North American club football competition Major League Soccer has signed a four-year rights deal with pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports Latin America.
The pan-regional agreement includes rights to televise live MLS matches in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, with the exception of Brazil. It will run from 2015 to 2018.
As part of the agreement, Fox Sports Latin America will broadcast two live exclusive MLS regular-season matches per week, at least one Decision Day match, half of the MLS Cup Playoff games and the MLS All-Star Game and MLS Cup in alternate years. In addition, Fox Sports Latin America will produce a weekly highlights program as well as feature news, analysis and highlights across its digital platforms.
The partnership amplifies MLS’s exposure across the region in conjunction with the current domestic US rights agreements with sports broadcaster ESPN and the Fox Sports division of US network Fox. MLS will also retain the rights to one game per week for free-to-air television, with the league adding that its latest partnership means the competition will be viewed in nearly 120 territories.
“This agreement makes Fox Sports the channel with the most MLS games in Latin America, and to celebrate that, we are putting together a special coverage plan with new special productions,” Francisco Pazmiño, senior vice-president of programming and acquisitions for Fox Sports Latin America, said.