If you are willing to close two ads and watch on a 5 minute delay, you can basically watch for free.
I'd say it's a combination of cost, over saturation and consumer behaviour. With phones you can watch highlights etc anytime anywhere, your not stuck to being in at a certain time to watch a game or see it on MOTD and that's it. Kids have so many other options for entertainment now with video games, Netflix all that shite. I very rarely see kids out playing football where I live.
All that and they would rather see football be like FIFA ultimate team in real life.
All that and they would rather see football be like FIFA ultimate team in real life.
That seems to be a very real phenomenon. And definitely more prevalent in the young.
When I was younger, we didn't have Sky so I devoured anything that was on live TV - particularly Champions League on ITV, that was always the footballing highlight of the year, not the paywalled Premier League. PL was watched on Match of the Day. The best thing they could do for a new generation of fans would be to make one Champions League game free to air every single gameday.
I think there is just more to do and less time to really sit down and enjoy basically 2 hours of football.
When I was younger the weekend (and CL nights) were reserved for football and it was something to look forward to.
Now there is Gaming, Netflix, NFL, UFC, TikTok, Youtube, Twitch etc... as passive entertainment.
Yoga courses, slacklining, different gym packages, Tough mudder, (or just playing football oneself) etc.... as active entertainment.
Also, attention spans are getting shorter. I personally am used to shorter, denser content.
(So in this regard Perez was right. Todays generation has a shorter TikTok/Twitter style attention span).
Football might not enjoy the "quasi" monopoly among young males anymore as it did before.
When I was younger the weekend (and CL nights) were reserved for football and it was something to look forward to.
Now there is Gaming, Netflix, NFL, UFC, TikTok, Youtube, Twitch etc... as passive entertainment.
Yoga courses, slacklining, different gym packages, Tough mudder, (or just playing football oneself) etc.... as active entertainment.
Also, attention spans are getting shorter. I personally am used to shorter, denser content.
(So in this regard Perez was right. Todays generation has a shorter TikTok/Twitter style attention span).
Football might not enjoy the "quasi" monopoly among young males anymore as it did before.
My son (12) and his friends play football several times a week. For their clubs and for their school. They play FIFA when they’re not kicking a ball. They all consider themselves fans of various clubs. They fecking love football.
I don’t think any of them have watched a full 90 minute match at any point in this last year. They just watch the highlights on youtube when the games are over. Maybe join me to watch the last 15 or 20 minutes of a game if I tell him it’s a good match. So I do think there’s something to the idea that the way we watch, sorry “consume”, football is changing.
My son asked me the other day what I thought about Agüero leaving to Barça. He is very popular on Twitch and YouTube I think. Shortly before he commented something about Neymar's skin in Fortnite.
He likes playing but he does not know who Modric is and he has rarely seen an entire match.
However it is true that any local team for kids is completely overcrowded.
He likes playing but he does not know who Modric is and he has rarely seen an entire match.
However it is true that any local team for kids is completely overcrowded.
Maybe you forgot to mention it or it's also the case in Ireland but one thing is missing. Not organized football, as kids we would play football and other sports in the streets or on Handball fields(who are everyhwere in France). Nowadays kids seem to only play organized football.
If this is true, the solution is not to change the game to suit those fans but to address the awful attention spans people have. Otherwise it'll only get worse.
It's too expensive for young people nowadays.
Which 18 year old can afford to go regularly withh their mates when tickets are £50 quid a week?
Which 18 year old can afford to go regularly withh their mates when tickets are £50 quid a week?
Football needs to grow up and use technology properly, even for mundane things like stadium layout. Parents need to be able to take the kids to a match and sit together. Teenagers need to be able to go with their mates, and do it as a group.
The matchgoing experience, even if that is something that may only be possible a couple of times a season (or less if you're not a local) needs to be cultivated.
Taking football off free to air broadcasters was always going to undermine the connections to the wider population. Splitting it up into tiny expensive chunks - like needing BT, Prime and Amazon to watch a (subset) of a team's PL matches is outrageous.
In other words, they've done everything they could to stop younger people from choosing football, and adding in another layer of money grabbing - even if they split the matches into 4x15 minute quarters with gaming opportunities built into the VAR model - is utterly contemptible money-grabbing hypocrisy.
The matchgoing experience, even if that is something that may only be possible a couple of times a season (or less if you're not a local) needs to be cultivated.
Taking football off free to air broadcasters was always going to undermine the connections to the wider population. Splitting it up into tiny expensive chunks - like needing BT, Prime and Amazon to watch a (subset) of a team's PL matches is outrageous.
In other words, they've done everything they could to stop younger people from choosing football, and adding in another layer of money grabbing - even if they split the matches into 4x15 minute quarters with gaming opportunities built into the VAR model - is utterly contemptible money-grabbing hypocrisy.
Goddamnit Carvajal! Educate the boy!
Luka is the reason you lot won anything in the last 10 years!
it's 70e a month here in Ireland if you want to watch every game the club you support plays. I don't even bother to pay that anymore, I somehow can't imagine many broke young people would.
I think it's always been a thing, they just didn't consume the same level of data analysis to ascertain the information 20 years ago.
I remember least around my schools in London, there were loads of casual young fans who weren't much bothered about a single club but loved Juventus + United or Barcelona + Liverpool etc. They were far more casual in their following of the game compared to those who followed one club of course, which also should be a factor in any current modelling (i.e. assuming the "modern" fan is as invested in the game as the "legacy" one).
That's intereting. You can't pick your seats?
It's worth noting that 90% of football games are shite compared to 20 years ago.
The 90's and 2000's were amazing for football. Referees were better, games weren't wall to wall diving, screaming, soft free kicks and VAR decisions.
Teams weren't analysed by armies of video technicians until every facet of football was suffocated by tactical warfare.
We had less idiots on 24/7 TV, sensationalising every tiny thing that happens in the game, until we become so numb to anything that isn't 100% outrage that everything else feels boring.
The game is swollen and corrupted by money, that exists because of popularity built from a game that was great. The current sport in it's current state is a pathetic shadow of that game and it's understandable that we're starting to see a dropoff in interest. I'm surprised it isn't happening faster and in greater numbers.
The 90's and 2000's were amazing for football. Referees were better, games weren't wall to wall diving, screaming, soft free kicks and VAR decisions.
Teams weren't analysed by armies of video technicians until every facet of football was suffocated by tactical warfare.
We had less idiots on 24/7 TV, sensationalising every tiny thing that happens in the game, until we become so numb to anything that isn't 100% outrage that everything else feels boring.
The game is swollen and corrupted by money, that exists because of popularity built from a game that was great. The current sport in it's current state is a pathetic shadow of that game and it's understandable that we're starting to see a dropoff in interest. I'm surprised it isn't happening faster and in greater numbers.
Not only that, society has changed too. 12 was about the age when I started going to my local team without any supervision (with my best friend), how likely is that still to happen? And arguably it was a lot more dangerous/ crowded with weird people back then, certainly less police and "security" around then.
Settling in with my 12 year old to watch United or (God help us) Ireland is one of the few pleasures left to me.
Do you think thats something that will come with age though? Like when they're in University/older and going to the pub to watch the game becomes a proper thing?
Paywall is the biggest issue. Unfortunately, I was never able to watch Sky sports growing up so all my viewing came via attending games or MotD. When ITV lost European games, I was heartbroken. How do they expect kids to be able to watch the best quality games when you have to pay for both Sky and BT sports channels.
Today's youth have no choice but to watch even more condensed highlights on YouTube.
Today's youth have no choice but to watch even more condensed highlights on YouTube.
I completely share this feeling. We are aging!
I know, it's embarrassing. At first I insisted a lot but if his friends don't follow it it ends up being an imposition. Some years ago he went with his class to see his first game: an abominable Deportivo 0 Alcorcón 2, with handkerchiefs to the president, the ultras calling for resignations...a shitty atmosphere. My only option is a nice Mbappé shirt to make him the coolest guy
I still think the future of football viewing has to be over a streaming device. I’m convinced if the premier league launched their own platform in which you could subscribe to see every live premier league game it would be an unbelievable hit and would cut out the middle men such as Sky and BT. The younger generation are used to having streaming platforms provide quick and easy access to the shows they like and football should be the same.
I think it's likely true. Stats do seem to suggest the level of participation by kids is dropping.
Firstly and most importantly it's too bloody expensive to watch it. Growing up you had Champions League, Football Italia, whatever the Spanish one was called, all free on TV. Sky Sports was about a fiver. Now you're looking at the best part of 100 quid.
Secondly, kids are spending less time outdoors and more time indoors playing video games and on their phones, and it's harder to play now even if they wanted to. Almost all the fields and parks i grew up playing in are now either housing estates or have signs everywhere saying no ball games. If i were a kid growing up in my area now i would have nowhere to play.
Firstly and most importantly it's too bloody expensive to watch it. Growing up you had Champions League, Football Italia, whatever the Spanish one was called, all free on TV. Sky Sports was about a fiver. Now you're looking at the best part of 100 quid.
Secondly, kids are spending less time outdoors and more time indoors playing video games and on their phones, and it's harder to play now even if they wanted to. Almost all the fields and parks i grew up playing in are now either housing estates or have signs everywhere saying no ball games. If i were a kid growing up in my area now i would have nowhere to play.
As someone who is relatively young still well, it's not falling out of love with the game although after this last year I have somewhat. It's the extortionate cost of everything to do with football that has started to put me off. The ridiculously expensive tickets, the expensive Sky, Bt Sport subscriptions, the stupidly expensive kits, the price of a pint and a pie in every ground I go to which is crippling, all of this I would be able to stomach if this was simply linked to the club needing the money to survive. However, it's not, it's to pay for players wages which are out of this world in their absurdity, they earn what I make as a teacher for a whole year in a week. It's to fill the pockets of Murdoch and the other billionaire owners of the media, to fill the pockets of the billionaire owners. It's not that I'm out of love with the game, I adore it, I play each week covid allowing for a Saturday and Sunday league side. It's the greed of the b******* at the top such as Perez, Glazers, FSG and the rest of them alongside the players who dive, cheat and as a Saints fan seemingly don't care even when they lose 9-0 which is making me fall out of love with the professional game.
I know! I've never felt as old as I did writing that out!
Honestly this realisation has been hitting home for me over the last 6 months as Eir Sport in Ireland keep showing games from the 90's and 2000's. Not even big and famous games either - they had a match between Spurs and Blackburn on there one day, and others between United and Coventry or Arsenal and Wigan.
Every single game is just better. It's a better watch from start to finish. You still see the odd dive, but it's in the box with some sneaky striker trying to win a pen - it's not 6ft5 centre backs throwing themselves on the floor outside their own box because they took a heavy touch and got pressed by a midget.
There are refereeing mistakes and poor offside calls, but the commentator mentions it and gives out a bit, and then moves on. He doesn't spend the rest of the game outraged at it. They'll bring it up at half time but there isn't 10 minutes dedicated to lines across a screen and complete and utter outrage.
There is more room for individual flair and excitement because there is a bit less defensive alignment and complete tactical organisation everywhere.
Feck super leagues or expanded Champions Leagues or any of the other bullshit. They need to watch these games and figure out how to get football back to this.
This is it, they will play at training and on match days. In between they play little or no football asise from on PS or Xbox. Most won't even watch a game. We used to play in school at breaks and after school until you couldn't see the ball anymore. We had few distractions, might have had a Sega mega drive or something. Now you just see them wandering round staring at their phones.
Edit: Now realise that I feel old.
If they made the game more accessible and more fair a lot more people would be interested I feel. I can only speak for myself but I have lost interest since I have not prioritised paying a stupid amount to watch it, and cba to search for bad streams. If football was something I could put on and watch for a reasonable price I definitely would watch a lot more of it. In addition, the rift between the rich clubs and poor clubs has made it so leagues are overall very boring, and same reason most CL groups are boring. If they divide wealth a lot better it would make it so much more interesting for me. So basically, if they did the opposite from what the super league propose I would be more interested.
I have 3 kids and none of them like football . They think its boring. Im not saying all kids feel the same but very few of their friends watch football. Actually very few watch any sport at all. And all of them play Multiple sports .
Yes, some people don't realize the younger generations have grown in a world full of tablets, mobile phones, constant notifications and instant gratifications. You can also tell by the way TV and other kind of videos have changed over the years, there is all sorts of visual and audio inputs all the time. If someone speaks about something with some depth and analysis youngsters won't have as much patience to listen as the older generations do. I'm pretty sure there is a lot of big data studies available. After all, we are more controlled than ever before in history.
It makes sense they resort to 10 minute long highlights if they have the chance. The entertainment offer they have is massive. Series, sports, social networks, video games. Everything gets more flashy and sophisticated year after year.
So to sum up, I don't think football directors are making this up either.