ESPN International Strikes Deal with the NFL

ESPN International will deliver more than 48 live NFL games to 17 countries each of the four years of the agreement across Spanish-speaking Latin America, covering four seasons from 2016 to 2019.

ESPN International and the National Football League have reached a new four-year rights renewal to NFL games in Spanish-speaking Latin America, it was announced today by Russell Wolff, Executive Vice President and Managing Director, ESPN International and Mark Waller, Executive Vice President, NFL International. The new agreement starts with the 2016 season on September 8 and continues through the 2019 season (four seasons).

The agreement includes rights to pre-season games, regular-season games, including the annual NFL Kickoff, Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, the AFC Playoffs, the Pro Bowl and one of the world's biggest sporting events, the Super Bowl. The agreement makes ESPN the exclusive television home for Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football throughout the region.

In all, ESPN International will deliver more than 48 live NFL games to 17 countries each of the four years of the agreement across Spanish-speaking Latin America. ESPN also retains the right to air Compactos, one-hour game cut-down programs covering up to sixty games each season.

A key addition to the agreement includes the linear television distribution of NFL RedZone, which provides "whip around" coverage of all Sunday afternoon games airing between 12 p.m. and 7 p.m. CST. ESPN will also be the Pay TV home of the November 21 NFL International Series game in Mexico City, when the Oakland Raiders host the Houston Texans at Estadio Azteca. Further, ESPN will be broadcasting an array of programs from the NFL Films library including programs such as Hard Knocks, America's Game and A Football Life.

ESPN's renewed slate of NFL programming in the region is supported and amplified by its studio efforts. ESPN produces and airs two studio shows from its recently opened state-of-the-art facility in Mexico City: the daily NFL Live, and NFL Esta Noche, a pre-game show for Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football. NFL Live provides Mexican fans with the latest NFL news, reports, highlights and results, and regularly includes the expertise of veteran ESPN NFL experts, including John Sutcliffe, Raul Allegre, Eduardo Varela and Pablo Viruega.

"Renewing and expanding our rights to the NFL represents our continued investment in, and association with, flagship leagues that are fundamental to our brand and our growth," said Tim Bunnell, Senior Vice President of Production, Programming, Marketing and Advertising Sales for ESPN International. "We are thrilled that this agreement allows us to bring the NFL to fans across Latin America, especially in Mexico."

"We are very excited to be continuing our partnership with ESPN in Mexico and throughout Latin America," said Michael Markovich, Vice President of International Media for the NFL. "This agreement with ESPN will expand the content available in the region and is a reflection of our strong commitment to continuing to serve NFL fans in the territory."

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