La Liga has launched a new partnership with M88, holding a presentation to recognise the online betting company becoming the league’s Official Regional Betting Partner for Asia.
Earlier this month it was announced that the two organisations would be entering into a multi-year partnership.
The partnership will run until at least the end of 2024 – the agreement will see the two organisations work together to create content to increase the popularity of the Spanish league in Asia.
La Liga Head of Business, Marketing and International Development, Óscar Mayo said that regional commercial partnerships were important for professional leagues.
“They are very important because they help us to get the excitement of La Liga closer to all the different regions outside of Spain, so they can watch matches. This is why we have partners like M88,” he said.
“We want to be closer to out fans and obviously we want to take La Liga to all corners of the world each week, because we have millions of fans.”
Mayo said that he saw the agreement as more of a partnership than a sponsorship.
“M88 will help La Liga grow its brand and obviously La Liga is very interested in all the different markets,” he said.
The presentation was also attended by M88 Creative Director Carlos Lopez as well as La Liga ambassadors and former players Luis Garcia and Fernando Morientes.
M88 Creative Director Carlos Lopez spoke of the benefits to the partnership.
“It’s an exciting partnership especially because La Liga is huge in Asia. Our customer base is all sports fans mainly, so they follow La Liga on a regular basis. That means that it will give us a lot of exposure,” he said.
Lopez also added that the partnership will allow M88 to keep its customers engaged through firsthand news directly from La Liga and the creation of content.
Weekly analysis videos will be created featuring La Liga ambassadors. While La Liga and M88 will also run competitions – merchandise, tickets and experiences are set to be offered as prizes.
Luis Garcia and Fernando Morientes said that interest in both football and the Spaish league in Asia was growing.
“All the different ambassadors have seen this because we’ve been fortunate enough to travel to Asia a lot,” Morientes said.
“We’re really getting closer to out fans, we can see thieve got much more interest, we can see obviously this interest is growing. It was a gradual process, but really we have seen this change. Especially in that corner of the world, La Liga is becoming more and more important.”
SportsBusiness have reported that the deal is worth between $5-7 million USD a season ($7-10 million AUD).
