Goal Arena: The new international “Bundesliga Konferenz”

25 August 2023 – “There’s been a goal, but for which team?!” For many German football fans, watching the “Bundesliga-Konferenz” is a must. Contrary to other major football leagues, the Bundesliga traditionally runs four to five matches in parallel every Saturday. Fans in Germany who don’t want to miss any of the excitement and want to know what is going on everywhere can watch the “Konferenz” on Sky from 15:30 CET.

By virtue of our comprehensive media expertise, we have the means at DFL Group to produce such a conference feed ourselves.

Dominik Scholler, Head of Audiovisual Rights International at DFL GmbH

For the 2023/24 season, this highly successful “Made in Germany” format has been joined by an international ‘twin’. Named “Goal Arena – the Bundesliga Konferenz”, the DFL Group developed this product for its international media partners. “By virtue of our comprehensive media expertise, we have the means at DFL Group to produce such a conference feed ourselves. Complete with commentary and graphics, it is available to all our international media partners as an all-inclusive, ready-to-air media product,” explains Dominik Scholler, Head of Audiovisual Rights International at DFL GmbH. “On the very first day, as many as 17 media partners took the offer, including ESPN in USA, Sony India, and Viaplay with their entire broadcasting area, covering countries such as Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Poland and The Netherlands.”

Similar to the German conference, the Goal Arena switches to the most exciting scenes in up to five concurrent Bundesliga matches, from scoring chances and shots at goal through to thrilling tackles and other dramatic events. Media partners are free to replace the English-language commentary provided by DFL with their own to localise the production for their own respective regionalised audiences. For example, Viaplay made use of this option on Matchday 1 for Poland and Denmark. The Goal Arena is supplemented by graphics and regular L-frame feeds displaying live scores and other match data to enrich the conference experience.

Goal Arena is live on ESPN+! Congratulations to the whole DFL team. Such a great product for us to offer and so happy to see this through.

Policarpo Rodriguez, Associate Manager Programming & Acquisitions at ESPN

Prior to kick-off, a ten-minute introduction presents brief reports and the team lineups; during the half-time break, there are summaries of the first-half results as well as replays of the highlights, and the final whistle is followed by a full recap, including the best moments from each match, player profiles and statistics. The Goal Arena will also be available on Matchday 16 of this season when several matches will be taking place simultaneously both on Tuesday and Wednesday. In addition to the conference offering, the Interactive Feed provides users with on-demand match information and customisation options, switching from match to match automatically based on match data. Also provided directly from the DFL to licenced broadcasters, its current takers include Sky Mexico, SKY PerfecTV (Japan) and Network4 (Hungary).