Fox News Channel and FSN’s Best Damn Sports Show Period aren’t the only News Corp. properties looking to draft on Fox Broadcasting Co.’s presentation of Super Bowl XLII.
Fox Sports en Espanol is partnering with the Fox and the National Football League to engage Latino gridiron enthusiasts and drive them to the Big Game on Feb. 3.
The network, which counts some 13.5 million households in the U.S., including 4.5 million Hispanic homes, is presenting a trio of half-hour specials, entitled Camino al Super Bowl XLII, on Jan. 31, Feb. 1 and Feb. 2.
Offering a Latin American perspective to the game, the Road to the Super Bowl shows will include features, interviews, analysis and highlights footage from the regular-season and playoff games leading up to NFL championship contest between the undefeated New England Patriots and the New York Giants.
David Sternberg, executive vice president and general manager of Fox Sports en Español, said there is growing appetite for NFL programming among U.S. Hispanics, noting that 65% of the network’s audience is of Mexican descent.
“As second and third generations establish themselves in the U.S. they increasingly assimilate to U.S. culture and sports,” said Sternberg. “And the NFL is certainly at the top of this list in this country.”
In addition to feeding into U.S. Latino community’s burgeoning interest in football, Fox Sports en Espanol’s game plan, said Sternberg, is to drive viewership to “big Fox” for the game.During its two hour live pre-game show Sunday, kicking off at 4 p.m., the network will encourage Hispanics to tune into the live Spanish SAP game telecast on Fox.
Coors, the NFL’s official beer sponsor, is the primary advertiser in the specials and the pregame programming leading up to the NFL’s title tilt.
Sternberg said Fox Sports en Espanol sat on the sideline when Fox televised Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005 because it didn’t have the resources to produce timely, on-site segments
Driven by its commitment to provide more fresh fare to the U.S. Hispanic community, Fox Sports en Español in December opened a production facility in Mexico. Central to that decision, was expanding the network’s coverage of the NFL -- Fox Sports International has owned broadcast rights to the league and the Super Bowl telecast in Mexico for the past decade. Sternberg said the Super Bowl fare is among the early manifestations of this strategy.
Leveraging the talent from south of the border, Fox Sports en Espanol specials will be hosted by Fox Sports Mexico’s NFL commentators Fernando Von Rossum Garza, Fernando Von Rossum de la Vega, Ernesto del Valle and Ricardo Bravo.
This seasoned crew has been to the Big Game before -- a lot.
Von Rossum Garza has been to 40 Super Bowls, while Von Rossum de la Vega has done play-by-play for 10. Pro football analysts del Valle and Bravo count seven and five trips, respectively.
Fox Sports en Espanol’s coverage of Super Bowl XLII also extends to daily features on sports news show, Diario Fox Sports, and weekly preview program La Previa del Fin de Semana.
