As it continues to gobble up soccer rights, Fox Sports has signed a multimedia agreement to air European qualifying matches for two soccer tournaments, UEFA Euro 2016 and the FIFA 2018 World Cup. In addition, the rights agreement will allow Fox to sublicense games to ESPN in a complete 50/50 split.
Between 2014 and 2018, Fox and ESPN will each carry over 270 matches including 129 Euro 2016 qualifiers, 129 2018 World Cup qualifiers and various international friendly matches.
ESPN will be able to air the games on TV through its Family Networks and stream them on its Watch ESPN platform.
Fox will have the rights to air the qualifiers on Fox Sports 1, its upcoming Fox Sports Go mobile and tablet app, Fox Soccer Plus and Fox Soccer 2Go.
ESPN will have the right of first refusal for the Euro 2016 qualifiers.
Here’s the Fox Sports press release.
FOX SPORTS AWARDED MULTI-MEDIA RIGHTS TO EURO 2016 & 2018 WORLD CUP EUROPEAN QUALIFIERS
Inventory Split 50/50 with ESPN in Sublicense Arrangement
New York — FOX Sports Media Group and UEFA have entered into a multi-media rights agreement for all UEFA EURO 2016TM and 2018 FIFA World CupTM European qualifying matches, it was announced today by David Nathanson, Executive Vice President, FOX Soccer. Simultaneously, FSMG has agreed to sublicense half the game inventory to ESPN for carriage on its television and digital assets. The rights are exclusive in the United States, non-exclusive in the Caribbean.
“The journey for a country to be represented in two of the most prestigious soccer tournaments in the world is some of the most exciting soccer played each year,” Nathanson said. “There are no two media properties better fit to showcase these matches than ESPN and FOX Sports whom already have the broadcast rights to the UEFA EURO 2016TM and the 2018 FIFA World CupTM respectively. The UEFA European Qualifiers adds a new dimension of depth to our robust portfolio of soccer broadcast rights.”
Qualifying matches for the UEFA EURO 2016TM begin in September 2014, while 2018 FIFA World CupTM qualifiers begin in September 2016. The rights retained by FSMG and those granted to ESPN are identical. FOX Sports and ESPN each have rights to over 270 matches total for both cycles. Each package includes:
- 129 UEFA EURO 2016TM Qualifiers (Sept. 2014 – Nov. 2015)
- 129 2018 FIFA World CupTM Qualifiers (Sept. 2016 – Nov. 2017)
- 15 international friendly matches over the term (2014-2018)
ESPN, the UEFA EURO 2016TM rights holder, plans to offer its more than 270 qualifying matches across ESPN networks – ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN and ESPN3. ESPN has also attained highlights rights for studio programs including SportsCenter, ESPN’s new daily soccer program ESPN FC on TV and the company’s global soccer digital hub ESPN FC. During the UEFA EURO 2016TM qualification cycle, ESPN has first selection from each week’s pool of games leading into its tournament coverage.
“UEFA has gone to great lengths to organize these critical and competitive matches,” said Scott Guglielmino, ESPN senior vice president for programming. “We are delighted to work with UEFA and FOX to bring fans in the United States all the qualifying matches in Europe for UEFA EURO 2016TM and the 2018 FIFA World CupTM.”
That is all.
