The debate surrounding the creation of a single TV pool, which unfolded in the media on the eve of the start of the next season in the UPL, has once again become a top topic. Even taking into account the martial law regime in which the country is, which cannot but be surprising.
The very fact of the resumption of football competitions on the territory of Ukraine, which is suffering from the invasion of the enemy, is difficult to overestimate. It is not for nothing that the appropriate decision was made at the request of the head of state. The return to life of the most popular game is both a positive signal for our compatriots and a step aimed at preserving the entire football economy. It is for preservation - after all, it is difficult to talk about any profits at a time when explosions are heard in Ukrainian cities and people are dying.
And although these simple things should be clear to everyone, nevertheless, the degree of telepool discussion, conspiracy versions, aggressive accusations and even threats from some of its participants, unfortunately, indicate otherwise...
"We play football for the fans" - this banal truth is repeated time and time again by the players themselves, coaches, officials. Then does it make sense to deprive people of the opportunity to watch matches in the most accessible conditions for them?
The position of Kyiv "Dynamo" — the most popular and most titled club in Ukraine — looks the most clear and consistent. The heads of the capital grand are categorically against the forced reduction of their audience. The reduction is not partial, but global - as they say, "in times". The fan army of "white and blue" according to the most modest calculations is calculated at five million, while according to the conditions proposed by the potential broadcaster, only 85 thousand selected people will be able to watch the team's games. That's how many people are currently subscribers to Setanta, which is going to take over the UPL TV pool.
The initiative of this foreign partner can only be welcomed, he should even be thanked. For courage, organizational and financial efforts, interest in our football. But at the same time, the Setanta executives should have studied the history of the issue more deeply before making their proposal. Then, perhaps, the "opposition" of individual clubs would not be surprising.
Setanta's conditions are able to satisfy, first of all, those who are traditionally used to playing in front of empty stands, and for whom the loss of a certain number of TV viewers is not a fundamental issue at all. It is another matter when it comes to a team of European scale with almost 100 years of history. A team whose matches were attended by 100,000 ardent fans only in the stands.
Therefore, it should be understood that 85 thousand subscribers is not a number for Dynamo. In general. Even if after the hypothetical creation of the telepool it will grow two or three times. The monopoly from the Setanta company will "cut off" a huge number of people from the club. And we are talking not only about those residents of Ukraine, for whom the presence of public TV channels or simply access to the Internet is now a luxury. Currently, only persons from 15 countries can become an official client of Setanta Sports Eurasia: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, the Philippines, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine itself. And what about the audience from other regions of the planet? I personally communicate with Dynamo fans who live in Poland, Germany, the USA, and New Zealand. What should they do?
"People cannot go to the stadium, and they want to take away the opportunity to watch matches on TV. During the war, this is wrong," says Dynamo President Ihor Surkis, and he is absolutely right. After all, creating opportunities to watch the games, as well as restoring the championship, is the same motivation. It is about supporting football, promoting it, and maintaining interest in it.
It is hard to even imagine how many active fans the game will lose if it is now fenced off from a wide range of people with an artificial limited fence of the translator. The president of "Dynamo", the owner of a private structure that is an integral part of the entire football economy, perfectly understands the bitterness of the consequences of this wrong step. Understands and defends his rights.
If you put European authority and audience on the scales, then, probably, the conditional weight of "Dynamo" will be no less than the total attractiveness of the entire Ukrainian Premier League. That's why individual accusations about some kind of sanctions against the people of Kyiv, and even more about excluding them from the competition, only cause an ironic smile and a feeling of discomfort for the authors of such initiatives. "Dynamo" is definitely not the opponent that will benefit from sticking sticks in the wheels of a collective idea. It's just that the leaders of Setanta should listen to the arguments of the club, take their place and adjust their own conditions for the sake of the interests of millions of fans. After all, it is from them that the telepool begins.
In addition, for the Kyiv flagship, as we have already heard, the financial issue is not relevant at all. The ability to show games on public channels and the club's YouTube platform (albeit with a delay) is almost the only basic requirement of the "white and blue".
Konstantin Patkevych
