NFL Continues Hispanic Market Expansion

ESPN Deportes anchorwoman Kary Correa will be a part of the network's Spanish-language coverage team for Super Bowl 50, as they get set to broadcast the National Football League's (NFL) championship game for the first time in the channel's history.

For a third straight year, the Super Bowl will be televised by a Spanish-language network, airing on ESPN Deportes, as the National Football League (NFL) continues to expand their presence among Hispanic sports fans.

"Super Bowl 50 is one of the most anticipated events of the year, and this agreement with CBS and the NFL presents a unique opportunity for ESPN to further connect with the growing U.S. Hispanic NFL fan base," said ESPN Deportes vice president Freddy Rolon.

CBS Sports sub-licensed the Spanish-language rights to ESPN Deportes because the network does not have an in-house Spanish-language platform from which to broadcast the game.

Fox Deportes and NBC Universo previously aired the NFL's premier event when their parent companies had the English-language broadcast rights to the title game. The results were additional viewers for both the league and networks.

ESPN Deportes has a total distribution reach estimated at about 20 million homes. This is compared to 22 million homes for Fox Deportes, and 43 million for NBC Universo.

"As the broadcaster of Super Bowl 50, it was a priority for us to find a Spanish-language partner to televise this historic broadcast and reach the NFL's Hispanic fan base," said Sean McManus, chairman of CBS Sports, in a statement issued by ESPN. "The ESPN Deportes presentation of Super Bowl 50 will be a great complement to our broadcast on CBS.”

The demographics of this country are rapidly changing. With an estimated 50 million Hispanics living in the United States according to the Census report, the NFL has been carefully cultivating its presence in the Latino market.

The league, which has spent $243.8 million on Hispanic media, a 60 percent increase over five years, has done a good job of highlighting the accomplishments of local community leaders in their NFL markets. The NFL has also been successful at featuring Hispanic football players, such as Hall of Famers Anthony Muñoz and Tom Flores, through their yearly Hispanic Heritage Month activations.

The league has taken efforts to showcase the North American sport by partnering up with Spanish-language networks as a better option than lazily providing SAP coverage. This has allowed them to reach current and future sports fans in their own language.

Though this is the first time ESPN Deportes is airing the Super Bowl, their long-time "Monday Night Football" Spanish-language announce team of Alvaro Martin, former Super Bowl winner Raul Allegre, and John Sutcliffe will handle duties for Sunday’s championship game.

“We are committed to delivering our games in customized ways to serve our growing Hispanic fan base and look forward to connecting with our fans on Super Bowl Sunday on CBS and ESPN Deportes," said Brian Rolapp, the NFL's executive vice president of media.

The league's focus on the market is bearing fruit with the NFL estimating they have 27.5 million Hispanic fans who support the league. Hispanics comprised 8.7 percent of the NFL's television-viewing audience in 2014 (1.5 million television viewers) as compared to 5.5 percent in 2004 (779,000), according to Nielsen Media.

"The Hispanic community is currently the largest minority group in the United States; those who have been here a while have grown up as American sports fans, and the NFL is no exception," said Sutcliffe in an ESPN Deportes Q&A. "I’m seeing more and more that, as Latinos gain a more relevant place in the country’s demographics due to our expanding population, the number of Hispanic NFL fans, the country’s leading professional sports league, is also is growing."

While the league is making great strides retaining Hispanic sports fans, the NFL cannot afford to get complacent, looking for ways to build on those efforts as the population continues to grow.

Having players such as Denver Broncos offensive guards Max García (Mexican and Puerto Rican) and Louis Vásquez (Mexican) as well as Carolina head coach Ron Rivera (Puerto Rican and Mexican) shine on the NFL's largest stage helps the league connect with Hispanic fans.

"The NFL has made a big effort to bring this sport to Hispanic fans, but I think more can be done," said ESPN Deportes anchor Kary Correa. "I especially think Hispanic players need more support, and I hope that will happen soon."

The league also recently announced they are returning to Mexico, as part of their “International Series,” with the Houston Texans playing the Oakland Raiders next season on “Monday Night Football,” showing how adamant they are about making their mark in the Hispanic market, both domestically and internationally.

The last time the NFL played a regular-season game in Mexico, in 2005, the San Francisco 49ers played the Arizona Cardinals in front of 103,467 at historic Azteca Stadium. Next season’s game between the Texans and the Raiders will be televised on ESPN’s flagship station, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Mexico, and Mexico's Televisa network -- the largest multimedia mass media company in Latin America.

“More and more media outlets are interested in covering the NFL, and that makes it easier for us to bring this sport to all audiences,” said Correa.

You can follow Ed Molina at @GlobalEd718