Two intense days of emotions and entertainment on and off the pitch, with thousands of spectators filling and animating the Unipol Arena in Bologna, and volleyball fans tuning in from all over the world via live television, streaming and social media. Only one winning team, Sir Susa Vim Perugia, but four teams all equally applauded. This was the spectacle of the Del Monte® Italian Cup in Bologna. Below are some numerical curiosities about the Final Four.
OVER 700,000 VIEWERS ON RAI ONLY
The great show on and off the pitch of the Del Monte® Coppa Italia was enjoyed on Rai 2 by 293,389 viewers. Almost three hundred thousand therefore followed the Final, while almost 400,000 thousand in total watched the Semi-finals on Rai Sport. Added to these are all those who watched the three matches in streaming, both on RaiPlay and on VBTV, the Volleyball World streaming platform which broadcasts Serie A all over the world. Without forgetting all the TV partners of the Serie A Volleyball League which broadcast the events and some matches of the championship in various countries around the world.
16,000 SPECTATORS, €300,000 IN PROCEEDS
The general volleyball public responded “present” to Bologna’s call: over 16,000 spectators were present at the Unipol Arena over the two days, with 7562 present at the Semi-finals, and 9125 at the Final. The collection was over €300,000, with approximately €138,000 on the first day and €177,000 on the second.
SPECTATORS FROM ALMOST 20 DIFFERENT STATES
The show of the Final Four was seen all over the world thanks to television production and streaming, but also inside the Unipol Arena there were attendances by fans from different corners of the globe: tickets were sold for the event in almost 20 states, including the closest Switzerland, Slovenia and France, the inevitable states with a strong volleyball traction such as Poland, Japan, Serbia and Bulgaria, but also some happy “surprises” such as Ireland, England, Denmark and Spain in Europe , Taiwan and Brazil outside the continent.
700 MUNICIPALITIES
Even within the Peninsula, ticket sales were quite varied: tickets were in fact purchased by almost 700 Italian municipalities. In approximately 1 Italian municipality in 12 a ticket was therefore purchased for at least one day of the Final Four.
12,000 BANANAS DISTRIBUTED BY DEL MONTE®
Over 12,000 bananas were distributed at the “Del Monte®” stand, sponsor of all Lega Palla Volley Serie A events, inside the very popular Fan Area of the Unipol Arena, in addition to the hundreds of selfies taken by spectators with Del Monte® mascot, and to the thousands of high fives given to the mascot by fans of all ages.
10,000 AT THE CREDEM BANCA STAND
There was also a great turnout at the Credem Banca stand, title sponsor of the Serie A championships: throughout the Final Four, in over 12 hours of activity, more than 10,000 fans stopped by the stand, of which around 2000 took part in the recreational activities within the same; 800 of these won a gadget.
13 FOREIGN MEDIA
As many as 13 foreign media (photographers, journalists and social managers) were accredited at the Unipol Arena, in particular from Japan, Bulgaria and Poland. Among these, Clayton Lucas was also present (for the first time at a Lega Pallavolo Serie A event), the official voice of VBTV, the OTT platform of Volleyball World, which has the three matches live, with technical commentary by Andrea Zorzi.
2 TIE BREAKS
Ten sets on the afternoon of Saturday 27 January: the unpredictability and balance of the Super League were emphasized by the results of the Semifinals, both of which ended in tie break. Since the Italian Cup has been played with the “Final Four” formula, it has only happened twice before, again in Bologna, that the fifth set decided both semi-finals. In 2015 it was Trento and Modena that won the tie-break round, in 2017 Civitanova and Trento.
Semifinals 2014/15 – Bologna, 10 January 2015
Diatec Trentino – Sir Safety Perugia 3-2 (22-25, 28-26, 19-25, 25-14, 15-10) Parmareggio Modena – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia 3-2 (25-19, 23-25, 12-25, 25-23, 15-11)
Semifinals 2016/17 – Casalecchio di Reno (BO), 28 January 2017
Cucine Lube Civitanova – LPR Piacenza 3-2 (25-12, 23-25, 25-15, 24-26, 15-13) Diatec Trentino-Azimut Modena 3-2 (26-28, 30-28, 22-25 , 30-28, 15-13)
SOCIAL
The Del Monte Coppa Italia in Bologna also sold out on the Lega Pallavolo Serie A social channels, with an online journey through multimedia content on and off the pitch. The entertaining “Del Monte Interviews” on Friday gave a comprehensive account of the protagonists of the Final Four; highlights, video stories, photos and updates accompanied the people of social media during the two days of the Italian Cup, also on the Lega Pallavolo Serie A Youtube channel with images of the event in real time.
We could not miss Sunday evening’s in-depth analysis by Andrea Zorzi and Andrea Brogioni who with “After Hours, the SuperLega at night” talked about the Del Monte Coppa Italia in the company of the protagonists of the world of volleyball, content available for some time also on the new Lega Pallavolo Serie A Spotify channel (http://tinyurl.com/ykekrv9o). Social information has also made its journey on Legavolley’s WhatsApp channel, a simple and fast way to be informed through content and news (http://tinyurl.com/njz2kym3).
Over 200 contents published between the Facebook page and Instagram channel which reached a total organic coverage of over 130,000 users on Facebook and over 70,000 on Instagram, almost 10,000 views of the highlights of the weekend’s matches on the Lega Pallavolo Serie A YouTube channel which in the last week its content has exceeded 40,000 views, 15,000 on Sunday alone.
Added to these numbers are the stories and posts of the social pages “Che Fatica la Vita da Bomber” and “Pallavolisti Brutti”: the well-known faces of the two communities were in fact physically present at the event, and with dozens of funny and ironic contents they covered the Final Four for its entire duration, from training on Friday to the awards ceremony on Sunday evening, reaching hundreds of thousands of users on the web.
