The Fox Sports Mexico (FSM) broadcaster has launched legal proceedings against a pair of sides from the country’s Liga MX soccer top flight over a media rights distribution dispute.
Fox Sports Mexico, which is not owned by the Fox Corporation media giant but instead by Grupo Multimedia Lauman, holds the rights to the Liga MX home games of Club Leon, and Pachuca CF, two sides controlled by the Grupo Pachuca ownership group.
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In December 2024, however, it was announced Grupo Pachuca had come to an agreement with Fox Corporation to air Leon and Pachuca games for free on the Tubi streaming service.
In addition to the lawsuits, filed against both Grupo Pachuca and Fox Corp, the judge ruling over the proceedings granted FSM’s request for an injunction barring Grupo Pachuca from providing Fox Corp and Tubi with broadcasts.
Speaking on Fox Sport Mexico’s La Ultima Palabra show, the broadcaster’s external legal counsel Paulo Diez commented: “We consider [this] a very violent, arbitrary, and illegal attack by Fox Corporation, in collaboration with Grupo Pachuca.”
He explained, of the logic behind the suit: “Since [rights contracts] are such important assets, they contain protection clauses, one of which was this right of preference established in the contracts with Grupo Pachuca that expired last year. These clauses obliged Grupo Pachuca to give Fox Sports Mexico this right of preference so that, under equal circumstances, it could keep the contracts if it matched the offer that Pachuca and León would have received …
“It seems to me that there is very bad faith conduct on the part of the Pachuca Group and Fox Corporation, which has forced us to go to court to try to defend our rights."
Fox subsequently released a statement placing the blame for the dispute at Lauman's feet and denying any wrongdoing.
The statement read: "The claims made and lawsuits filed by Grupo Lauman are utterly without merit. Grupo Lauman previously provided written authorization for Fox Corporation to negotiate directly with Club Pachuca and Club Leon for the rights in question, since Grupo Lauman’s agreements with both clubs had expired and it was already in breach.
"Fox has already obtained an injunction to prevent Grupo Lauman from limiting the fulfillment of Fox’s business in Mexico in any way. We will continue to vigorously assert our legal and established broadcast rights to ensure that the Club Pachuca and Club Leon fans have access to all the games they expect to see on a trusted, wholly-owned Fox platform.”
In mid-2024 it was reported that Fox Corporation had received assent to proceed with a takeover of Fox Sports Mexico, however, that never advanced and Fox subsequently ceased its negotiations to acquire the brand.
Additionally, Fox Corp has said it also canceled Grupo Lauman's license for the Fox Sports Brand, posing further questions about the future of the Mexican TV operator.
Then, in December it was rumored that Grupo Pachuca could be set to explore the sale of Club Leon in order to comply with ownership rules put in place by global soccer governing body FIFA.
Both Pachuca and Leon are set to compete in the upcoming revamped FIFA Club World Cup, despite soccer's global governing body FIFA having said in November that teams owned by the same owner will not be allowed to compete in the tournament, which led to Costa Rican side Alajuelense lodging a complaint about the Grupo Pachuca clubs’ inclusion.
Martinez said he is confident both teams will be allowed to compete, and that FIFA will take the pending sale into account.
