Nadeshiko Japan to be Broadcast on Terrestrial Wave? Why NHK is “relieved to see the disappearance” of the NHK broadcast

Nadeshiko Japan, Japan’s national team that became the world’s number one women’s soccer team at the 2011 Women’s World Cup, will participate in the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which opens on July 20, 2011. Nadeshiko Japan is a talented nation that has competed in nine consecutive tournaments, but terrestrial TV broadcasting in Japan is in danger of disappearing. At the end of last year, NHK was planning to broadcast live on terrestrial TV, but that plan has been scrapped. Why is this?

“There are no players who have ‘character’…”

The number of participating countries in the Women’s World Cup has increased by eight to 32 this year, and the total prize money for the tournament has increased significantly to 110 million dollars (approximately 15.4 billion yen), nearly four times the amount of the previous tournament. Gianni Infantino, 53, president of FIFA, who wanted to finance the tournament with TV broadcasting rights fees from each participating country, made the following comment at a discussion hosted by the World Trade Organization in May after making the strong statement that he would not sell the Women’s World Cup on the cheap.

TV stations (around the world) are willing to pay $100 to $200 million for the men’s World Cup, but for the women’s World Cup they are only willing to offer $1 to $10 million. Don’t you think this is strange? This is a slap in the face to the legends of the Women’s World Cup and to all women around the world!”

The broadcasting rights fee FIFA offered Japanese TV stations for the men’s tournament in Qatar last December was about 35 billion yen. For the Women’s World Cup, FIFA’s offer is estimated to be 11.6 billion yen, one-third of this amount.

The JFA officials also said, “We heard that NHK was about to be chosen, and the JFA was relieved to hear that. However, by the end of the year, NHK’s unofficial decision was no longer made. This was because FIFA had firmly rejected the “price-cutting negotiations” with NHK.

It is hoped that the excitement generated by the men’s team’s victory over the past World Cup winners Germany and Spain will have a ripple effect on women’s soccer, but the reality is that this is not always the case.

For example, Nadeshiko Japan played two friendly matches in Japan on October 6 and 9 last year. The attendance for the Nigeria match, which was a night game on a weekday, was only 1,671, while the match against New Zealand on October 9, which was on a Sunday, drew 4,110, not even close to 10,000 spectators. A reporter in charge of soccer revealed, “In 2011, we won the World Cup and became the first team to win the World Cup.

In 2011, Nadeshiko won the World Cup and became the number one team in the world. At that time, there were talented players such as Hotoki Sawa and Aya Miyama, and there were players with strong characters such as Keirina Maruyama, who has now become a mama-san TV personality, but unfortunately none of them are in the current Nadeshiko team.

Women’s soccer has become a major sport in Europe, and this season’s Champions League final between Barcelona and Wolfsburg, held on June 3 at the PSV Stadium in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, was the first ever to sell out. The two semifinal matches also drew crowds of more than 60,000, which explains why FIFA has significantly increased its broadcasting rights fees. A director of a commercial TV station in charge of soccer revealed, “Unfortunately, Japanese TV stations are not able to broadcast the games to female viewers.

Unfortunately, no Japanese TV station has the strength to pay more than 10 billion yen for the Women’s World Cup.