Amazon in talks to get first men's soccer rights in North America

Amazon is preparing to lay the groundwork to stream men’s soccer rights in North America. While the tech giant has soccer rights in other countries, namely select Premier League games in the UK market, the soccer coverage on Amazon Prime Video in the United States, Mexico, and Canada avoids the men’s game. Instead, Amazon reserved itself for a package of games in the National Women’s Soccer League, a contract agreement that starts in the 2024 campaign.

Now, there are musings of Amazon entering the mix for men’s soccer, and that starts down south. A pair of Liga MX clubs are having talks with Amazon Prime Video to stream their home games in Mexico. Liga MX contracts for coverage are specific to home games. Amazon wants to do that for two clubs, Chivas de Guadalajara and Tigres.

Progression of Amazon soccer rights in Liga MX

Currently, Chivas home games are available via Televisa, while Tigres home games air on Azteca. Both Televisa and Azteca are popular TV channels for Mexican audiences. Now, the American mega-company is making a push for both Chivas and Tigres as their contracts with their current media partners expire in the summer.

As things stand, Amazon is far along in its contract negotiations with Tigres. According to Mexican publication Récord, exclusivity talks between Tigres and Televisa have stalled, and Amazon placed a deal on the table that far exceeded what the executives at Televisa put forth. The main competitor with Amazon to acquire the rights to Tigres games is Star+, which has content from ESPN and Disney+ in Mexico.

Communication with Chivas is not as far along, but Récord claims Amazon has reached out to a second Liga MX club. Chivas is a massive club, just like Tigres, but the Mexico City outfit is undoubtedly one of the biggest teams in the country. Much of that is a credit to the side’s success, as Chivas has won 12 Liga MX titles in its vaunted history.

Amazon Prime Video already streams sports in Mexico. It broadcasts 50 games in the National Basketball Association. However, Liga MX has significantly more of a following, and Tigres and Chivas are two of the biggest teams in the country.

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Amazon and broadcasting sports

The streaming platform is making a push to broadcast more sports as streaming becomes ever more present. For example, Amazon has select rights to the UEFA Champions League in Germany and Italy. However, the company exited the rights deals in the United Kingdom for the Premier League. Those costly packages would run into the billions for Amazon. The departure from that market creates more opportunities with more affordable soccer leagues, and Liga MX fits the bill.

This does not affect the rights deals for Liga MX in the United States. Telemundo has the rights to Chivas home games, and TelevisaUnivision broadcast Tigres. However, Amazon could see the benefits of streaming Liga MX games in Mexico, and it could expand that into the profitable American market.

In the United States, Amazon broadcasts National Football League games on Thursday nights. That is generally an undesirable, but much more affordable, time slot to stream NFL games. Still, Amazon is paying $70 million for each Thursday night game in the NFL. Even though Amazon has no shortage of funding, paying this much for rights deals stacks up over time.

PHOTOS: IMAGO.