A couple of weeks ago I was scrolling through Instagram when I saw this content creator, Georgina Léger, post a video at an FC Barcelona game. One of the videos showed a group of kids in orange shirts paying no attention to the game whatsoever. The kids spent the whole game staring at their phones. When I took a look at her caption, I saw that they were trying to promote a fantasy football app called “Kickbase”. I was intrigued and started doing some research on what this app was. I knew it was a fantasy soccer app, however I had never heard of it before, and was wondering why these kids were making a statement to prove why this app is worth downloading. They purposefully wore bright orange shirts to stand out and get the attention of others at the game and those who control the fan cameras at this opening match.
Though it was interesting to me, I would consider the publicity stunt as unsuccessful because the app currently still only has 121 downloads, whereas other apps for soccer scores, news and stats such as “OneFootball” have over 187,000 downloads. Léger herself is not affiliated with the app itself, but she is a content creator for football so it made sense that she would mention this event on one of her posts, as it relates to her type of content.
Fantasy games have changed how fans interact with sports games. Essentially, you are the manager of your own team, from real players in the league you are playing in. The most popular fantasy game is fantasy football. Personally I find fantasy games to be confusing and I leave the fantasy games to my cousins or friends. I understand the statistics, but it is always very unpredictable. I already dislike when a player gets injured and is out for a couple of weeks to a couple of months, but I know I’d personally be even more annoyed if I had that player on my fantasy team.
Though I think that the app itself is no different from any other fantasy apps, and nowhere near as popular as the others, they do continuously promote themselves as better than any other fantasy apps. “Kickbase” is designed to manage a Bundesliga, a German soccer league and fantasy soccer team developed by Kickbase GmbH that was created about four years ago. The app has live updates and allows you to “become part of the game”. They claim to be quicker than other fantasy games, which make you wait until the end of a game to update. Now you are able to get live updates about your fantasy team, and each player as the game progresses. Apps like “ESPN Fantasy”, the official Premier League app, “Sorare Fantasy Football” and the “La Liga” fantasy soccer manager app do not have the same live updates that Kickbase claims they have.
However, the other apps are more successful in having more engagement, so either “Kickbase” lacks a good promotion team, or they joined the game of fantasy apps too late and will possibly never be as popular as other apps. Perhaps proclaiming having live updates will enhance more buyers, or maybe people enjoy when they have to wait until after the games to see updates for their fantasy team.
For me, the atmosphere of a game is what makes the experience more exciting. If the stadium is dead, then the game becomes boring and is less enjoyable. However, these kids watching their phones the entire time because they were receiving live updates about their fantasy team ruins the whole point of spending hundreds of dollars on a single ticket for a game. That could be part of their marketing problem and why they have so few downloads; fans want to be involved in the moments of the game. The way I see it, the app seems to disrupt the whole atmosphere of the game, and it feels that teams may as well be playing in front of nobody since everyone is so caught up with their phones.
Home teams also rely on the ambience of their fans to motivate them. It’s like any sport; the home team has a higher advantage than the opposing team to win a game because the cheering and chants of the fans is in support of the home team. So this raises the question: will there be such a thing as a home field advantage? If players no longer have the supportive atmosphere of their fans, then home field advantage is likely to not be as important when placing bets in games. Hopefully fan interactions at games remain as they are, as the excitement of fans is what brings soccer enthusiasts together. I enjoy feeling as though I am a part of the team. The soccer community almost feels like a family, there is a sense of belonging.
