Americas

US satellite television company Dish Network has said it would be interested in bidding for the NFL American football league’s Sunday Ticket package if rival operator DirecTV fails to extend its rights deal.

National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman has intervened in talks over San Jose Sharks’ local broadcast rights deal amid fears the long-term agreement is seriously affecting the ice hockey team’s financial position, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

The IMG and William Morris Endeavor agencies have appointed Greg D’Alba as president of global sales and marketing.

International sports broadcaster ESPN and US media company Liberman Broadcasting have acquired media rights for the 2014 Socio MX Tour, which features five friendly matches between top-tier Mexican football clubs.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has agreed a multi-year content deal with fellow mixed martial arts series Invicta Fighting Championships, with UFC president Dana White suggesting he is keen to add further content to the UFCFightPass.com digital streaming service.

US sports broadcaster ESPN has signed a video content partnership with internet company Google for the 2014 Fifa World Cup national team football tournament.

Two services due to launch soon show the increasing strategic and commercial importance of short-form content to the big US sports leagues and underline the degree to which US sport is leading the way in exploiting digital media.

NFL American football franchise the Minnesota Vikings have stepped up their efforts to secure a Major League Soccer (MLS) expansion team for their new stadium by agreeing a partnership with the Relevent Sports agency.

UK pay-television broadcaster BSkyB has extended its exclusive rights deal for the US Open golf tournament as part of a new agreement that also includes coverage of other women’s, senior and amateur golf events in the US.

The United States Golf Association has extended its long-term partnership for Canadian pay-television sports broadcaster TSN and French-language sister network RDS to broadcast the US Open and other tournaments under the USGA umbrella through to 2022.

Canadian pay-television sports broadcaster TSN and French-language sister network RDS have agreed a multi-year extension through to 2019 for their exclusive rights to the Formula One motor-racing championship.

Canadian pay-television sports broadcaster TSN has expanded its horse racing coverage by agreeing a new multi-year rights deal with race track and casino operator Woodbine Entertainment Group.

Mexico’s telecommunications regulator, the Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones, has said that Televisa and América Movil can retain existing ‘exclusive’ rights deals for major sporting events despite having blocked the media companies from striking such agreements in the future.

The Saran Media agency has acquired exclusive rights in Turkey and Iceland for football’s Copa Libertadores club tournament.

Polish pay-television broadcaster NC Plus has acquired exclusive rights for the US Open and PGA Championship golf tournaments.

The RDA Television and IEC in Sports agencies have secured a deal with USA Rugby to jointly market the global media rights for the US national team’s matches against New Zealand and Scotland.