Recognizing the demographic’s growing importance to America’s most popular sport, CBS and the NFL have reached agreement with ESPN Deportes that sees the network providing the official Spanish-language telecast of Super Bowl 50, set to air live February 7 at 6 PM EST. As part of this agreement, ESPN Deportes will begin airing comprehensive Super Bowl-related programming beginning February 1, with a Super Bowl Sunday lineup that will feature live coverage leading up to the game from San Francisco, including a 90-minute pregame special at 4:30 PM as well as a postgame show.
The agreement marks the third time there has been an official Spanish-language telecast of professional football’s championship game. Fox carried the game in 2014, airing it en Español on Fox Deportes. And earlier this year, Super Bowl 49 broadcaster NBC aired Spanish-language coverage via NBC Universo. Of course, CBS has no Spanish-language sibling network, which meant it had to go outside to provide the service, but it’s still notable that this year sees trans-conglomerate cooperation between CBS and Disney (which owns ESPN).
nfl-logoESPN Deportes already presents Monday Night Football games in Spanish throughout the NFL regular season, as well as a wild card playoff game and the Pro Bowl. The network also features comprehensive news and information coverage, including studio shows NFL Live and NFL Esta Noche. However, this marks the first time the network has telecast the Super Bowl. ESPN Deportes’ Monday Night Football commentator team of Alvaro Martin, former NFL kicker and Super Bowl champion Raul Allegre, and sideline reporter John Sutcliffe will call the game for ESPN Deportes.
