International sports broadcaster ESPN has struck a three-season extension to its Spanish-language contract in Latin America for rights to European club football competitions the Uefa Champions League and Europa League.
The deal with European football’s governing body Uefa covers the 2018-19 to 2020-21 seasons.
ESPN will carry a total of 71 Champions League matches each season. Sixty-six matches from the final playoff round, the group stage, the round of 16 and quarter-finals will be exclusive to ESPN and on pay-television. The semi-finals and the final will be non-exclusive.
ESPN will carry 103 Europa League matches per season – including 102 exclusive matches on pay-television – of the group stage, round of 16, round of 32, quarter-finals and semi-finals. The final will be non-exclusive.
ESPN’s new agreement with Uefa kicks off on August 15 in Tallinn, Estonia with the 2018 Super Cup, the annual meeting between the victors of the previous season’s Champions League and Europa League.
Matches from the three competitions will be televised across all of ESPN’s television networks including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3 and ESPN+ and stream live on ESPN Play, the broadband network available to fans via internet and mobile devices.
Additionally, ESPN will offer extensive coverage including goals and highlights of each match, special reporting and analysis throughout the tournaments via the brand’s regional digital platforms such as ESPN.com and the ESPN App. For the first time ever, ESPN will also distribute match highlights across its social media platforms.
ESPN will air highlights and magazine programs, as well as pre- and post-match studio shows dedicated exclusively to the competitions. It will complement them with news and information studio programming like Sportscenter, Cronómetro, Hablemos de Fútbol, ESPN FC, Balón Dividido, ESPN A.M. and Fuera de Juego.