As Roland Garros enters the new millennium, with a totally remodelled Center Court, ESPN International and the French Tennis Federation will continue its distribution of the premier clay court tournament in the world, it has been announced by Willy Burkhardt, managing director, ESPN International and Patrice Clerc, tournament director of Roland Garros.
According to the agreement, ESPN International will have the exclusive cable and satellite distribution rights in Latin America for Roland Garros, the season’s second Grand Slam, through 2003. ESPN International has telecast Roland Garros in Latin America since 1996.
ESPN International’s complete coverage of the men’s and women’s matches from Roland Garros, will be telecast on ESPN Latin America, the area’s most widely distributed pan-regional network, currently reaching more than 12.1 million households. ESPN Latin America is aired in English, Spanish and Portuguese. In addition, ESPN Sur, ESPN International’s network servicing the South America’s southern cone, will be telecasting the tournament in Argentina LIVE in its entirety in Spanish.
Roland Garros, professional tennis’ premier clay-court competition, is the jewel of ESPN’s tennis schedule in Latin America and joins the growing list of ESPN International’s premier sports properties featuring UEFA Champions League, Spanish Futbol, CART auto Racing, NBA basketball and The Masters golf tournament.
This year, as Andre Agassi prepares to defend his title from the likes of Pete Sampras, Gustavo Kuerten and Marcelo Rios, ESPN Latin America will present the entire Roland Garros tournament, featuring more than 100 hours of coverage, from the start of play on May 29 through to the Men’s and Women’s Finals on June 12. The tournament will be aired LIVE through the semifinal round on ESPN Latin America; the Men’s and Women’s Finals will be aired on a 24-hour delay. ESPN Sur will air the entire tournament LIVE. A featured match will be telecast in prime time by ESPN International, on a daily basis during the tournament.
ESPN Media Contact: Beth Albert +1 212 916 9889