Dazn, comment and understand us no pipe

It’s Monday evening. It’s almost dinner time and at the Bentegodi Stadium in Verona, Hellas Verona lose 2-0 to Fiorentina after 6.30pm. The curtain is about to fall but Cristiano Biraghi doesn’t know it and invents a goal from midfield that not everyone sees: only the fans in the stadium see it because those in front of the television – that is, before Dazn, given the exclusive – watch the repetition of a previous action. You may be wondering how it is possible for a commentator on a Serie A game to miss a goal to commentate on it in 2023?

The answer is as simple as it is unexpected: too The Commentator stood in front of a monitor. More precisely, that of the Cologno Monzese studio, even if the game was played at the Bentegodi Stadium in Verona.

Yes, because the only Dazn journalist present at Bentegodi sideline player Ilaria Alesso came from Verona. One wonders why Dazn, which holds the rights to all Serie A games (7 of which are exclusive to each league day), does not send its commentators ‘on the pitch’; but that’s a question that a veritable Pandora’s box would uncover. The “tube” comment was actually not invented during Hellas Verona-Fiorentina and is used for a specific purpose: Reduce costs, especially for non-significant eventsif you can put it that way.

And then we might wonder why Dazn decided to invest €840m, the Series A rights, only to then cut costs and lower the level of offerings (and by a multiple compared to Sky) – a rhetorical question , you will say. And above all, we ask ourselves Why this topicthat of the removed comment, has never been taken out. Given that not providing decent coverage and personal commentary for a Serie A game is a real disrespect for the fans who (legitimately) pay the season ticket to follow their favorite team.

AN ESTABLISHED PRACTICE

Someone might then object that this is a sporadic episode: nothing could be more wrong. Over the course of the season, many matches were commented on via tube by Dazn – among other things, there is no evidence of this, apart from testimonials and various drafts, since there is none official data on this topic. Besides that for series B The story is very different: Almost all matches are commented via tube (if not even Frosinone table first is commented live, we know that for sure, how can Spal be?) in a sad and entrenched practice.

Then we understand well how to allow commenting from Tube a significant saving.

But doesn’t the profession of sports commentator consist of a liturgical rite of preparation for the event, of being present at the places of the event, of collecting the voices of the more or less protagonists? Also when talking to the spectators you have to “look” at everything that is happening on the pitch and not just what can be seen on the monitors. Until then then it is the commentators themselves who get into troubleperhaps ridiculed on the internet by those who believe they missed a goal because they were distracted and unprofessional, as in the case of Hellas Verona-Fiorentina.

This situation shows, if still required, that you opted for the assignment of i TV rights at Dazn no project was viewed: it is easy to clear one’s conscience by talking about “great opportunity to bring Italian football to the future of streaming‘, or of development opportunities for the movement; actually only the incoming transfer was looked at. In fact, it should be the league that demands quality standards – which are repeatedly flouted with missteps throughout the season – and the “on the field” commentary is certainly one of the indispensable minimum requirements for doing a good job.

andA FASHION THAT APPLIES TO EVERYONE

However, Dazn isn’t the only one who has discovered the convenience of studio commentary. Sky and the newcomer Helbiz also have “The Laster”. But if in the case of Sky, which only has the rights to three Series A games and all of Series B left, commenting on some tube games almost has to be considered acceptable – and indeed we know for sure that in some Cadet games it is that’s how it is ‘only to send commentators onto the pitch – the same doesn’t apply to helbiz. In fact, the scooter sharing company decided to do it invest a lot of money in the cadet world championshipacquire the rights to all of the season’s games, then offer commentary from the studio.

It’s the new model of agile, remote, and cost-reducing working, but that leads to a commentDistortion of the very essence of the work. And to one clear loss of quality and professionalism.

Even many, especially on social media, have hypothesized that even Lazio and Fiorentina’s conference league games were commented on via tube. It is difficult to find out more, also because it concerns aspects protected by confidentiality. What is certain is that in this spending report of “the future” and the new streaming giants, the profession itself will be demoted. And so everyone loses: the commentators themselves, the level of the product and last but not least the fans. It doesn’t matter whether they come from Fiorentina and not from Napoli, Inter, Milan or Juventus: the subscription is the same for everyone, the service offered is not.