Why Is the NFL Not Clicking With Most Pinoy Sports Fans

THE NATIONAL Football League has began its new season here in the United States and although it has been wrought by controversies between the league and President Trump, it still remains very popular among American sports fans.

In the Philippines, ESPN5 is in its second season as the NFL's broadcaster and the games are aired on Monday, Tuesday and Friday mornings (Sunday, Monday and Thursday night here in the US). But it seems that many Filipino fans aren't really interested in the NFL.

Here are four possible reasons:

1. Most Pinoy fans prefer basketball. NFL football lasts for close to three hours and consists of 15 minutes per quarter compared to basketball which has only 12 minutes per quarter. In addition, NFL rules are more complicated compared to basketball. And since Filipinos aren't physically big compared to Americans, basketball is the perfect sport because it highlights the agility of Filipinos. When it comes to football in the Philippines, people refer it more as soccer, which is what Americans call this sport.

2. ESPN5 still hasn't established its programming. Despite efforts by ESPN5 President and CEO Chot Reyes to develop his station, it hasn't really been able to draw interest from sports fans. The reason: It doesn't have enough advertisers. If you watch the channel, you will notice that most of its commercials are companies owned by Manny V. Pangilinan, who is ESPN5's owner. And even though it is a sports channel, ESPN5 has other non-sports related programs like its newscasts and its Tagalog-dubbed American shows. Its sister channel Aksyon TV does show some sports at times but most of the time, it simulcasts with sister FM radio station Radyo Singko on 92.3.

In addition, many ESPN shows like First Take haven't been aired on ESPN5 yet because it doesn't have enough time slots for such shows. In fact, the frequent loud debates between hosts Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman may turn off Filipino viewers, especially the MTRCB which may not approve of their language.

For those who don't know yet, before Channel 5 was a sports channel, it tried to compete with giant networks ABS-CBN and GMA 7 by producing its own teleseryes and pirating big stars from the two other stations. But those shows flopped in the ratings and MVP lost a lot of money, forcing his station to change its programming direction. Many of TV5's stars ended up going back to ABS-CBN or GMA.

3. ABS-CBN is still the dominant sports channel in the Philippines. Although ESPN5 has the PBA, it's no secret that the Philippine pro basketball league has lost a little bit of its luster because of the presence of sister teams owned by the MVP and San Miguel Corporation groups. ABS-CBN has the advantage because it has the rights to the UAAP and NCAA basketball games, which enjoy more popularity than the PBA nowadays. Let's not forget that ABS-CBN has the broadcast rights to the world's biggest basketball league, the NBA. The S+A channel is now available in high definition and has a stronger signal than Aksyon TV. And compared to ESPN5 and Aksyon TV, S+A has sports programming all day long.

4. Airtime. NFL games are aired in the Philippines on weekday mornings when most people are at work compared to the NBA games which are shown on weekends. The weekend NFL games here in the US are played during the early morning hours in Manila when most people are asleep and ready for work. NBA games are also readily available through livestreaming because of NBA League Pass while ESPN5 has yet to develop its own app despite the fact that it is owned by a company that specializes in smartphone service.

It will be a huge responsibility for Reyes and his ESPN5 crew to sell the NFL to a Filipino audience. He needs to hire a good sports marketing staff to make sure his station can attract Filipinos to watch the NFL. Maybe inviting NFL players to the Philippines can be a good start.