Wooing the masses

I said in my first  - no, the second - of a series of bitter posts over the past week about the new changes in FPL this season that I assumed the overlords of the game were motivated by a desire to increase its reach and appeal - to draw in more participants.

Now, unfortunately, making the game easier and adding lots of shiny new gimmicks to it probably will entice in a lot of new players. But they will probably be players with fairly low levels of engagement, the sort who might easily become bored and drift away again.

I think there are some better ways to achieve a lasting growth in participating numbers. (After all, even the 10 million+ level achieved over the last few years is still pretty tiny compared to the Premier League's global following. According to this survey from the start of last season, the number of online followers [these days, usually preferred to official fan club enrolment as a gauge of 'popularity'] for all 20 EPL clubs was nearly 360 miillion. And of course, a lot of football fans around the world enjoy watching the League without necessarily supporting one particular team, or without choosing to 'follow' that team... So, the actual number of interested viewers is far, far higher. The League's 'potential viewership' is often rated at over 2 billion!)

Here are my suggestions:

1)  More effective promotion

Apart from a few short TV shows and podcasts, there's really very little other effective outreach to make people more aware of the game. As I noted the other day, FPL has only just got itself a Whatsapp account (at least a decade after the rest of the world started going mad for the platform). Its Facebook page is LAME beyond belief. And I don't think they even have their own Instagram account.

Actual advertisements would be a good idea. The Premier League could probably lean on clubs to provide some adverts on pitchside hoardings cheap or free. Doing a few roadshow events could be a huge help too; that would then get them a lot of free local media coverage, as well as some 'social media' buzz.

And FPL could surely do more to work with media partners to promote the game. Major national/regional broadcasters, in particular, have a vested interest in creating more excitement around their EPL coverage (because it keeps their viewership up, and thus enhances their revenue returns from the sport), and enccouraging more participation in FPL should help with that.

And yes, doing this sometimes in other languages, and making some targeted initiatives to increase awareness in countries with big Premier League fanbases, might also give a massive boost to the game's enrolment - which leads to my next point...

2)  Multi-lingual content

Does FPL even provide subtitled versions of its TV shows/podcasts (I've never seen any sign of such)?? Or translated versions of its website and Facebook page (and tweets and whatever)?? Let alone any original content in languages other than English?!  The EPL has an enormous following in Malaysia and Indonesia; but FPL doesn't seem to do much if anything to build its following in those constituencies. The EPL has an enormous following in China; but, last time I looked, that country had scarely any FPL players. (According to this survey, fewer than 10,000; although I have no idea how authoritative this might be - there isn't even a date on it, but the figures quoted for other countries suggest it's fairly recent).

3)  More and better prizes

I already mentioned this point in my '5 Wishes' for the new FPL season a couple of months back. With millions of pairs of eyes on the game every week, it really ought to be capable of generating enough revenue to provide a very substantial prize fund. At the moment, the season's Global Champion wins a weekend break in London; most of the other prizes (not even that many in total!) are little more than a 'lucky bag'. It's pathetic, ludicrous. 

Five or six-figure cash prizes (in US dollars/euros/pounds) ought to be possible. Although, rather than have really huge prizes for a few top achievers (I think low five-figures ought to be enough!), I'd prefer to see lots and lots of more modest prizes: monthly jackpots for winners and at least a few runners-up in all the country leagues, and perhaps some of the larger 'public' leagues as well (broadcasters could surely be persuaded to put up their own prize funds for leagues run in their name?).

Simple stuff.  But do we see any sign of this from the FPL organisation? NO. Only a deluge of more bloody silly GIMMICKS every year!