Major League Soccer announced on Monday that it has partnered with leading sports broadcaster FOX Sports Latin America to televise live league matches in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, with the exception of Brazil.
With this newest partnership, MLS will now be viewed in nearly 120 countries and territories around the world, just weeks away from the start of the Audi 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs.
As part of this 2015-2018 pan-regional agreement, FOX Sports Latin America will telecast live two exclusive MLS regular season matches per week, at least one Decision Day match, half of the MLS Cup Playoff games and the AT&T MLS All-Star Game and MLS Cup in alternating years. In addition, FOX Sports Latin America will produce a weekly highlights program as well as feature news, analysis and highlights across its digital platforms.
“This significant agreement with FOX Sports Latin America creates an opportunity for MLS to reach millions of passionate soccer fans on one of the premier sports networks in Latin America,” said Gary Stevenson, President and Managing Director, MLS Business Ventures, in a statement.
“With recent signings of top players from Latin America and the world, interest in MLS is higher than ever and this partnership will bring fans closer to stars, like Giovani Dos Santos, Kaká, Clint Dempsey and Sebastian Giovinco every week.”
This groundbreaking partnership amplifies MLS’ exposure across the region in conjunction with the current MLS domestic U.S. rights agreements with ESPN and FOX Sports. MLS will also retain the rights to one game per week for free-to-air TV (FTA TV).
"MLS has seen remarkable international growth and we are excited to have this top-quality league with its highly competitive teams and world-class players as part of FOX Sports’ strong international soccer portfolio,” said Francisco Pazmiño, SVP Programming and Acquisitions for Fox Sports Latin America.
“Furthermore, this agreement makes FOX Sports the channel with the most MLS games in Latin America, and to celebrate that, we are putting together a special coverage plan with new special productions.”
The FOX Sports Latin America partnership comes on the heels of landmark broadcast agreements signed earlier this year with Sky Sports in the UK, Globosat in Brazil, Abu Dhabi Media in the Middle East and North Africa, Letv Sports in mainland China, beIN SPORTS across Southeast Asia and Australia, and pan-European broadcaster Eurosport, as part of MLS’ continued focus to bring the league to more fans around the world and grow as a global media property.
