La Liga struck an eight-year broadcasting extension with Televisa reported to be worth $70 million per year, or $560 million total.

The deal to air La Liga in Mexico and Central America begins with the 2024-25 season and is reportedly double the network’s current fee. Televisa’s Sky Sports channels have held a partnership with La Liga for the last decade.

La Liga continues to expand its global presence.

• It recently entered a $1.4 billion agreement — roughly $175 million per year — with ESPN for U.S. broadcasting rights, the richest U.S. broadcasting deal for a European league.
• Broadcasters pay La Liga roughly $115 million each year for rights in the Middle East and North Africa and around $100 million per year for rights in China.
• The league is interested in hosting a regular-season match in Mexico at some point, as well as focusing on non-game content and grassroots efforts.

La Liga North America, a joint venture between the league and soccer media event organizer Relevent Sports Group, brokered the extension. Relevent, which is backed by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, also runs soccer’s International Champions Cup.

Televisa will soon be acquired by Univision for $4.8 billion, forming a new entity called Televisa-Univision. The pair already merged their sports divisions in 2019.

Complications introduced by BetMGM were part of the reason that DraftKings’ attempted $22.4 billion acquisition of Entain fell through, according to Entain CEO Jette Nygaard-Andersen.

The U.S.-based online sportsbook is jointly owned by Entain and MGM Resorts, and is a competitor to DraftKings. MGM had said that it would need to approve any deal between the two companies.

“We have always been clear that the joint venture [with MGM] provides exclusivity for both parties for any activities involving sports betting and gaming in the United States,” Nygaard-Andersen told Reuters. 

“I think that played a role here, but any transaction of this size is complicated,” she added.

In addition to a bigger piece of the U.S. market, Entain would have given DraftKings its first foothold overseas.

• Entain has license to operate in at least 27 countries. 
• It owns a large in-person betting presence in the United Kingdom through its Ladbrokes and Coral brands.

DraftKings CEO Jason Robins offered a different explanation: “It was really more about our confidence in our current trajectory in the U.S., our desire to focus on the U.S. and, ultimately, the value that we felt like we would be shedding by pursuing that asset.”

Unity Software, a 3D game-development platform, has agreed to acquire Weta Digital’s technology division for $1.6 billion in cash and stock. 

A visual effects studio founded by “The Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson, Weta Digital offers dozens of tools that Unity will leverage to create characters and settings across digital industries, including video games. 

“This acquisition is all about building out the platform that will be at the center of the metaverse,” D.A. Davidson & Co. analyst Franco Granda told Reuters. 

Weta Digital will remain a standalone entity, but Unity will acquire 275 of the company’s engineers, who are joining its Creative Solutions division.

• In August, Unity agreed to buy game-streaming app Parsec for $320 million.
• The same month, it acquired Oto, a system that builds safe gaming environments.
• In October, it collaborated with UFC to unveil Metacast, an RT3D sports platform.
• Last month, it also launched Unity Gaming Services, which simplifies game creation. 

Unity generated $286.3 million in revenue in Q3 2021, a 43% increase year-over-year. The company raised its fiscal 2021 revenue guidance following the strong results. 

Full-year revenue is expected to reach as high as $1.085 billion, a 40% increase compared to FY2020.