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The Spanish Football League ensures its income from the US market. The agreement with SkySports in Mexico and Central America, added to that of the United States and Canada with ESPN (Disney) will give television coverage eight campaigns and hope to “hear soon” about the possibility of playing a game in the United States , assures EFE the CEO of LaLiga North America, Boris Gartner .
“For both LaLiga and the clubs it is important to be close to strategic markets such as the US, Mexico and Canada . With the agreements we have reached with Sky Sports and ESPN, they represent another step towards being closer and closer to our fans at the local level ”, explained the chief executive of the joint venture between the Spanish club association and the American company Relevent. Sports Group.
This subsidiary has been in charge of negotiating both the agreement with ESPN , owned by Disney, to broadcast the two main categories of Spanish football until 2028 – 29 by an average of 175 millions of dollars (150 million euros) per campaign, as well as the renewal of the agreement with SkySports, the group Televisa, for Mexico and Central America that doubles the income of the association, of 30 million euros per year to 60.
“Without a doubt all the work that has been done In recent years, at the level of promotion, activation and content creation, it has been key to achieving an agreement like the one we have reached that doubles the value of LaLiga’s rights in the market. For LaLiga, North America is a strategic market. ”
Boris Gartner
The executive, who before arriving He was a director of Televisa and a joint subsidiary between Univisión and Disney / ABC, he explains that the company he directs has expanded its activity to Mexico because it is “one of the most strategic markets in the soccer industry globally” , and because of the need to have a joint strategy before the World Cup 2026, which will be organized by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
With this extension, the North American subsidiary of Spanish soccer has expanded its Mexican window, a country that has always had great stars in Spanish soccer as at the time they were Hugo Sánchez (Atlético de Madrid, Real Madrid, Rayo Vallecano), Rafa Márquez (Barcelona) or Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernández (Real Madrid, Sevilla).
Now, they are Andrés Guarded (Betis), Héctor Herrera (Atlético de Madrid), José Macías (Getafe), Diego Laínez (Betis) or Néstor Araujo (Celta) those who give continuity to that bond.
“Having those stars that are from Mexico represents a closeness and a connection between the competition and the Mexican audience. In our content and activations strategy that has managed to give the market significant growth, the connection with Mexican players and coaches has been very important ”, he says.
Longer terms that will generate more investment
Both agreements bind the competition to its television partners for eight years, a very long period compared to what had been usual , for example, in national rights in Spain, which until now were for three seasons and that from the new cycle of rights could be up to five campaigns. The executive assures that the North American environment tends towards longer agreements.
“Longer term agreements generate a greater attraction and disposition of investment by part of the media companies. The 3-year model greatly limits the commitment they can make. Furthermore, the media agreements in these countries tend to be medium-long term, as could be seen with the agreements of the NFL (American football) or the NBA (basketball) ”, explains Gartner.
In the same North American context, but also globally, Internet television platforms or services’ OTT ‘have more and more potential .
“The main thing in this The point is to understand where the audiences are and what the trends in content consumption are. More and more people are watching sports and entertainment content on OTT, and for us it is very important to be where the audiences are, ”says Gartner, who recalls that in the agreement with Disney-ESPN, all LaLiga Santander matches are watched on its ESPN + digital platform.
Content strategy, markets and a match in the United States
The LaLiga subsidiary in the North American continent does not Forget one of the projects that generated the most debate a few seasons ago and ended up unfulfilled: playing a competitive match in the United States . The two attempts to play in Miami (Florida) were unsuccessful, but Boris Gartner does not rule out a new attempt.
“It’s definitely still on the table. We have worked hard in recent years to be able to obtain all the permits and we hope to have news soon, “the LaLiga North America CEO told EFE.
In addition to this desire, the North American subsidiary of Spanish football works on five pillars:
- Television rights
- Promotion of sports projects
- Development of events and activations
- Local commercial strategy
Content strategy
“ The priorities are to continue focusing on the content strategy , integrate more fully with our new ‘broadcasters’ and continue to expand the sponsor base in the region… In addition, we also work closely with the clubs to help them in their development in the North American markets ”, concludes Boris Gartner.