Tomorrow night's all-Basque Copa del Rey final is one of the most iconic matches ever in Spanish football, despite fan absence. That it is not even being broadcast (again) in the UK represents a total failure from Spanish football to market itself to an international audience.
Valencia's historic win over Barcelona was not broadcast in the UK either. This is inexplicable negligence from Spanish FA in marketing their product. UK audience's ignorance of Spanish football is due to games either being on a niche channel or, for Copa, impossible to access.
This is the salient point. If Spanish football has any ambitions whatsoever of building an international audience, these games must be accessible to viewers abroad. Not having the showpiece match of the season available to viewers abroad is inexcusable.
https://twitter.com/MartinsFCB/status/1377966338937880578
This anecdote is one I have seen and heard a lot. Spanish football built up a relatively sizable UK-based following on Sky. Plenty of casual, but interested, watchers. To continue watching it, they must now pay an additional package on top of Sky, BT etc. So people disconnect.
https://twitter.com/matty_leww/status/1377969176103555072
In fairness, this is a big issue for sport in general. The majority of the UK population - including plenty of sports fans - do not have sports packages. Free-to-air sport is largely gone. Interest levels, particularly for younger generations, will likely wane significantly.
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