In which section of any mainstream media does an event like the Kings League fit? In Sports for its football component? In Shows for its indisputable intention to entertain? In the Media because of the media profile of a large part of its protagonists? In People because of the proliferation of celebrities who participate in the show directly or indirectly? How about in New Technologies?
The difficulty involved in answering this question emphatically defines the Kings League, a product made in the image and likeness of its ideologue, Gerard Piqué, a person as difficult to pigeonhole as the genre that has been invented. Definitely becoming a businessman after his withdrawal from Barça, Piqué has generated a debate that he denies from the outset. Is traditional football as we know it really in danger? Seeing the Camp Nou packed last Sunday during a show of more than seven hours culminating in the Kings League final has fueled the discussion. “The entertainment offer of our tournament is totally different from that of the League. They have nothing to do with it, nor are they products that have to be stepped on, they can coexist perfectly”, the former Barça player has assured until now.
Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga, was not so clear. From the tone of his comments, it was concluded that he saw Piqué’s proposal as a threat to the competition (and to the business) of a lifetime. Three months ago, Thebes belittled the Kings League: “The only thing that is similar to football is that there is a ball and they score goals in some goals. I like it as a circus, but it’s not comparable to the football industry. You ask me this question in six months, and you’ll see what we’re talking about the Kings League”. Recently, Tebas has moderated his view of the matter, declaring the following for the TV3 program 30 minutes: “The Kings League is a phenomenon of streamers. I want you to do as well as possible. I like to see everything that is made new. I have seen it and I see it on Twitch. I am from the Spursito team”.
Tebas’ turn of the helm gives clues about the future of more conventional football. If the Kings League takes advantage of football and parasitizes it as a basis to build a show with other business-oriented ramifications (impact on social networks that is counted in millions of audience users, sponsorship acquisition, musical performances…), the The Spanish League has been studying for a long time how to energize and modernize the king of sports, especially through its television broadcasts. In fact, on April 7, 2021, and for the first time in history, a League match was broadcast live on streamer Ibai Llanos’s Twitch channel, precisely one of the pillars on which the La Liga project rests. Kings League.
The clear objective of this adaptation to new formats is to seduce the new generations, of which it is being assumed based on theoretical studies that they are not capable of maintaining attention during a standard First Division match, that is, not of a Barça -Madrid, which captures by itself, but from a match of those of the lot. LaLiga seeks to metamorphose without losing the essence of the game to alleviate the panic of losing audience. If the Kings League thrives on football, LaLiga tries and will try to vampirize its enemy by stealing some theoretically innovative ideas. Not all of them, since the Kings League introduces changes to the regulations more typical of a role-playing game than of a century-old regulation that costs horrors to be touched.
We must not forget that at the Camp Nou, last Sunday, the most exciting moments came when the youngsters demanded Leo Messi’s return to FC Barcelona, ??a wish that belongs to football before and now, the one that starts from the passion for colors without excessive generational distinctions.
