One World Sports Add Korean Soccer League to J-League Rights
May 3, 2011
Having secured the rights to elite Japanese soccer’s J-League last week, One World Sports has obtained exclusive North American rights to South Korea’s K-League soccer under terms of an agreement signed with World Sport Group.
An exclusive Game-of-the-Week will be presented on television for each round of the K-League season, which runs for 30 weeks, ending October 30 with games also made available on broadband and mobile.
Preston Bornman, President, One Media Corp, parent company of One World Sports, said: “With the acquisition of the multi-screen K-League football rights, we continue executing on our strategy to deliver Asia’s best soccer events live on TV, broadband and mobile to U.S. sports fans. With Korea’s solid World Cup showing and many Korean players active in Europe, the K-League is an obvious high-quality product to provide US audiences.”
Mark Hardess, President, ASEAN and Australia, World Sport Group, added: “One World Sports did an outstanding job covering the AFC Asian Cup 2011 Qatar, and this license will provide additional fuel to accelerate the growth of K-League soccer coverage in the United States. With this multi-screen K-League football license, we continue to deliver Asia’s best soccer events live on TV, broadband and mobile to U.S. sports fans.”
The K-League is the country’s highest and most prestigious level of soccer competition and the popularity of soccer has exploded in Korea with the 2011 K-League stadium attendance growing 138 per cent since 2010.