LALIGA returns like never before: a new era begins

After a summer that has seen LALIGA, the world's largest football ecosystem, undergo a transformation in terms of strategy, positioning, business, technology and audiovisual broadcasting, the Spanish competition moves into one of its most innovative ever seasons, kicking off tomorrow with the UD Almeria - Rayo Vallecano match.

The upcoming campaign is characterized by the revolutionary strategic partnership between LALIGA and EA SPORTS, which brings with it a new and disruptive way of thinking about football by breaking down the barriers between the physical and digital worlds. This creates a unique product in the world of sport that aims to reach a much wider audience than conventional sports leagues have done in recent years.

LALIGA continues to lead the way in digital and TV innovation to offer the best possible experience to football fans around the world. It’s still the most followed of the five major European leagues on social media, recently surpassing the 200 million follower mark, while boasting ever more extensive and original content in 20 different languages, across 16 different platforms. The overall brand transformation brings with it a refreshed LALIGA mobile app, offering a more personalised user experience, new content formats adapted to changing consumer trends, and a revamped LALIGA FANTASY game, with 100% objective scoring system, as well as a reinvigorated look and feel.

Revolutionary broadcasting

LALIGA is transforming in all respects, and this comprehensive change to the brand brings with it a new way of experiencing football. One of the most important innovations seen tonight will be in the broadcasting of the matches, which will see a change in graphics to make them much more dynamic and vibrant. It's a complete overhaul of the graphics package that will see changes affect the on-air visuals, title cards, and the scoreboard, among other things. 

The overall aim of these broadcasting changes is to enable us to show new perspectives and angles that, enriched with data, result in a much more immersive viewing experience. 

The overall broadcast will move away from the darker tones of black and graphite of recent seasons, to brighter hues, most notably the new corporate colour, PANTONE Red 032C. LALIGA's signature coral red will now take centre stage during broadcasts, bringing a radical change to the viewing experience. Additionally, personalised club colours will appear for each of the 42 LALIGA teams in key moments during matches, such as goals.

As far as the cameras are concerned, the use of each will be modified, in order to find dynamic shots that will further engage the fan in the game. Some of these new features include their location in the dugouts, in an attempt to bring the players closer to the fans; the location of the aerial camera, which will be placed even lower, to be able to provide shots of penalties and fouls from the player's perspective; and the cinematic camera, which will be used inside the tunnels.

The new optics, together with the graphics, aim to generate a change in the broadcast that will give a renewed, rejuvenated and much more dynamic appearance. Overall, this new look will be similar to EA SPORTS FC, with nods to the video game where technology allows. 

An example of this can be seen in the augmented reality statistical graphics. They will aim to replicate those found in the video game, both visually and in terms of camera angle. Furthermore, performance metrics for broadcasts will be enhanced thanks to Microsoft Azure's Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technology, as part of the Beyond Stats advanced statistics project developed by LALIGA and Microsoft.

These graphics will follow the current trend of flat design, a style that emphasises minimalist use of elements and typography. This will result in a smooth combination of traditional 2D and 3D graphics, thus bringing dynamism to the broadcast. 

More vibrant and dynamic graphics

The transformation of the graphics can be summarised as follows:

• Application of the stop motion technique, which will be seen when statistics are visualised. Using this, we will see the images of the players brought to life in various poses, conveying different emotions. They will appear in the traditional image with their arms folded, but also in celebration and waving.
• The size of the graphics will increase, with the aim of gaining more visibility on other types of devices, such as mobiles and tablets, and not just TVs.
• Club colours: Each team will have its own primary and secondary colour code, allowing the customisation of graphics for specific on-field events.
• Scoreboard: It will now be larger and more dynamic, adapting to specific situations, such as a goal, when it will be extended to display more information.

New augmented reality graphics will be included, and existing graphics - such as players on the pitch at kick off or at corners - will be redesigned. 

Other audiovisual modifcations

All the broadcast changes that can be seen in the First Division will also be reflected in LALIGA's second tier. However, in this case, it has its own distinct personality, which will be characterised by the turquoise blue colour, PANTONE 2226U. 

Similarly to what will happen in the top flight, the clubs will also have their own colour codes applied, which will allow customisation of the broadcast according to the teams that are playing at any given moment.

In addition to the usual LALIGA EA SPORTS and LALIGA HYPERMOTION broadcasts, over the course of the season we will see a number of distinct broadcasts for key matches, with each given its own unique style. Thus, regional derbies and ElClásico will offer the viewer a different look and feel that will be clearly identifiable.