As there are more than 4.2m people who go to the pub every week to watch sport, it’s no wonder that so many don’t know where to go to see specific games. MatchPint, the newly launched website aims to remedy that. Visitors will be able to view a feed of the games for the next two weeks, as well as finding out which bars and clubs in their areas are showing the games.
Visitors to the website will also be able to search a list of sports pubs and bars by venue and can view the individual profiles of each pub to see how many screens it has and whether the games can be watched in HD or 3D. This will also give them a feel of the pub if it is one they haven’t visited before by looking at photos and reading the descriptions so they can make an informed choice about where to watch the game.
Matchpoint isn’t only an information platform however, and by using the My Profile account, for example, users can select their favourite teams, sports and areas allowing the website to recommend venues for them. The site is also integrated with Facebook so that visitors can publicise where they are to watch the game, making organising group visits to watch the game incredibly easy.
Fans will also be delighted to find that the games covered are not only those on Sky Sports. Of course, punters can find plenty of pubs showing Premiership football on Sky, Champions League on ITV, Six Nations rugby on the BBC and NFL on ESPN America. They can also, however, find pubs showing those elusive 3 o’clock kick-off games on Saturday, NRL Rugby League from Australia and even international table tennis from Germany.
The idea of listing pubs is not new, of course. There are plenty of comparison sites filled with punter comments informing the ‘online punter community’ which pubs serve the best ales, which have the best selection of Sunday Roasts and are staffed by barmen never to be engaged with in conversation Shortly, however, visitors to MatchPint will also be able to add their own comments to pub and bar profiles seeing MatchPint add its name to the list of sites for this ‘online punter community’. The difference is, of course, that this one is for sports fans.
The website has been live for the last month with hundreds of fans finding pubs and bars in which to watch their favourite matches. Though the service is mainly aimed at London, MatchPint already lists over 400 venues across the country with coverage in Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow as well as its venues in the capital.
With the free iPhone app due for release in January covering all of the same services, it seems that the days of desperate fans wandering from pub to pub in search of a game may finally be drawing to a close.