By David Gold
July 27 – ESPN has made further inroads into the European football market after signing deals to broadcast Dutch, French, German, Italian and Russian top flight football.
France’s Ligue 1 is a new acquisition for ESPN, while the other deals are all renewals of existing contracts.
The deals all include multimedia rights across digital platforms in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
ESPN will also continue to screen FA Cup, Scottish Premier League (SPL), Europa League, Major League Soccer (MLS) and international football.
The channel last year showed the French League Cup final, won by Marseille, and the French Cup final, in which Lyon overcame minnows Gazélec Ajaccio.
ESPN’s coverage will be bolstered by some of the most perceptive names in football punditry, including James Richardson (pictured below) and Gabriele Marcotti fronting their Serie A coverage.
The broadcaster will also show a daily football show looking at the global game.
During the upcoming season ESPN will be showing 23 Premier League games as its deal with the division draws to an end.
The broadcaster recently lost out on a new deal with England’s Premier League though, at the expense of BT.
The French and Russian leagues are particularly intriguing, coming at a time when rights in those countries are increasing in value.
That is mainly fuelled by significant investment within those countries.
In France, the Qatari-backed Paris Saint Germain have spent significantly since last year and have signed big names such as Zlatan Ibrahimović, Javier Pastore, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Thiago Silva.
Allied with the fact that France is Europe’s most competitive major league, having seen five different champions in the last five years.
Last year was particularly thrilling as Montpellier (pictured below), with one of the smallest budgets in the league, edged out Paris St Germain for the title, and with half of the division battling against relegation in the final weeks of the campaign.
The Russian league is also a particularly interesting one, having aligned its calendar with the rest of Europe for the start of the new season.
They have also seen a growing number of major internationals come to their leading club sides, such as Croatian Vedran Ćorluka, Brazilian Rômelu and Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o.
Russia is also attracting some of Europe’s best known managers, with Slaven Bilić, Guus Hiddink, Luciano Spalletti and Unai Emery currently coaching in the league.
ESPN have confirmed that they will also be screening the German Bundesliga for another three years, while Dutch and Italian football are going to continue to be shown.
Germany’s Bundesliga remains the most popular in terms of attendances on the continent, and the coming year should be another intriguing battle between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, with the latter looking to finally win back the title.
In Italy Juventus will seek to not only retain their scudetto from last year, but also to keep going an unbeaten run which lasted for the whole of last season.
Although the Dutch Eredivisie is not as popular as its rivals, last season was a particularly competitive one, with six teams involved in the title race for much of the campaign.
“The addition of France’s Ligue 1 and the renewal of Serie A, Dutch Eredivisie and Russian Premier League means ESPN is the home to the very best domestic league football from across Europe,” said Jeroen Oerlemans, the vice-president of television channels, ESPN EMEA.
“Our portfolio of live football on ESPN is combined with our growing range of sport, which includes rugby, cricket, darts, motorsport, UFC, boxing and more.”
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