Great post Carla. Here’s my take. From the outside, this appears to be a case of This is our derby and it is ‘not for sale’.
Culture appears to be more important than commercial opportunity, and the authorities should be commended for that.
To put this into some kind of context, The English FA moved the FA Cup semi finals from the historic neutral grounds of Hillsborough, Villa Park and Highbury to Wembley stadium.
Thank you for your perspective on this! It's remarkable that, even with everything happening worldwide, the Superclásico has resisted change. One thing that concerns us is that FIFA will now allow all leagues to play at least one match abroad — and this derby seems like the natural candidate (the last time it happened was in the Copa Libertadores final in 2018, played at the Santiago Bernabéu).
It's hard to watch tradition and football history being changed for commercial reasons, as in the example you mentioned.
This was so well written. I have always wanted to go to the Superclásico, but it sounds like it would be extremely difficult. With that being said, I'm appreciative that the tickets are pretty much limited to the fans of the teams. So much of soccer (futbol) has been over-commercialized and overpriced.
The international TV rights point is interesting. I hadn't realised it was a conscious choice to make Super Classico more inaccessible. However, it still baffles me that they don't have a proper international strategy, as broadcasters around the world would pay a lot to show the game.
It’s an interesting point. I know the Superclásico is available in Italy and Spain—I actually saw commercials for the broadcasts while visiting Italy three years ago. However, when I was in England two years ago, it was nowhere to be found.
I suspect it’s a mix of three things: the requirement to buy the entire league's rights (a burden when mid-table matches lack global appeal, unlike in Spain or Italy where the Argentinian diaspora is huge); the competition from high-revenue local leagues; and, crucially, the kickoff times. Here in Argentina, matches often start after 7 PM, which is 11 PM in the UK. Even the Copa Libertadores has this issue—the recent Boca vs. Barcelona (Ecuador) match kicked off at 9 PM, which is 1 AM in the UK and even later in Western Europe. That makes live viewership nearly impossible.
Exactly. Prioritizing meaning over money should be a core tenet for football stakeholders, even though commercial interests are the engine of growth. The 2018 final is a fascinating anomaly; it was played in Spain by accident because of the logistical failures in Buenos Aires. That event actually accelerated the shift toward a single-match, neutral-venue format, which improved security and commercialization, but it's important to remember it started as a crisis measure.
Great post Carla. Here’s my take. From the outside, this appears to be a case of This is our derby and it is ‘not for sale’.
Culture appears to be more important than commercial opportunity, and the authorities should be commended for that.
To put this into some kind of context, The English FA moved the FA Cup semi finals from the historic neutral grounds of Hillsborough, Villa Park and Highbury to Wembley stadium.
Thank you for your perspective on this! It's remarkable that, even with everything happening worldwide, the Superclásico has resisted change. One thing that concerns us is that FIFA will now allow all leagues to play at least one match abroad — and this derby seems like the natural candidate (the last time it happened was in the Copa Libertadores final in 2018, played at the Santiago Bernabéu).
It's hard to watch tradition and football history being changed for commercial reasons, as in the example you mentioned.
This was so well written. I have always wanted to go to the Superclásico, but it sounds like it would be extremely difficult. With that being said, I'm appreciative that the tickets are pretty much limited to the fans of the teams. So much of soccer (futbol) has been over-commercialized and overpriced.
Thanks so much for reading! It's definitely an incredible atmosphere, and I hope you get to make the trip down to experience it sometime.
Muito bom esse texto
muito obrigada!
The international TV rights point is interesting. I hadn't realised it was a conscious choice to make Super Classico more inaccessible. However, it still baffles me that they don't have a proper international strategy, as broadcasters around the world would pay a lot to show the game.
It’s an interesting point. I know the Superclásico is available in Italy and Spain—I actually saw commercials for the broadcasts while visiting Italy three years ago. However, when I was in England two years ago, it was nowhere to be found.
I suspect it’s a mix of three things: the requirement to buy the entire league's rights (a burden when mid-table matches lack global appeal, unlike in Spain or Italy where the Argentinian diaspora is huge); the competition from high-revenue local leagues; and, crucially, the kickoff times. Here in Argentina, matches often start after 7 PM, which is 11 PM in the UK. Even the Copa Libertadores has this issue—the recent Boca vs. Barcelona (Ecuador) match kicked off at 9 PM, which is 1 AM in the UK and even later in Western Europe. That makes live viewership nearly impossible.
Exactly. Prioritizing meaning over money should be a core tenet for football stakeholders, even though commercial interests are the engine of growth. The 2018 final is a fascinating anomaly; it was played in Spain by accident because of the logistical failures in Buenos Aires. That event actually accelerated the shift toward a single-match, neutral-venue format, which improved security and commercialization, but it's important to remember it started as a crisis measure.