ESPN and Soccer United Marketing are expected to complete a deal within the coming weeks making the network the English-language broadcaster of the inaugural Pan Pacific Championship.
Terms were not available because negotiations were continuing, sources said. SUM is expected to produce the games, which ESPN is expected to air on ESPN Classic and ESPN360.
The deal highlights ESPN’s push to acquire soccer content. It just completed its first year paying MLS $8 million annually for rights to weekly games, and its Spanish network, ESPN Deportes, recently agreed to produce and market 14 South American World Cup Qualifying Games.
The Pan Pacific Championship will be played Feb. 20 and 23 in Hawaii’s Aloha Stadium. It will feature MLS Cup champion the Houston Dynamo, Japan’s J. League champion Gamba Osaka, SuperLiga runner-up Los Angeles Galaxy and an undetermined finalist from Australia’s Hyundai A-league.
ESPN is expected to send most of its coverage to ESPN360, which reaches 13 million households, and show Galaxy games on ESPN Classic, which reaches 63.2 million homes.
Negotiations are being handled by MLS President Mark Abbott and Scott Guglielmino, ESPN vice president of programming.