Renato Sanches of Bayern Munich is challenged by Ljubomir Fejsa of Benfica during their Group E match of the UEFA Champions League at Estadio da Luz on Sept. 19, 2018. (Photo by Octavio Passos/Getty Images)
FC Bayern Munich is launching a new team website for news and updates that is optimized to explicitly serve users with poor internet connections, internet restrictions, or those with older mobile phones. Essentially, the team is dialing back the clock by a couple of decades.
In an official Bayen Munich press release, the club claims to be the first sports organization in the world to launch a website dedicated to underserved internet communities. The German soccer team’s new site offers plain text articles in chronological order with minimal graphics so that the page loads quickly and efficiently for users with poor internet connections.
“FC Bayern is therefore not only focusing digitally on its broadband and high-tech target groups, but is also acting in a globally inclusive manner, reaching people who are currently not reached via the current website, mobile apps or social media,” the press release states. “This is particularly relevant for certain areas in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.”
Bayern Munich will initially offer its new internet service in German, English, and Spanish. The club also says that its new site will be a preferred choice for users living in rural areas or riding public transportation, where internet connection is limited. The service will also support the visually impaired by coming equipped with a text-to-audio feature for all news articles.
SportTechie Takeaway
As one of the most recognizable teams in the biggest sport in the world, FC Bayern fans come from a wide range of geographic locations and socio-economic backgrounds. A recent smartphone study by Statista projected that 36 percent of the world’s population uses a smartphone in 2018, meaning that 64 percent do not. This new, low bandwidth site may help FC Bayern reach out to a greater proportion of the world.
