The cessation of football matches in the Eredivisie and Kitchen Champion Division is costing sports channel ESPN. For example, FC Groningen-Ajax, the match that was stopped on Sunday and will be resumed this afternoon, will soon cost “a few tens of thousands of euros extra”, a spokesperson told NU.nl.
ESPN will have to redeploy people and equipment if a game is resumed or replayed at a different time. “That means twice the costs for a match,” says the spokesperson.
“Because whether 8 minutes – like on Sunday at Groningen-Ajax – or 82 minutes are played, all people and stuff still have to go back to the stadium to provide the TV broadcast. That quickly involves an extra post of a few tens of thousands of euros.”
In addition, the timing of matches that have to be replayed is not always favorable. Groningen-Ajax will resume on Tuesday at 3 p.m. Many people are at work at that time and cannot see the match.
“From our perspective, there are better kick-off times when as many people as possible are able to watch the game,” said the ESPN spokesperson. Fewer viewers means less advertising revenue, which ESPN has to rely on in part.
Seven duels stopped after throwing objects
Football association KNVB recently decided that a referee must temporarily stop the match if someone throws an object onto the field from the stands. A second time, the game will be stopped completely.
This has happened en masse in recent weeks. Last weekend, seven games were temporarily or completely stopped after glasses of beer or other objects were thrown on the field.
The tightened measures have been in effect since the incident at the Feyenoord-Ajax cup match (1-2). Ajax player Davy Klaassen was hit with a lighter to his head and left the field covered in blood.
2023-05-16 10:36:00
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