ESPN International, NFL International Strike Four-Year Deal for Spanish-speaking Latin America

ESPN International and the National Football League have reached a new four-year rights renewal to NFL games in Spanish-speaking Latin America. The new agreement starts with the 2016 season on September 8 and continues through the 2019 season (four seasons).

The agreement includes rights to pre-season games, regular-season games–including the annual NFL Kickoff, Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, the AFC Playoffs, the Pro Bowl and one of the world’s biggest sporting events, the Super Bowl.  The agreement makes ESPN the exclusive television home for Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football throughout the region. In all, ESPN International will deliver more than 48 live NFL games to 17 countries each of the four years of the agreement across Spanish-speaking Latin America. ESPN also retains the right to air Compactos, one-hour game cut-down programs covering up to sixty games each season.

A key addition to the agreement includes the linear television distribution of NFL RedZone, which provides “whip around” coverage of all Sunday afternoon games airing between 12 p.m. and 7 p.m. CST.  ESPN will also be the Pay TV home of theNovember 21 NFL International Series game in Mexico City, when the Oakland Raiders host the Houston Texans at Estadio Azteca.   Further, ESPN will be broadcasting an array of programs from the NFL Films library including programs such as Hard Knocks,America’s Game and A Football Life.

ESPN’s renewed slate of NFL programming in the region is supported and amplified by its studio efforts. ESPN produces and airs two studio shows from its recently opened state-of-the-art facility in Mexico City: the daily NFL Live, and NFL Esta Noche, a pre-game show for Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football.  NFL Live provides Mexican fans with the latest NFL news, reports, highlights and results, and regularly includes the expertise of veteran ESPN NFL experts, including John Sutcliffe, Raul Allegre, Eduardo Varela and Pablo Viruega.

“Renewing and expanding our rights to the NFL represents our continued investment in, and association with, flagship leagues that are fundamental to our brand and our growth,” said Tim Bunnell, Senior Vice President of Production, Programming, Marketing and Advertising Sales for ESPN International.  “We are thrilled that this agreement allows us to bring the NFL to fans across Latin America, especially in Mexico.”

“We are very excited to be continuing our partnership with ESPN in Mexico and throughout Latin America,” said Michael Markovich, Vice President of International Media for the NFL.  “This agreement with ESPN will expand the content available in the region and is a reflection of our strong commitment to continuing to serve NFL fans in the territory.”

As part of the agreement, ESPN International will air in Latin America:

• 17 Sunday Night Football games
• 17 Monday Night Football games

o    Includes Monday Night Football in Mexico City: Houston vs. Oakland November 21, 7:30 p.m. CST

• NFL Draft
• Season Kickoff game

o    Thursday, September 8, 7:30 p.m. CST

• Rematch of Super Bowl 50, with the defending champions Denver Broncos hosting the Carolina Panthers
• NFL RedZone

o   Features 17 viewing windows  simulcast coverage of all Sundayafternoon games airing in-progress 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. CST

• 2 AFC Wildcard Playoff games
• 2 AFC Divisional Playoff games
• AFC Championship game
• Pro Bowl
• Super Bowl
• 60 Compactos, one-hour game cut-down programs
• ESPN.com Digital Highlights
• NFL Films programming

ESPN studio shows produced in Mexico City include:

• NFL Live, airing Monday-Friday nights
• NFL Esta Noche, pre-game show on Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football

ESPN’s Spanish-language commentator lineup for Latin America includes:

• Sunday Night Football: Eduardo Varela & Pablo Viruega
• Monday Night Football: Alvaro Martin & Raul Allegre (Reporter: John Sutcliffe)
• NFL Esta Noche: Eduardo Varela and Pablo Viruega
• NFL Live: Ciro Procuna, Kary Correa, Raul Allegre, John Sutcliffe, Sergio Dipp, Miroslava Montemayor, Javier Trejo-Garay, Eitan Benezra, Marcos Martos, Mauricio Lopez, Gustavo  Tella and Miguel Pasquel