Is ESPN Deportes bad for MLS?

[pc4th]

http://www.forbes.com/business/newswire/2004/01/21/rtr1221071.html


The launch of ESPN Deportes sets up a four-way battle for the Hispanic sports fan with Rupert Murdoch's 7-year-old Fox Sports en Espanol, NBC-owned Telemundo and Univision.

Fox Sports in Espanol is available to 6 million cable subscribers. ESPN's Garcia expects to achieve similar breadth of distribution within a few years. Both said the Latino sports market is expanding and underserved.

Launched last week, ESPN Deportes is available to only a half-million households, but Garcia is pitching it to cable and satellite operators as an opportunity to improve penetration in the Hispanic community.

the new ESPN Deportes is basically ESPN and ESPN 2 in Spanish rather English.



But ESPN is betting that enough Spanish speakers follow North American major-league sports, but would rather watch them in their native language. ESPN holds rights to all four major-league sports -- the NFL and NBA, baseball and the National Hockey League.

"ESPN is filling in where others have not gone, taking traditional American sports and making them available in Spanish," said Joseph Schramm, CEO of Schramm Sports & Entertainment.

This approach differs from News Corp's Fox Sports en Espanol, which focuses on traditionally Latino sports and has Spanish-language rights to Major League Soccer and a Latin American club soccer tournament, Copa Libertadores.

"Our focus has been getting products out of Latin America that appeal directly to the U.S.-Latino fan base," said Fox Sports en Espanol General Manager David Sternberg.

[Justin O]

Originally posted by pc4th
But ESPN is betting that enough Spanish speakers follow North American major-league sports, but would rather watch them in their native language. ESPN holds rights to all four major-league sports -- the NFL and NBA, baseball and the National Hockey League.

"ESPN is filling in where others have not gone, taking traditional American sports and making them available in Spanish," said Joseph Schramm, CEO of Schramm Sports & Entertainment.

Any thoughts as to whether or not this is true? I was wondering this the other night when I saw their version of Sportscenter. They had college basketball and NHL highlights, which caused me to wonder just how well they know their audience. Keep in mind, many people who identify themselves as Hispanic in this country are very assimilated and speak English as a first language. These are likely not the people watching ESPN Deportes.

[Roehl Sybing]

I wouldn't know if it's good or bad. I have no idea how I would get it. ESPN has done a wonderful job of letting us know.

[AndyMead]

ESPN has had a spanish language website for at least a year now. I'm sure they've used it - and other things - for market research into what sports are followed and which ones are not.

Remember, too, that sports news programs are routinely part "news" and part "advertising" for the products the network owns.

[AndyMead]

I must be getting rusty.

I can't believe someone started a POLL in Business and Media. Sigh.

[monster]

I must be getting rusty. I thought you weren't in charge of this forum anymore. :p

[AndyMead]

Originally posted by monster
I must be getting rusty. I thought you weren't in charge of this forum anymore. :p

I'm always willing to help by offering my opinions. :p

[monster]

Originally posted by AndyMead
I'm always willing to help by offering my opinions. :p

I've always wished I had the courage to do the same.

On topic, by the way, I think what is missing in that analysis is the fact that ESPN Deportes will (if it ever gets carriage) have MLS as well as other soccer properties.

FSWE can say it has Copa Lib, but ESPN Deportes can say it has the Champions League. That fact is sorely missing from that article.

Personally, I think the biggest issue in the growth of Spanish-language TV will be Telemundo's carriage of the Olympics. That carrot could be used to get on a lot more systems than any other event.

[AndyMead]

I suspect ESPN Desportes will be a financial boon to MLS/SUM. Without any Mexican soccer properties ESPN Desportes will struggle to gain a strong foothold. With the Univision and NBC/Telemundo families having tied up the main MFL rights, and Gol TV having the home game rebroadcast rights to a couple of teams, there's not much left. I believe FSW has the Copa Libertadores games.

That pretty much leaves the FMF or Mexican national team broacasts. Those rights are owned by SUM. Hmmm.....

Mo' Money, Mo' Money, Mo' Money.

I think ESPN Desportes will definitely have to make a play for the Mexican national team games played in the US.

[tigersoccer2005]

I come from a latino background but was born and raised here, as such I dont feel an overwhelming need to follow american sports in spanish---but there definitely is a market for this. My father and my grandfather have been following baseball in this country for years. Until the invention of the SAP button they would watch without understanding the broadcast. Unfortunately the Yankees and Mets dont usually have a reliable SAP transmission---sometimes they do it and sometimes they dont.It would be great for folks like them to have a channel that transmits american sports in spanish all the time!! Latinos also usually follow basketball and the local spanish radio station does Knicks games. Hockey would be a much tougher sell I think.....

The stereotype is that Latinos dont like NFL football---but that is simply not true, at least in my experience. The problem is not that they dont like what they see. Many of my spanish only friends have told me that they can see it's exciting-- the NFL is definitely a very visual, made-for-tv sport--the aerial ballet of trying to catch the ball, the colors of the uniforms, the hard tackles----even if you dont know anything about the sport, you can get excited by what you see. The problem with most latinos is they don't understand the rules of the game--it's hard to get into something when you dont know what's going on!! My brother and I took the time to explain Football to my father and over the years he has grown to be an NFL fan!! He has been known to make a call before the ref flags it!! He looks forward to sitting down and watching the Jets or Giants game with us. My father has gone form not knowing any of the teams to making Superbowl picks!! lol A channel like this would be great to introduce latinos to the NFL.

I do agree however, with the person that said that they should mention that ESPN has the Champions League--- since soccer will always be number one in the hearts of most latinos--and why shouldnt it? =)

[AndyMead]

I thought the stereotype was that Mexicans - especially those in the north of the country - absolutely are nuts about the NFL.

[JayRockers!]

Does ESPN have the right to show MLS on Deportes? And will it do so at the expense of ESPN 2 broadcasts? Because that will suck, as I will never get ESPN Deportes from Comcast. Because if they get it, they'll go digital, and I'm not going back to Comcast until they get FSW.

Thx,

Jay!

[tigersoccer2005]

it's tru what you say about th enorthern part of mexico and the love of the NFL---what i was referring to was the most of the other latino nations. Mexico is unique because of its proximity to the U.S. ---but the great majority of latin americans don't know the first thing about the NFL football.

[Northside Rovers]

No its not a bad thing. Why would it be a bad thing? You think its going to take viewers away?

It certainly would not be a bad thing if MLS can get in ESPN Desportes - even id a spanish simulcast of the game of the week on ESPN2.

This is an opportunity for MLS - not a threat.

[halfnelson31]

i think he meant will they take MLS off english and put it only on ESPN Deportes like they might for the champions league

[da_cfo]

Originally posted by Northside Rovers
No its not a bad thing. Why would it be a bad thing? You think its going to take viewers away?

It certainly would not be a bad thing if MLS can get in ESPN Desportes - even id a spanish simulcast of the game of the week on ESPN2.

This is an opportunity for MLS - not a threat.

ESPN Deportes will simulcast MLS on ESPN2 in 2004.

The 3 MLS games on ABC Sports will be available on ABC with Spanish-language SAP.

[JayRockers!]

Originally posted by da_cfo
ESPN Deportes will simulcast MLS on ESPN2 in 2004.Does this mean the television broadcasts for MLS are primarily to be on Deportes moving forward, and EPSND is "loaning" MLS back to ESPN2? Or can ABC/ESPN just telecast the product wherever/whenever it wants? This is basically my question, and at what point do we get the old screwjob from ESPN in regards to watching MLS?

Thx,

Jay!

[DAGSports]

Originally posted by JayRockers!
Does this mean the television broadcasts for MLS are primarily to be on Deportes moving forward, and EPSND is "loaning" MLS back to ESPN2? Or can ABC/ESPN just telecast the product wherever/whenever it wants? This is basically my question, and at what point do we get the old screwjob from ESPN in regards to watching MLS?

Thx,

Jay!

ESPN and MLS signed the "barter" contract a couple of years ago- ESPN got what it wanted in the World Cup for free in returning for having to assume the production costs for MLS games (as opposed to a straight time-buy). As such, I think the contract mandated that ESPN2 show one match each week unless MLS bought airtime on ABC that week. This essentially created "Destination Viewing"- viewers and MLS Sponsors knew exactly where the games would air and pretty much when they would air.

ESPN probably received the Spanish-Language rights because Univision and Telemundo turned them down- the product isn't really worth anything in Spanish, especially considering how many Spanish-speakers watch La Liga Mexicana.

As with FSW and FSE, the cost of throwing a second-language broadcast on a different channel isn't much (since the feed comes from one source), and MLS wants to reach Spanish-speakers above all else, so voila: ESPN Deportes will pick-up ESPN2 games, but ESPN2 will remain the broadcaster until the end of the 2006 season.

[rangers00]

If you notice, there is very little proposed content on ESPN Deportes that are exclusively produced for ESPN Deportes. They can be categorized as

1) Latin American only content, those you can only see on ESPN Latin America (South/Central American sports, Champions League, etc.)
2) ESPN USA content, programs produced for ESPN USA, but simulcasted in Spanish on ESPN Latin America, including the NFL, NBA, MLB and MLS games.

Will MLS be switched from category (2) to category (1)? I doubt it.

[AndyMead]

Originally posted by JayRockers!
Does this mean the television broadcasts for MLS are primarily to be on Deportes moving forward, and EPSND is "loaning" MLS back to ESPN2? Or can ABC/ESPN just telecast the product wherever/whenever it wants? This is basically my question, and at what point do we get the old screwjob from ESPN in regards to watching MLS?

Thx,

Jay!

No, and where did you even get an inkling of an idea that that might happen?