Javier Tebas described it as a “circus”the most serious world of football radically turned against Piqué and the Kings League… And yet, after the data from the Final Four played this weekend, they have to surrender to the evidence: It has been a resounding success, both in person and on Twitch, where it was broadcast for free. The absolute crowd at the Nou Camp leaves no room for doubt. And it is that Twitch has also changed the perception and consumption habits of the king of sports. So much so that things are celebrated that would never be celebrated in a traditional match, such as breaking the world record for masks worn at the same time in the same place. All masks, at once, everywhere.
On Sundays for the Kings League you abandon me
92,522 people packed the FC Barcelona stadium despite the fact that the team most loved by a large part of the fans, Porcinos FC (by understanding us, the one from Ibai Llanos), was eliminated earlier. The title, which was played between El Barrio, Aniquiladores FC, Los Troncos FC and Saiyans FC, also, was watched by a peak of 2.2 million in the final between Juan Guarnizo’s team and Adri Contreras’ teamwhich finally took the first title in the history of the championship, winning 3-0.
The average for the final was lower, but still impressive: 1,380,000 people watched it on Twitch and TV3. It is worth mentioning that the arrival of the players, the goals and the victories were celebrated in style. As Gerard Piqué commented at the press conference, the Kings League is closer to entertainment than sport and it’s perfect for a generation that doesn’t have 90 minutes to watch a more static sport and a bit old-fashioned like football.
The Kings League has emerged stronger from the experiment: It will return in the summer and until then it will be possible to see both the Queens League (the women’s version) and the Kings League Brazil, in which Ronaldinho and Neymar Jr will be presidents. An absolute barbarity that questions all those who believe that Twitch is not here to stay… even if it is giving the same as traditional television with a (very) slight twist.
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