Mexico’s Club America to Battle Argentina’s Arsenal for the 2007 Copa Nissan Sudamericana Title

Capping off a tremendously successful Copa Nissan Sudamericana season, one of the network’s most-watched to date, Fox Sports en Español announced today it will televise the highly anticipated two-leg final between Mexico’s perennial powerhouse Club América and Arsenal of Argentina exclusively live on November 30 and December 5.

The battle for one of Latin American soccer’s most prestigious crowns gets underway at Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca on Friday, November 30, with a half-hour pre-game show hosted by Jorge Ramos and Hernan Pereira at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Raúl Orvañanos, host of “Fox Gol Mexico” and a lead commentator for the network’s exclusive Copa Libertadores and Copa Nissan Sudamericana telecasts, will be on-site to call the action from this match as well as the return leg in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, December 5 (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT).

Unheralded Arsenal, which has never won a major national or regional title, secured its first-ever international final berth by upsetting Argentine rivals River Plate in a semifinal penalty shootout, while Club América – one of Mexico’s most successful teams and historically a major player on the international scene – advanced to the final with a 5-2 aggregate semifinal victory over Colombia’s Millonarios.

“The finals of the Copa Nissan Sudamericana promise to be hard-fought and action-packed, and we look forward to bringing our viewers all of the excitement live from Mexico and Argentina,” said Fox Sports en Español’s executive vice president and general manager David Sternberg. “Fox Sports en Español continues to be the premier U.S. media destination for fans of the best club soccer from Latin America and the rest of the world.”

Fueled in part by Club América’s strong performance and loyal following among U.S. Hispanics of Mexican origin or descent, the Copa Nissan Sudamericana continues to be a ratings bonanza for Fox Sports en Español. According to Nielsen Media Research, the 64 matches leading up to the final have already been some of the year’s most-watched sports programs in all of Spanish-language cable, in addition to recording solid year-to-year ratings increases.

After scoring the year’s two most watched sports programs among A18-49 in all of Spanish-language cable during the 2007 Copa Libertadores, Fox Sports en Español has delivered with its Copa Nissan Sudamericana telecasts three of the year’s 10 most-watched sports programs in Spanish-language cable.

The November 7 first-leg semifinal between Millonarios and Club América out-delivered Telemundo, Telefutura, Azteca America, Galavision, Gol TV, Fox, ABC, NBC, ESPN, CBS, and ESPN2 in its time slot among Hispanics M18-49. Delivering a 4.3 coverage area rating (CAR) – equivalent to a 1.8 national Hispanic rating – for a total of 402,000 persons 18-49, the match ranked fourth among all sports programs on Spanish-language television and first in Spanish-language cable for the week of November 5-11.

Then, on November 13, Club América and Millonarios’ second-leg semifinal match out-delivered all networks mentioned above among Hispanic M18-49 and delivered a 4.7 CAR – equivalent to a 2.0 national Hispanic rating – and 437,000 A18-49. The program ranked first for the week of November 12-18 among all sports programs on Spanish-language cable and fourth overall among all sports programs on Spanish-language television.

“Our continued ratings success with the Copa Nissan Sudamericana underscores the tournament’s elite status among our viewers as one of the year’s most important soccer competitions,” said Tom Maney, executive vice president of advertising sales for Fox Sports en Español. “One of our most powerful exclusive programming assets - by virtue of the network’s extensive content rights across television, print, online, wireless, and print - the tournament is the perfect example of Fox Sports en Español’s unmatched ability to deliver to advertisers proven multiplatform solutions for reaching the coveted Hispanic male demographic.”

Year-to-year ratings (CAR) and impressions (IMP) are also up across all key demos, including Men 18-34 (+21% CAR/+25% IMP), Adults 18-34 (+30% CAR/+29% IMP), Men 18-49 (+80% CAR/+91% IMP), and Adults 18-49 (+81% CAR/+89% IMP). On average, more than 120,000 viewers tuned in to each match, peaking as high as 610,000 during the semifinal on November 13. The eight most-watched matches in the tournament averaged a 1.68 national Hispanic rating and 365,000 impressions among Adults 18-49, and a 2.34 national Hispanic rating and 268,000 impressions for Men 18-49.

A CONMEBOL-sanctioned tournament, the 2007 Copa Nissan Sudamericana kicked off last July 31 with 34 teams representing Brazil (8), Argentina (7), Mexico (2), Bolivia (2), Chile (2), Colombia (2), Ecuador (2), Peru (2), Paraguay (2), Uruguay (2), Venezuela (2) and the United States (1).”*

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