Local TV cameras cover Super Bowl XLIX between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks. (Photo : Getty Images)
The United States' National Football League had joined hands with top Chinese e-commerce company, Alibaba Group, to bring in live NFL games and other noteworthy American football content in China.
While American football is not that popular in Asia, particularly in mainland China, as compared to association football, basketball, and baseball, the agreement aims to drum up interest in the sport by making live games readily available to a wider Far East audience.
Sports Pro reported that the NFL had recently "signed a broadcast rights agreement" with Ali Sports, the newly-founded sports group of Alibaba, which covers distribution of "games, highlights, and weekly programming from the league".
The report went on to say that the "specific terms of the agreement have not been released", but it is understood that Chinese sports broadcaster "will dedicate a special section of its platforms to next month's Super Bowl 50".
"It's a great honor to (have) Ali Sports as our official media partner," NFL China GM Richard Yang said. "NFL and American football have rapidly developed in China, and we're excited and hopeful about the sport's prospect in China."
Cri English indicated that the announcement of the deal was made after Major League Baseball, another one of the four major professional sports leagues in the US that include the NFL, NBA, and NHL, also signed an agreement with another China sports broadcasting company, LeSports, to distribute their games in the country.
These recent moves said to be marked the complete arrival of all the above mentioned four major American sports leagues in mainland China.
