The Hexagon Cup, the new padel tournament launching in January next year, has unveiled Eurosport, the sports broadcaster owned by media giant Warner Bros. Discovery, as a media partner for its inaugural event across 64 countries across Europe and Asia.
Eurosport will provide linear coverage of the men’s and women’s finals on a delayed basis, while fans will be able to access the round-robin qualifying stage via streaming (via both the Eurosport mobile app and the Discovery+ streaming platform where available).
The tournament’s organizers have said the deal will see the event - being held in Madrid, between January 31 and February 4 - reach a household audience of 160 million.
The event will be streamed on Discovery+ in the following European markets: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the UK, and Ireland. Coverage will be pan-European, except for Spain.
The initial Hexagon Cup event will feature men’s and women’s players, competing in teams for a prize fund of $1.06 million.
The event’s founders include Enrique Buenaventura, Simon Freer, Alejandro Agag, and Alberto Longo, who are well-known for having founded Formula E, the Extreme E electric off-road racing series, and the E1 all-electric powerboating competition.
Simon Freer, chair of the Hexagon Cup, has now said: “This collaboration represents a significant milestone for the Hexagon Cup and padel as a whole. Warner Bros. Discovery's extensive reach and commitment to delivering high-quality sports content provides a fantastic opportunity for both seasoned fans and newcomers to engage with the sport we love.”
In mid-October, the event secured an injection investment of £1 million ($1.22 million) from DMG Media, the UK group that owns multiple newspapers.
Trojan Paillot, WBD Europe’s senior vice president of sports rights acquisitions and syndication, added: “We have a strong track record of growing sports and bringing them to new audiences by providing our viewers with the most varied and localized premium live sports anywhere. We’re pleased to further expand this offer for fans across Europe and Asia by adding one of the world’s fastest-growing sports to our portfolio.”
In terms of European coverage of the main padel tours in 2023 - Premier Padel, and the World Padel Tour - those events were split between various broadcasters on the continent, including Canal Plus, Sky, Viaplay, BeIN Sports, Movistar, and Eleven.
