PlusLiga is currently the best volleyball league in Europe. The season promises to be exciting, and many fans will sit in the stands and in front of the TVs.ow. That’s not all, because the Polish Volleyball Leagueówki has ideas on how to attract more fansthat.
ŁUKASZ MAJCHRZYK
The fans have certainly missed the league games, and the Polish National Team has certainly made this hunger even stronger by winning the silver medal at the Olympic Games in Paris. The first matches are taking place this weekend, and they will certainly provide a lot of emotions. It is difficult to point out a clear favorite for gold (maybe one of the three: Jastrzębski Węgiel, Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie, PGE Projekt Warszawa?), and in addition, this year three teams are relegated, and only one will advance, because the PlusLiga will be smaller. Every club has armed itself, and since Poland pays well, the best volleyball players in the world will play here.
– The most important thing for the popularity of our league is the quality of sports. As many as 19 Olympic medalists will play for us, almost all of whom will be Polish representatives, but also French and American players. In total, 35 participants of the Olympic tournament will be in the teams’ squads. This season, Bartosz Kurek and Wilfredo Leon, two big names, will play in the PlusLiga. This translates into interest. We expect record attendance in the halls and in front of TVs. The first signals are reaching us that the reinforcements and the marketing communication the clubs are conducting are causing huge interest. In Jastrzębie-Zdrój, they broke the season ticket sales record. Half of the Polish Champions’ hall will be occupied by season ticket holders – Kamil Składowski, spokesman for the Polish Volleyball League, tells us.
Records in the stands
The previous season was already very good in terms of attendance, and now there may be even more fans. A big role is played by the fact that small facilities are practically disappearing from the PlusLiga. Jastrzębski Węgiel has been playing in a modern hall for several seasons, and soon, together with the stadium, a facility will be opened in Katowice.
– We expect that thanks to this the attendance in Katowice will increase significantly, because for now GKS has one of the smallest audiences in the league. Volleyball from Lubin moved to Gorzów Wielkopolski, where there is also a new hall. Barkom Każany moved from Wieluń to Tarnów. Recently the new Urania hall in Olsztyn was opened with a bang and we already know that tickets for the first Indykpol match have been sold out. For the match for the AL-KO Polish Super Cup in Spodek in Katowice, only the last tickets are left. We play the TAURON Polish Cup in Kraków and we fill the big hall to the last seat for matches of league teams, not the national team. Last year, there were almost 10,000 people at the Super Cup in Spodek. Now the record will be broken. The fashion for club volleyball is growing – says Kamil Składowski.
The league is also trying to use the positive emotions aroused by the Polish Olympic medalists from Paris. Videos have appeared on PlusLiga’s social media, in which Julia Szeremeta, Natalia Kaczmarek, Daria Pikulik, Aleksandra Mirosław, Klaudia Zwolińska and Aleksandra Kałucka, among others, encourage people to watch the matches.
And it must be admitted that it was a good marketing move. The video with Szeremeta on Facebook alone has already over 11 thousand positive reactions and over 1.22 million views. The Polish boxer even beat Natalia Kaczmarek, whose invitation was viewed by over 212 thousand Facebook users (almost 600 positive reactions).
Everything on TV
It is worth reminding about the broadcasts and matches, because for seasons now all matches have been shown on Polsat sports channels. It will be interesting to see how the arrangement of the schedule will affect viewership. Finally, the FIVB has established an international calendar and PlusLiga could be planned accordingly. All rounds, with minor exceptions, will take place on weekends. And those who do not have enough tickets or for other reasons will not be able to watch the match live will always be able to sit in front of the TV. This is what fans from Zawiercie, waiting for the new hall, have to console themselves with, because the current one has only 1,500 seats. In addition, Polsat offers the volleyball magazine “7 Strefa”, where you can watch professional analyses, listen to experts and see highlights of the most interesting actions.
The popularity of volleyball can also be seen in the sales of T-shirts. – This is the result of a wave of national team successes and a large number of good players. At the Polish Cup tournament in Spodek, clubs had their own stands with gadgets. From the feedback we know that almost everything was sold, and the Aluron stand was the most successful. We are still developing when it comes to preparing gadgets and new ideas for convincing volleyball players.
There will be a new application
These new ideas look interesting, and the spokesman for the Polish Volleyball League reveals some details. PlusLiga wants to be even more present on the Internet (you can already find a lot of materials produced by clubs and the league) and these are to be comprehensive actions.
– We bought the application and now we are adapting it to our needs. We want to build a certain ecosystem around it, which will attract new fans. We will continue what we have already developed, but we want to go further. We will create a new website, application and YouTube channel, which will operate under one brand. More lifestyle-related materials will appear there, which will attract people who are less familiar with the sport and are not so keen on statistics to volleyball. We want to encourage those who recognize the three volleyball players and like the cool atmosphere in the halls to come to the matches and watch on TV. We will try to reach them with the offer – explains Kamil Składowski.
This is already happening to some extent, and volleyball is entering the mainstream. Tomasz Fornal will appear on Kuba Wojewódzki’s show on September 17, and the president of the Polish Volleyball Federation, Sebastian Świderski, and coach Nikola Grbić were guests on the Sport Channel. There, they were certainly also watched by viewers who are not on familiar terms with volleyball. Now it’s time for them to transform from viewers into fans.
