Popualar video streaming company, Youtube has signed a deal to broadcast top tier football games in spain. YouTube has built on its live sports offerings after agreeing a free-to-air broadcast deal with Spain’s Professional Football League (LFP). A number of games from the LFP World Challenge, Spain’s top-tier football pre-season tour, will be shown on the online video platform later this summer. As well as the live games YouTube will also offer a number of highlights packages and behind the scenes content from the tour.
The broadcasts will include games featuring Real Sociedad and SD Eibar, who will embark on a North American pre-season tour and RCD Espanyol who are due to visit Bolivia as part of their summer plans. YouTube will show a number of fixtures including San Jose Earthquakes against Real Sociedad, Philadelphia Fury against Eibar and Club Blooming against Espanyol, among others.
The LFP World Challenge is part of a wider campaign set up between the Government of Spain, Spain’s Professional Football League (LFP), the country’s higher sports council (CSD), and the Spanish institute of foreign trade (ICEX) to promote La Liga and Spain in general. The news comes just days after BT Sport, which holds the exclusive UK broadcast rights to the Champions League and Europa League, announced that it would show the final of each tournament for free on YouTube.
YouTube’s ambitions to strengthen its foothold in live sports streaming extend beyond just football however, the Google-owned video service recently partnered with the NFL to offer fans some of the game’s most iconic matches for free. While YouTube has made its ambitions to stream live sport clear, it has been aided by sports broadcasters’ attempts to hold on to their audiences who are increasingly cutting cable and satellite subscriptions in favour of consuming content on digital platforms. The La Liga has also been attracting growing interest as they constantly rule the continental football tournament in the Champions League.