Ali Sports, the sport unit of China’s leading e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, announced yesterday that it has struck a deal with the American NFL (National Football League) to broadcast the tournament in Mainland China.

Under the agreement, Ali Sports will have the rights to screen NFL games, highlights and weekly publications through Youku, OTT and mobile terminals in Mainland China. NFL will be the first major sport tournament to be aired through Ali’s sports channels.

In addition to NFL’s digital rights, Ali Sports will open a specialized section for the upcoming 50th NFL Super Bowl, to be hosted on February 8th, New Year’s Day on the Chinese Lunar Calendar.

However, the terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Speaking about the landmark deal, Richard Yang, General Manager at NFL China, commented “It’s a great honor to (have) Ali Sports as our official media partner. NFL and American Football have rapidly developed in China, and we’re excited and hopeful about the sport’s prospect in China.”

“Ali Sports is willing to build a more open platform to benefit NFL and its supporters”, said Zhang Dazhong, CEO at Ali Sports.

Source: Ali Sports

Proofread by John Devlin.