Reports from England last week revealed that Premier League broadcasters are set to start interviewing managers and players at half-time during EPL games. They will also start interviewing players after they are subbed out of matches.
In a world where everyone wants more and more access to their favorite players and teams, it makes sense to try and add something like this to Premier League broadcasts.
When you think about what fans get out of these interviews and how time-consuming they are for the players, the Premier League’s plans for halftime and substitution interviews are awful.
When reports of potential halftime and substitute interviews first broke, many Premier League fans in the UK called it something like “Yank nonsense.” Often, Brits blame Americans for things that don’t make any sense. They are probably right here, though.
If you’ve watched any American sport, you know just how common in-game interviews are. Head coaches are interviewed between quarters and halftime in the NBA. In the NFL and NCAA Football, coaches and players usually give a sound bite before heading down the tunnel to join their teams in the locker room. MLB managers and players do interviews on the field during live play. MLS has even experimented with interviewing coaches during matches.
Whatever the league, one thing is always true about these interviews: they are rarely insightful. It’s painfully obvious that players and coaches are there because they have to be. Most just throw out a few cliches until they are allowed to leave.
Some Premier League fans might like the novelty of getting to hear from their players and managers. That novelty will quickly wear off, though, once they hear the same thing over and over again, week in, week out.
Maybe the biggest difference between American sports, where in-game interviews are common, and the Premier League is the stakes. Every result matters in the Premier League for every team. This isn’t true in most American sports leagues. Asking someone to give up five minutes of their 15-minute halftime break is unthinkable when you consider what’s at stake. For managers specifically, it’s an even crazier idea.
Most managers do not spend the full 15 minutes of the halftime break talking to their players. They speak with their staff, review short clips from the game to identify tactical tweaks and then prepare their halftime talks. The talks themselves take only a few minutes. Every minute of the break is crucial. Taking time away for a halftime interview is an awful idea and one that coaches will not like.
We’re not the only ones who have criticized the Premier League broadcasters’ plans to interview players and coaches mid-match. All you need to do is go on social media and look at some of the responses to see just how unpopular this idea is. Despite the feedback, broadcasters are likely going to go forward with this new idea.
According to Daily Mail, certain companies have already tested out in-game interviews. Sky Sports interviewed Bournemouth’s Marcus Tavernier in the 76th minute of the Cherries’ match against Southampton on Sep. 30. Tavernier had just been subbed out of the game for Alex Scott.
Interviews like the one with Tavernier are going to become more and more common this season. Arsenal, Newcastle United, Manchester United, and Manchester City are reportedly open to the idea. It’s unclear where other clubs fall on the issue.
Even though they are awful and not at all necessary to improve the Premier League product, it looks like in-game interviews are here to stay.
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