Vietnamese sports in general and football in particular have only just begun their development and are moving towards professionalism. Most Vietnamese football teams have not yet been able to generate cash flow to operate in the true sense of a business. With Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF), things are better.
The tournament operators are increasing their revenue every day through various channels. However, that amount of money has not really changed the whole V.League and made the teams crave. Here, we cannot deny the efforts of VPF, but the managers need to look at the reality.
V.League is not a good enough product, attractive enough for the majority of the public. When discussing sports commerce or commerce in any other field, it is necessary to set standards for product quality and marketing and distribution methods. Basically, VPF's marketing and distribution methods are good, but the product itself is not good.
“The appeal of V.League is there, but how to increase it so that fans feel the lack of V.League? There are many problems to do that,” Mr. Tran Anh Tu - Vice President of Vietnam Football Federation, Chairman of VPF Company's Board of Directors shared at the Vietnam Sports Economic Forum.
Mr. Tu also said that VFF is looking to create unique elements throughout, associated with the tournament brand, while creating values aimed at young people. Improving the quality of matches (football products) is an important factor to enhance the value of the tournament in particular and Vietnamese football in general.
In recent years, VPF and its teams have made many positive changes, improving their image, communication and tournament quality. One of the new highlights in recent times is that VPF has sold the V.League television rights.
Mr. Tran Anh Tu shared: “Before 2018, the revenue from television copyright was equal to the exchange value, that is, the purchase was calculated by the production cost. By 2021, an agreement was reached to add 2 billion VND. The strong breakthrough only came in 2023 when the value of the tournament copyright reached 2 million USD/season. To increase that value, we have shown how the value of the tournament is commensurate with the value of the copyright buyer, such as investing in the quality of the tournament, expertise, facilities... VPF requires clubs to change the field surface and as everyone can see, Hang Day, Lach Tray, Go Dau have a beautiful appearance, or the fields that are often complained about like Vinh, Thanh Hoa have also changed a lot. In terms of expertise, we equip VAR with strict standards from FIFA. Currently, V.League is a model for Southeast Asian countries in using VAR”.
Mr. Tu emphasized: “As the value of television copyright increases, the quality of the tournament must also increase accordingly, not only to keep the 2 million dollars but also to increase even more. The audience must pay more attention to V.League. When the tournament ends, people feel empty. At the same time, V.League needs to target “young customers in the future”.
Everyone understands that Vietnamese football has been in a steep decline in the past two years. It is not uncommon for a football industry to fall into a downward spiral after reaching its peak. The problem is even bigger when youth training is uneven between regions, and the number of talented players is very small.
