ESPN to offer domestic American football in Brazil

ESPN Brasil has acquired rights to the country’s domestic American football league, the Liga Brasil Futebol Americano (BFA).

The deal will run until at least the end of the 2019 campaign, which concludes with the 10th edition of the Brazil Bowl on December 14.

As part of the deal with the BFA, ESPN will have exclusive pay-television rights for the semi-finals and final of the men’s tournament and the final of the women’s competition.

ESPN will offer BFA coverage on television and via its WatchESPN OTT platform.

Carlos Maluf, ESPN’s director of acquisitions, programming and new business in Brazil, said: “In the 1990s, ESPN believed and invested in broadcasting the NFL to the Brazilian market when the league was still unknown here. After extensive coverage of the sport, today it is a reference point for sports fans [in Brazil].”