After record TV ratings for their broadcasts of the 2010 World Cup and 2008 UEFA European Championships, ESPN has invested in soccer in the United States once again by buying the television and internet rights for Euro 2012 and Euro 2016. The American sports television giant will televise every match of both tournaments and own the U.S. rights for all internet and television broadcasts of the tournaments in all languages.
ESPN Acquires TV & Internet Rights For UEFA Euro 2012 & 2016
“Euro is a perfect counterbalance to World Cup, so strategically it makes sense for us,” Scott Guglielmino, ESPN’s senior vice president for programming, said during a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “The passion involved in national team play at the highest level is something that’s incredibly powerful, unlike anything else.”
The 2012 tournament will be hosted by Poland and Ukraine beginning on June 8 and concluding with the Final on July 1. It will be the final Euro to have 16 teams as the tournament will expand to 24 teams beginning with Euro 2016, to be hosted by France. The plans for the tournaments are to broadcast Euro matches on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3.com, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio and ESPN Mobile.
“With interest in football growing significantly in America, ESPN will no doubt provide great visibility for UEFA’s national team competitions through their promotional and programming capacity,” Guy-Laurent Epstein, marketing director of UEFA Events, said in a statement.
ESPN's broadcast of Euro 2008 saw ESPN average 1.1 million viewers for their seven matches and ESPN2 average 673,000 viewers for their 17 matches. The Final became the first Euro match to be televised on network TV and ABC garnered a 2.3 rating and 3.76 million viewers. That was all despite England, a team with a huge fan base and following failing to qualify for the tournament.
All of this comes on the heels of a 31% increase in ratings for ESPN’s coverage of the 2010 World Cup from the 2006 edition. Now ESPN is looking to build its soccer coverage and will build up to Euro 2012 with the broadcast of qualifiers, the rights for which they also acquired.
ESPN acquired the rights for the home games of Spain, Germany, France and the Netherlands, as well as games involving England, Italy, Ireland, Scotland and Portugal.
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