One World Sports extends deal for three football rights
MUMBAI: One World Sports, the Asian focused sports network in the United States, has extended its exclusive North American multi-platform rights agreement with Japan?s J. League, the Korea Professional Football League (K-League) and the Chinese Football Association Super League (CSL).
The sports network has entered into a three-year agreement with World Sport Group (WSG), which has the global media rights for the three properties.
Each weekend, One World Sports will feature three games from the J. League, two games from the CSL and one game from the K-League. This is in addition to two games from the Australian League (A-League). The combination of leagues offers a full host of top-notch soccer from Asia?s leading soccer leagues. The games are presented live whenever possible to add to the real-time excitement of the match.
"We are so pleased with the extension of our J. League, K-League and CSL football rights," said ONE World Sports Senior Vice President Programming Rick Jemison. "We are committed to bringing Asia?s best soccer matches to its fans in North America. It is a tremendous vote of confidence for Asia?s preeminent soccer leagues to choose us to continue to deliver the live and exclusive coverage of their games."
The J. League includes 18 teams and is the top division of the Japanese professional football league. Its season is played from March to December and consists of matches played in double round-robin (home and away) format of 34 games each.
The CSL is the highest and most prestigious level of professional soccer in China. The league has 16 teams. Three clubs competed in this season?s AFC Champions League, Asia?s premier soccer club competition, with Guangzhou Evergrande qualifying for the round of 16.
The K-League is South Korea?s top professional soccer league. It has a proven history of excellence, with four of the league?s 16 teams competing in the 2012 AFC Champions League and Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma and Ulsan Hyundai advancing to the round of 16.