ESPN+ Acquires The Scottish Premiership Rights In The U.S.
ESPN+ acquired the U.S. streaming right to the Scottish Premier League. Moving forward, at least one match will be live-streamed a week in both English and Spanish.
The first match was streamed on Saturday, October 17th, pitting the Rangers F.C. against Celtic F.C. in which the Rangers defeated the Celtic’s 2–0, expanding their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership to four points.
ESPN+ also quired the right to stream select matches from the Scottish Championship, the Scottish Challenge Cup, and the Scottish League Cup.
“The Scottish Premiership on ESPN+ will offer fans tradition, intensity, rivalries and some of the most passionately supported clubs in the world — and will add further to the most comprehensive lineup of soccer available in the U.S.,” stated Russell Wolff, executive vice president and general manager at ESPN+.
The deal is the second major international rights deal for the Scottish Professional Football League this month. The Glasgow Rangers agreed on a landmark Indian partnership selling their broadcast rights to Star Sports in India.
The league has also broadcast partnerships with Sport 1 in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Match T.V. in Russia, and Polsat in Poland, bringing Scottish soccer’s reach to over 150 territories.
For ESPN+, the deal adds to their already illustrious soccer portfolio which includes Major League Soccer, Bundesliga (Germany’s top League), Serie A (top Italian League), Eredivisie (Netherland’s top league), England’s F.A. Cup (oldest football tournament in world), the Copa del Ray (annual knockout tournament in Spain). In total, the platform streams around 2,000 lives football matches each year.
ESPN+ launched in April 2018. The entity announced this past August that it would increase its monthly membership by 20% from $4.99 to $5.99.
