Fox renews Canadian soccer rights in US

Fox, the US national network, has renewed its broadcast deal for soccer’s Canadian Premier League (CPL) national top-tier and a number of other Canadian soccer properties.

The new deal, announced today (May 16) covers the 2022 and 2023 seasons and represents an extension of an agreement first made in 2020.

It will see all 117 matches of the CPL’s 2022 season (running from April 7 to October 9) broadcast and all expected 150 matches in 2023 following the league’s planned expansion.

In addition, Fox will broadcast all 12 matches of the Canadian Championship competition for all of the country’s professional men’s clubs (including those in the Major League Soccer US top-tier - Toronto FC, CF Montréal, and Vancouver Whitecaps) and home friendly matches of Canada’s men’s and women’s national teams.

Also included is the final of the 2020 Canadian Championship on June 4, which was postponed to 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic and will see Forge FC take on Toronto FC.

Games will be broadcast across the Fox Sports 2 and Fox Soccer Plus linear channels, with coverage “complemented by a range of studio and panel shows.”

The renewal was agreed with Mediapro Canada, the regional division of the Spanish sports rights and production agency, which holds the worldwide media rights for the various properties.

Mediapro Canada will produce and globally distribute the matches covered too.

It also recently agreed deals for the same properties with pay-television operator Flow Sports across the Caribbean and Hi! Sports, a new sports channel on the Totalplay IPTV platform in Mexico.

Oscar López, chief executive of Mediapro Canada, said: “We are delighted to renew our agreement with Fox Sports for a third consecutive year. They are one of the premier soccer broadcasters in the US and our Canadian soccer content fits well in their impressive portfolio of domestic and international soccer rights. We’re looking forward to bringing the best of Canadian soccer to US screens.”