They sent me a few days ago a cover of Brand who was over 20 years old. The main headline was memorable: “Seedorf is already white”. The boy was born in Suriname and his skin is black. A year after the publication of that news, the Moroccan genius Hicham El Guerrouj won a 1,500 meter final at Fermín Cacho and Reyes Estévez, both full-grown Spaniards. The next day’s headline was: “Moor, silver and bronze”. They were different times. Now, Neymar, who is one of the stars that generates the most attraction in world sport, flushes his anger as a spoiled child with racial victimhood. And a good part of the media supports him. And the marimorena is mounted.
Ever since the ability to take offense has become so profitable, the world has become a dull and absurd place. The marketing It has also made things worse, at least as far as sport is concerned. Josep Pedrerol lamented a few weeks ago that football is increasingly away from fans, not to mention journalists. A few years ago, it was feasible to walk through Cibeles to the new Real Madrid signings and organize interviews almost anywhere. Today, their image is managed by them, they send their messages through the social networks and they are away from the press.
In between, Ibai Llanos has gained popularity, who is a boy with a vehement tone and enormous talent who has befriended some footballers because they practice the same hobby: play video games. Since the guy has a good image and hundreds of thousands of followers, he has become a competitor to the media. This Thursday I was interviewing Gerard Piqué and the Digital media it echoed the content of the conversation. As that one would say: “eye to the data”.
Newspapers on this subject are not experiencing their best moment and that is due to several factors. The most obvious is that hardly any newspapers are sold, which has depleted their income. To this we must add that advertising has dropped in recent years and it will do so in a more worrying way in the coming months, when the restrictions of the Royal Decree of Alberto Garzon on betting house advertising.
The digital newspapers They also have the added difficulty derived from restrictions on the use of images from football matches and other sports competitions, something that has also contributed to distancing the sport from the fan. Now, not all problems are explained in external causes, but also in those that could be defined as “house business”.
Because the sports digital press has become an uncomfortable product. Their covers are a miscellany of content that mixes good articles – few – with pieces of all fur. Not only for unfounded rumors about transfers or the pieces ‘signed’ by a representative or the president of a soccer team. This has always been part of the sector, as well as political or economic ‘journalism’. The ‘nausea’ also comes from watching the daily alarmist news about the coronavirus or that news of famous, embedded with shoehorn. And it is better not to mention those videos that promise something in the headline that, later, they do not give.
Or that phenomenon of repetitive headlines, which leads us to think that an event happens every day “historical” on the sport. I curse that adjective, which I read every hour. Also the word games that have long lost their wits. When Pau Gasol he played for the Memphis Grizzlies and they won a game, the term “claw” was used. When he went to the Chicago Bulls, “goring.” And in the Los Angeles Lakers he played “movie” games. Soporific.
Ibai Llanos He is not a journalist nor is he an iota of intellectual. It doesn’t need to. His secret is talent and freshness. Do not compare him with Norman MailerBut with the host of an entertainment program; and there it is very good. And of course, earn a lot of money, as he himself recognized in his famous video on the taxes paid by youtuber.
The sports press has a new enemy. It may not offer exclusives, but you have access to the industry’s most precious asset: football players. Something has changed in the world and, in this new ecosystem, the media are no longer called to be protagonists. Or, at least, as much as they were two decades ago.