DORAL, FLA. — In an unprecedented show of support to the millions of Americans impacted by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico; Hurricane Harvey in Texas; Hurricane Irma in Florida and the Caribbean; and major earthquakes in Oaxaca, Puebla and Mexico City; Univision invited no less than four competitors to its Miami-area headquarters Tuesday evening and throughout Wednesday to participate in a bilingual campaign supporting the American Red Cross.
This saw personalities from Azteca América, beIN SPORTS, ESPN and FOX Sports appear alongside Univision Deportes talent — and Univision giving each of the networks the opportunity to air its coverage of Liga MX first-division Mexican soccer league games across for two consecutive evenings.
With less than a week of planning, Univision Communications executed what some observers may have thought impossible: Talent, and production teams, from four fierce competitors in the sports programming arena arrived at 6pm Eastern to the company’s operations hub. The Univision Deportes Network reporter bay was abuzz with chatter and excitement. Meanwhile, two studios were offering viewers across Latin America and the U.S. live feeds in both English and Spanish, with one seat offered to talent from Azteca América, beIN SPORTS, ESPN Deportes, FOX Deportes and Univision talent in the Spanish studio, and seats to ESPN, Fox Sports and beIN SPORTS in the English studio.
A group of female representatives of the American Red Cross was seen in each of the studios, as live coverage featured cut-ins from Mexican soccer legends and the unlikely appearance of such well-known commentators as ESPN Deportes’ Jorge Ramos (not to be confused with Univision’s famed news anchor of the same name).
As live coverage of Chivas vs. Lobos began just before 8pm Eastern, the united effort to help disaster victims was clear and present: Azteca América, beIN SPORTS, beIN SPORTS en Español, ESPN Deportes, ESPNews, FOX Deportes, and FS2 all aired a match that Univision holds the rights to — complete with Univision’s graphics package.
In-game advertising was halted. Instead, an appeal graphic appeared in the bottom left of the screen directing viewers to donate to the American Red Cross and denoting where they wanted their funds to be applied.
Univision-owned networks airing the match included Univision Deportes Network, Fusion, and UniMás.
Meanwhile, radio play-by-play was delivered across Univision Deportes Radio affiliates, with that very feed going to ESPN Deportes Radio stations.
With logos for all networks visible in each studio, Univision branded its coverage in English with the hashtag “United For Each Other.” In Spanish, it used “Unidos por los Nuestros.”
In two control rooms, one for the English-language feed and another for the Spanish-language feed, representatives from FOX, ESPN, Azteca América and beIN SPORTS sat alongside Univision’s producers.
This continued through 3am Eastern today (9/27), when the third of three Liga MX matches reached its conclusion from Tijuana, Baja California and a wrap-up broadcast was delivered for viewers on the West Coast of the U.S. and in Mexico’s western time zones.
All five networks will team up once again Wednesday evening for a second round of appeals, and two back-to-back matches.
Commenting on the coordination and rapid-fire efforts to pull off the cross-network relief telecasts, Juan Carlos Rodriguez, President of Sports at Univision, tells RBR+TVBR, “It takes a lot of will from our friends and colleagues in the industry. It’s not a matter of pushing. It was a matter of reacting to something. The magnitude of the events was huge and I would say moved everyone.”
Rodriguez called his boss the night of Sept. 21 to get his approval. By Friday morning, calls were made, asking competing sports networks if they could support the idea.
“Four days after, here we are,” he says. “Everybody jumped in. I would say that we contacted the GM of ESPN México, he got the OK, we called our friends at FOX, and then it was one after the other. They were all very, very enthusiastic about understanding that this could be a way of doing new things.”
Manuel Abud, President/CEO of Azteca América, said, “Through sports, we are a united front sharing a common mission of raising up our communities which have been devastated by these natural disasters. Together, we are stronger.”
Eric Shanks, FOX Sports President and Executive Producer, added, “I can’t think of a better time to come together as an industry and utilize our platforms to help raise awareness and funds for the families suffering from the aftermath of these natural disasters.
For Freddy Rolón, VP/GM of ESPN Deportes, “Sports have always been a platform of unity and hope. We are humbled to come together as one and team up with Univision Deportes, Azteca America, beIN SPORTS, FOX and Fusion to help support the American Red Cross’ relief efforts in the communities affected by these natural disasters in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Texas, Florida and the Caribbean. We applaud Univision Deportes for bringing the sports community together to support those affected.”
In an environment where competition is fierce, what does #UnidosporlosNuestros say about the spirit of the Hispanic community, and Hispanic media?
“The magnitude of the event was that big — three hurricanes and the earthquakes. It was way too much for everyone here,” Rodriguez says. “We all know that we had to come together as an industry. We were just lucky to be the ones heading the process. This was only possible due to the will of our industry colleagues.”
Donations are being accepted via a toll-free number managed by Univision to an American Red Cross call center (1-800-842-2200) and at www.Univision.com/Unidos.
