Audacy to Broadcast Washington Football Team in Spanish

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://news.****************/artic...Broadcast-Washington-Football-Team-in-Spanish

According to the article WLZL-FM will air the Washington Football games in Spanish for preseason and season games.

 

[davideduardo]

According to the article WLZL-FM will air the Washington Football games in Spanish for preseason and season games.

This subject always brings up discussions in the Spanish language radio sector. The issue is whether Spanish dominant Hispanics who listen to Spanish language radio have any interest at all in a sport which is not practiced in Latin America and is, at best, confusing and culturally distant for first generation Hispanics in the US.

 

[CTListener]

This subject always brings up discussions in the Spanish language radio sector. The issue is whether Spanish dominant Hispanics who listen to Spanish language radio have any interest at all in a sport which is not practiced in Latin America and is, at best, confusing and culturally distant for first generation Hispanics in the US.

NFL football is available in Spanish on television on both sides of the border. Games have been held in Mexico and drawn well. Someone must be interested. The umbrella you and others try to stuff all Spanish-dominant Hispanics in the US under most likely has significant leakage.

 

[davideduardo]

NFL football is available in Spanish on television on both sides of the border. Games have been held in Mexico and drawn well. Someone must be interested. The umbrella you and others try to stuff all Spanish-dominant Hispanics in the US under most likely has significant leakage.

The games played in Mexico (which can be counted on your fingers with digits left over) have mostly been attended by expats and Mexicans who went to college in the US and learned to like American football. Those are generally the Mexicans who don't migrate to the USA; most migrants are from D and E socioeconomic levels.

The attendance at the Mexico City NFL games is about 1/3 of one percent of that city's metro population. The Mexican TV viewership of NFL games is also drawn from the segment of the population that has lived or done college in the US.

Yes, there may be a small percentage of first generation Spanish dominant immigrants (those two terms are actually quite synonymous) who have learned to like American football, but the number is small. If there is such an interest, it may come from watching their American born kids play or follow the sport or by having come to the US very young coupled with not living in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood.

I've done a lot of research on sports interests of Spanish dominant and first generation Hispanics and it is very easy to make broad generalizations because the exceptions are so minimal (one of the stations I programmed in CA had over 40 hours of sports weekly).

And NFL broadcasts in Spanish are salable to clients who like to buy American football and who don't understand the difference in sports preferences. But it makes money, even if nobody watches or listens.

 

[ragazzo-pazzo]

The umbrella you and others try to stuff all Spanish-dominant Hispanics in the US under most likely has significant leakage.

100% agree -

Still remains that interest among Spanish dominant Hispanics is a fraction that of non Hispanics. That doesn't mean there isn't opportunity to generate sales and revenue, and in this "business", THAT is the number one objective.

 

[davideduardo]

100% agree -

Still remains that interest among Spanish dominant Hispanics is a fraction that of non Hispanics. That doesn't mean there isn't opportunity to generate sales and revenue, and in this "business", THAT is the number one objective.

You got it. The motivation is sales, not listenership or viewership.

When I was with LBI, on KWIZ in Santa Ana we ran hockey games in Spanish. The decision was entirely revenue driven. We even tried to position the game as "soccer on ice with a weapon" but really could not generate traction. Even special home game night ticket promotions would get at best a dozen tickets sold.

But the team wanted to promote the sport. And they had money.

 

[CTListener]

We even tried to position the game as "soccer on ice with a weapon"

And with about 40 scoring opportunities in 60 minutes instead of about 9 in 90 minutes. You could have emphasized the pace of play and the frequency with which the goals are attacked rather than using a tired, cynical old stereotype of hockey players as stick-swinging cavemen.

Of course, with the NHL having no players from Central America, South America and the Caribbean on its rosters -- for good reason: people living in those places don't have anywhere to play the game -- few first- or even second-generation fans exist. So marketing to them probably makes little sense at this point.

 

[blackgold]

All of the major leagues in the USA market to Hispanics with tremendous success.