TelevisaUnivision: Festival de Campeones is an example of the evolution of sports entertainment

The Sports Entertainment division of TelevisaUnivision Deportes, led by Federico Lariño, recently held in Los Angeles the Festival de Campeones (Champions’ Festival), a four-day event that included a concert, a celebrity match with former soccer players and other figures, a skills game (Skill challenge), the final match of Liga MX –Campeón de Campeones -, and the “Balón de Oro” (Golden Ball) – the annual Mexican League awards ceremony -, produced by Univision from the US since 2016.

“Festival de Campeones is an example of the evolution of our sports entertainment division. Until last year it was just a soccer game and an awarding show. Now those two hours have become eight, of which six, except for the game, are sports entertainment. It is a titanic task because the same team that worked in the awards show now has to produce many more hours,” said Lariño.

Lariño’s team includes Pablo Malec (executive producer and coordinator of the Skills challenge), Isabel Cifuentes, José Zamora, Marlon Pirajan, Claudia Montero (executive producer in charge of Baón de Oro), and Gonzalo Morozzi (producer of TUDN and executive producer of Sports Republic).

They began working on the games’ design for the Festival de Campeones in October last year, which is huge and take place within the same stadium where the match is held. “It’s a production that gives us great pride because they are different and original,” he pointed out. 360 Powwow – which has a great experience – coordinated the games, and it hired a Mexican company to manufacture the games.

He explained that the Skills Challenge is a very liquid content. “It was a TV show that was radio-broadcasted, also on social networks, on all platforms. I think that is where we’re heading.”

He highlighted that it was the first time that a show was aired at the same time in Mexico and US on pay TV, and on open TV.

Lariño thanked TelevisaUnivision for giving them “carte blanche” from a creative point of view. “I love challenges, trying new things. I am very grateful that the company allows us to grow, test, and capture other audiences, not just people who like sports.”

Technologically they had all the state-of-the-art gadgets, such as floating cameras, slow motion cameras, and the latest in statistics and graphics for virtual advertising. They employed 50 people in production and 200 in the technical part. The assembly of the games required 50.

Lariño said that they will begin working in October this year for the 2023 Festival de Campeones. He added that they have plans to incorporate some mixed martial arts (MMA) into the structure of the show.

Asked why they choose Los Angeles, he indicated: “Los Angeles is an extremely important market for the Hispanic community. Fans and teams from the Hispanic community are in Los Angeles. The support of the public is there. It is an almost natural destination for our fans. They treat us as if we were at home.”

View a video of the event here