Le Sports reaches 3-year strategic deal with MLB

China’s Le Sports and Major League Baseball yesterday announced a wide-ranging partnership in which the sports company becomes an official strategic partner of MLB in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau for three years.

With the strategic partnership, commencing at the beginning of January 2016, Le Sports will hold the exclusive media rights to MLB for the following three years and air 125 live games in China per season. In addition to live streaming, Le Sports will also be able to rebroadcast those games through VOD via its various channels, including its online platform, mobile applications and OTT services.

Besides broadcasting games, Le Sports will launch an online community of 30 MLB clubs, which will help the MLB teams engage more with their Chinese supporters. Le Sports will continue as a co-producer of MLB Perfect Pitch, a baseball reality show. Le Sports will also broadcast the MLB Beijing University Baseball League and the MLB Shanghai University Baseball League opening and final games as well as MLB Play Ball Youth Program games.

“This historic partnership with Le Sports exemplifies Major League Baseball’s diversified approach to serving international communities,” said Robert Manfred, Commissioner at the MLB. “China is a crucial frontier for the development of baseball. Our new, prominent place on Le Sports platforms both reaffirms and expands our commitment to growing the game in China.”

Speaking about the alliance, Le Sports CEO Lei Zhenjian said “By working with MLB in China over the past three years on events, we saw just how appealing the league is to Chinese families, and how popular the games and MLB players have become to young sports fans in China. We are excited to expand and extend our partnership with MLB.”

Source: Business Wire

‍Proofread by John Devlin.