ESPN Extends Rights for Liga MX Matches

NEW YORK: ESPN has inked a multimedia rights extension with Azteca América for Liga MX, Mexico’s premier national soccer league, and Copa MX, the nation’s football cup competition, in the U.S. through 2015.

This places, for the first time, the Mexican club matches on ESPN’s English-language networks. It also adds more matches on ESPN Deportes in Spanish. The pact includes extensive highlights rights across both English- and Spanish-language studio programming and digital platforms.

The English-language coverage kicks off the weekend of March 8. For ESPN Deportes, the extended deal allows the network to air more than 60 Liga MX games through the 2013 season. The multi-screen network ESPN3 will also carry select Liga MX games in English and Spanish and Copa MX games in Spanish.

“Liga MX has become one of the most competitive and popular soccer leagues in Latin America with a growing number of Mexican and American star players,” said Freddy Rolón, the VP of ESPN Deportes programming and business initiatives. “Adding more club matches in both languages allows us a greater opportunity to reach the widest possible audience while strengthening our commitment to serve U.S. Hispanic fans across all of our platforms.”