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Spain’s La Liga is hoping that their deal with ESPN finally puts them on the same footing in the United States as their English and German soccer counterparts.
ESPN will take over English- and Spanish-language rights to La Liga when next season begins in August as part of an eight-year agreement announced on Thursday. La Liga, which features Barcelona and Lionel Messi, has been televised by BeIN Sport since the 2012-13 season.
La Liga established a North American office in 2018 in a joint venture with Relevent Sports and has been trying to gain more of a foothold in America. But being on a network with a limited reach has been a hindrance.
“The U.S. is the most important market for the league outside of Spain. It has been a priority for La Liga to get our product closer to our fans here,” La Liga North America CEO Boris Gartner said. “It was clear to get to that next step we needed to find another partner. And honestly, when we started thinking about this, we always knew that we wanted to be in this project with ESPN.”
BeIN was in the first season of a four-year deal before La Liga bought back the final three seasons. ESPN executive vice president of programming Burke Magnus said he wasn’t expecting rights to be available until he was approached by La Liga.
“It helps us both achieve our objectives,” he said. “For us, it’s exclusive, comprehensive and long term.”
BeIN Sports has limited distribution in the U.S. with fewer than 15 million subscribers, narrowing the visibility of Messi, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid. ESPN announced on Thursday that there are 13.8 million subscribers to the ESPN+ streaming service, which just had its third anniversary.
ESPN+ has experienced steady growth through the acquisition of soccer rights, including Germany’s Bundesliga, England’s FA Cup, League Cup and second-tier League Championship, and Spain’s Copa del Rey.
ESPN+ will stream all 380 La Liga matches next season, and some will be televised on ESPN’s networks. The twice-a-season El Clásicos between Barcelona and Real Madrid are the most-viewed domestic league games worldwide and are likely to be on ABC.
Gartner said the league would work with ESPN to find an optimal match time if El Clásico were to end up on broadcast television. For most if the year, Spain is six hours ahead of New York, meaning a 9 p.m. start in Spain would be 3 p.m. Eastern and noon Pacific.
“For us the passionate fans that go to a stadium every week in Spain are as important as those that wake up early in the morning in America to watch their team play. We want to make it as accessible to all of them as possible,” he said.
With two matches remaining this season, Atlético Madrid, which is seeking its first title since 2004, is two points ahead of Real Madrid.
Gartner said La Liga is still exploring the possibility of playing a regular-season match in the United States the next couple seasons. Barcelona and Real Madrid met in Miami in 2017 during the preseason International Champions Cup tournament.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...cf3cc2-b438-11eb-bc96-fdf55de43bef_story.html
ESPN will take over English- and Spanish-language rights to La Liga when next season begins in August as part of an eight-year agreement announced on Thursday. La Liga, which features Barcelona and Lionel Messi, has been televised by BeIN Sport since the 2012-13 season.
La Liga established a North American office in 2018 in a joint venture with Relevent Sports and has been trying to gain more of a foothold in America. But being on a network with a limited reach has been a hindrance.
“The U.S. is the most important market for the league outside of Spain. It has been a priority for La Liga to get our product closer to our fans here,” La Liga North America CEO Boris Gartner said. “It was clear to get to that next step we needed to find another partner. And honestly, when we started thinking about this, we always knew that we wanted to be in this project with ESPN.”
BeIN was in the first season of a four-year deal before La Liga bought back the final three seasons. ESPN executive vice president of programming Burke Magnus said he wasn’t expecting rights to be available until he was approached by La Liga.
“It helps us both achieve our objectives,” he said. “For us, it’s exclusive, comprehensive and long term.”
BeIN Sports has limited distribution in the U.S. with fewer than 15 million subscribers, narrowing the visibility of Messi, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid. ESPN announced on Thursday that there are 13.8 million subscribers to the ESPN+ streaming service, which just had its third anniversary.
ESPN+ has experienced steady growth through the acquisition of soccer rights, including Germany’s Bundesliga, England’s FA Cup, League Cup and second-tier League Championship, and Spain’s Copa del Rey.
ESPN+ will stream all 380 La Liga matches next season, and some will be televised on ESPN’s networks. The twice-a-season El Clásicos between Barcelona and Real Madrid are the most-viewed domestic league games worldwide and are likely to be on ABC.
Gartner said the league would work with ESPN to find an optimal match time if El Clásico were to end up on broadcast television. For most if the year, Spain is six hours ahead of New York, meaning a 9 p.m. start in Spain would be 3 p.m. Eastern and noon Pacific.
“For us the passionate fans that go to a stadium every week in Spain are as important as those that wake up early in the morning in America to watch their team play. We want to make it as accessible to all of them as possible,” he said.
With two matches remaining this season, Atlético Madrid, which is seeking its first title since 2004, is two points ahead of Real Madrid.
Gartner said La Liga is still exploring the possibility of playing a regular-season match in the United States the next couple seasons. Barcelona and Real Madrid met in Miami in 2017 during the preseason International Champions Cup tournament.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...cf3cc2-b438-11eb-bc96-fdf55de43bef_story.html
