ESPN’s announces cross-platform, cross-language coverage of Liga MX

ESPN announced today that it will start telecasting games from Liga MX, the Mexican premier soccer league, in English on ESPN2 and ESPNEWS.

Freddy Rolon, Vice President of ESPN Deportes programming and business initiatives, answered a few questions about this deal and what it will mean to soccer fans.

Why did ESPN decide to telecast LigaMX in English?
In line with our mission to serve sports fans, we are continually working to reach the widest possible audience with relevant programming. We see a long term opportunity with Liga MX. It’s a league that has always enjoyed strong Spanish-language coverage and as the league gains popularity in the U.S., we want to maximize Liga MX content across all our platforms. By providing these games in English, we’re looking to serve soccer fans and an evolving Hispanic audience, giving them the option to watch these teams in their preferred language.

How will ESPN’s English-language coverage impact ESPN Deportes?
This is also a great deal for ESPN Deportes. We’ll be extending our coverage with more than 130 Mexican soccer games a year and we will be airing playoff games for the first time. To answer the question more specifically, we are better when we can cover events in both English and Spanish. Doing so allows us to maximize our production resources across platforms and languages, and fans benefit with more content, more coverage and more options.

How would you best characterize ESPN’s cross-platform coverage of Liga MX going forward?
Our coverage will be extensive. We’re stepping up our digital game by adding dedicated bloggers to cover the league, Copa MX and the Mexican National team on ESPN FC, in English and Spanish. Fans will be able to view games on their computers and mobile devices using Watch ESPN and ESPN3. They’ll also continue to have access to our existing coverage on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN Deportes Radio.