As a way of reinventing entertainment in sports, digital platforms expose tournaments that, in other times, would seem like a joke, such as the world championships for balloons, marbles and boxing among influencers.
In the world of football, the Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos and the ex-soccer player Gerard Piqué created the Kings League, a seven-a-side soccer fashion contest, with rules taken from video games.
With Iker Casillas and Sergio Agüero in the role of team owners, and participants such as attacker Javier Chicharito Hernández, the matches are broadcast on Twitch and YouTube, free of charge. On their second day of activity, the games had peaks of 945,000 viewers.
In May 2021 and June 2022, Llanos also kicked off La Velada del Año, a boxing event between influencers, YouTubers and other digital stars.
In the second edition, the Mexican Ari Gameplays participated, who trained with the former national champion Julio César Chávez, for his fight against the Spanish streamer, Paracetamor.
“They usually invite them to contribute to their followers and they get more. That way their numbers grow and the fans get to know these disciplines,” José Dávila, project manager of the ACE League, explained to El Heraldo de México, which promotes the growth of eSports, another area in which Llanos is involved.
Ibai established himself as a visionary with “new sports”, some created, and others taken from viral videos, which he successfully narrates on the internet, such as the marble world championships, pillow fights, high jump, among others. From this proposal the World Cup of Balloons was born.
In October 2021, this tournament fought in audience with FIFA Date matches. In its live broadcast it reached more than a million views. “It is going to create a great show. I have been to a World Cup, Euro Cup or Davis Cup, and it is at that level”, Piqué assured, in a transmission.
Ibai Llanos put on the table the idea that this “discipline” was part of the Olympic program, after the International Committee made a mention about the monarch of the first edition.
However, one of the body’s requirements is that there are local competencies in at least half of the countries in the world to be taken into account.
The sports and entertainment field is expanded with new platforms and technologies. The revolution of these disciplines is headed for new generations, both in eSports, and in “real” competitions, transmitted on digital media, in a new market.
ART: LUISA FRANCO
By Francisco Dominguez and Emilio Pineres
MAZ
