La Liga has long-term plans in North America and its tapping one of the most popular sports brands to deepen its connections to fans there.
The Spanish soccer league is linking up with UFC in a deal that will promote both entities.
- La Liga and UFC athletes will raise awareness about the other league through podcasts and shows on Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.
- UFC and La Liga will organize at least three annual events in Spain.
“The focus we want to have in terms of content creation and activations is in the United States,” La Liga Head of Content and Distribution Adrian Segovia told Front Office Sports, who also mentioned the natural affinity La Liga has with the Hispanic community in North America.
“For La Liga North America [a joint venture the league formed with Relevent Sports in 2018], it’s super important to have a relationship with a sport brand in the United States,” said Segovia. “We are the only European soccer tournament that has a joint venture here.”
The ESPN+ Connection
UFC and La Liga initially explored a deal because they are both key properties for ESPN+.
ESPN won U.S. rights to the Spanish soccer league in 2021 with an eight-year, $1.4 billion deal, joining UFC, which signed on in 2018 with a five-year, $1.5 billion deal — since extended by two years.
“With OTT, when you are on the same platform, it is easy to create content together to try to push a different property on that platform,” said Segovia.
