Ahead of the start of its second season as La Liga’s U.S. broadcast partner, ESPN SVP of Programming Rodolfo Martinez spoke with SBJ about La Liga’s coverage plans for the ’22-23 campaign. Martinez revealed that for this season, ESPN decided to bring in more "experienced" broadcasters with knowledge on "communicating during a telecast." Those include former La Liga players Pablo Zabaleta, Mario Kempes and Hugo Sánchez. Those hires were made after ESPN brought in big names for last year’s coverage who Martinez said were not "necessarily natural broadcasters."
Martinez also explained that this year, the network aims to focus more on “building stories around key La Liga players” on and off the field. He added that the goal is to make viewers “feel the insane football atmosphere from matches being played in Seville or Bilbao.”
Throughout La Liga's 92nd season, ESPN+, ABC and ESPN Deportes will come together to provide English and Spanish-language coverage of the league. That will kick off this weekend with ESPN+ streaming all 10 opening week matches in English and Spanish, beginning Friday, August 12 with Osasuna vs. Sevilla.
In addition to live game coverage, content will include live match commentary, studio shows, and more. Longer episodes of the Bicycle Diaries will be incorporated on ESPN+ over the weekend. ESPN reporter and host Alexis Nunes’s contract has been renewed and she will continue to report from the pitch and as well as in- studio across ESPN platforms in addition to an expanded role for La Liga coverage. Martinez added that the number of ESPN reporters will "also increase at live matches in Spain."
