Univision Launches Liga MX Fantasy League Soccer Game
Club América is one of the 18 Liga MX teams that is featured in Univision Deportes' first fantasy league soccer game it debuted at the start of the 2015 Apertura season. The Spanish language network's fantasy league platform hopes to become a one-stop destination Web site for hardcore Mexican soccer fans.
Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
Univision has stepped into the fantasy league business launching a soccer fantasy gaming platform revolving around Mexico's pro soccer league, Liga MX.
Mexican soccer fans will be able to choose from players competing in Liga MX to be a part of their fantasy league squad, with the ability to create leagues as well as compete in the overall rankings. Prizes range from personalized soccer scarves for the first 250 leagues registered and weekly prizes of $100 from WorldSoccerShop.com, to a grand prize of an all-expense paid trip to Miami for the Premios Deportes award show, and a spot on the 2016 Univision Deportes Fantasy talent league -- which includes Adriana Monsalve, Félix Fernández, Rodolfo Landeros, Hristo Stoichkov, Jorge Calvo, Enrique Borja, Raúl Guzmán, Edgar Martínez, Luis Omar Tapia, Lindsay Casinelli and Enrique Bermúdez.
The Spanish-language network's fantasy league platform will also include highlights of all Liga MX games, aiming to make the Web site a one-stop destination point for the hardcore Mexican soccer fan.
"We are proud to be the first to bring soccer fans this new way to engage with their favorite sport," said Juan Carlos Rodriguez, president of Univision Deportes, in a statement. "Univision Deportes is the home of soccer 365 days a year and we are passionate about delivering the overall soccer experience that our fans want."
The move into fantasy league soccer makes sense for Univision considering Liga MX's killer ratings on the network. Liga MX Clausura 2015 matches averaged 982,000 viewers on Univision's flagship network while UniMás drew an average 812,000 viewers. The recent Campeón de Campeones match between Apertura 2014 champion Club América versus Clausura 2015 titleholder Santos Laguna averaged 1.1 million viewers.
In light of the consistent ratings that Liga MX matches keeps pulling in for Univision as well as the insatiable appetite for fantasy league sports as it continues to gain global traction, a venture into fantasy league soccer was a no-brainer for the Spanish-language network.
Former Head of Digital for the Italian Serie A club A.S. Roma, Shergul Arshad, was one of the first to tap into the soccer market, having founded Mondogoal.com -- a soccer-exclusive daily fantasy platform that launched during the 2014 World Cup.
Arshad realized there was niche in the market for a Web site focused exclusively on soccer while working with Roma, developing daily fantasy league games centered around the English Premier League (EPL), Germany's Bundesliga, France's Ligue 1, Italy's Serie A, UEFA Europa League and UEFA's Champions League. Mondogoal also covers Liga MX.
"As we expand to new markets via gaming licenses we will target popular clubs. For now we are mainly focused on clubs with great reach in the UK and US,” said Arshad. “It was our choice to invest in the Liga MX for our fans and fans of Liga MX in North America."
Mondogol's formula has been so successful that it attracted the attention of Yahoo, who announced they are partnering up with Arshad's company to add daily fantasy soccer along with their season-long soccer fantasy leagues.
American professional soccer league, Major League Soccer (MLS), is also getting in on the action having announced a deal with DraftKings.com. MLS becomes the fifth sports league to partner up with DraftKings.com, joining Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Hockey League, NASCAR, and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
"Soccer is an incredibly exciting sport that is underrepresented in daily fantasy and we’re going to change that in a big way,” said Jason Robins, CEO of DraftKings in a statement. “We are truly looking forward to collaborating with MLS on unique contests and exclusive one-of-a-kind experiences that will thrill their passionate fan base and thoroughly engage the DraftKings community."
You can follow Ed Molina at @GlobalEd718
