Global Fútbol

The 2020/21 LaLiga Santander season went down to the wire with the title race, the European positions and the relegation battle not settled until the final moments of the final matches. As is tradition, all matches that could have affected these final standings were held at the same time, resulting in ten simultaneous fixtures on Matchday 37 and seven on Matchday 38.

For fans, this adds to the drama of the season finale and typically leaves them following several matches at once for score updates. But thanks to a new multi-goal experience offered by LaLigaTV, viewers around the world could watch every goal as it went in from a single broadcast.

The linear channel, which is available to fans in the UK and Ireland as well as across Africa and North America, offered a single feed that switched between matches as goals were scored or big moments occurred.

Among other highlights, this allowed fans to see Real Madrid’s disallowed equaliser against Villarreal, immediately followed by Atlético Madrid’s equalising goal against Real Valladolid, without the need to switch channels.

Discussing the idea of the broadcast, LaLiga’s Head of Content and Programming Roger Brosel said: “It’s an exciting content proposition because it takes you from one game to another to see all the highlights in real time. You don’t only see the fight for the title, but also the relegation battle and the fight for European positions all at the same time. It’s a unique experience that we feel no other league provides at this moment.”

Technical and human requirements

The construction of a multi-goal experience requires significant technical precision and human investment. During Matchday 37, hundreds of professionals were involved in making the ten-game experience possible, with 610 people working from outside broadcast production trucks in each location to bring the match footage to viewers.

At LaLigaTV’s central studio in Barcelona, a further 150 people were working on match co-ordination, remote production, adding real-time graphics, creating highlights and more.

In addition, there were 22 Spanish language and 14 English language commentators who were not just focused on describing their own match but interweaving this with the rest of the action from across Spain.

All of this led to 67 simultaneous feeds which were centrally managed to create a unique viewing experience.

“It could be comparable to programmes like NFL RedZone, except with footage,” Brosel added.

Investing in peak broadcasting

The success of the unified broadcasts on LaLigaTV continues LaLiga’s investment in creating new and more immersive broadcast experiences for fans. It has long been at the forefront of football broadcasting having introduced volumetric video in the form of 360° replays, real-time match statistics on the pitch and more spider cams than any other league.

Furthermore, when football returned after the coronavirus pandemic, LaLiga brought virtual fans to broadcasts while adding real crowd audio that has been recorded inside the stadiums prior to the pandemic. Figures in Spain suggest that 90% of viewers have opted for these ‘virtualised’ broadcasts during the 2020-21 season.

With the regular LaLiga Santander season now over, LaLigaTV will bring viewers the drama of the LaLiga SmartBank play-offs, with live semi-finals and the final to be shown, as well as a broad range of new documentaries that will offer new insights into the key moments from the season, its top protagonists and what to look forward to ahead of the 2021/22 season.