Irantzu Diez-Gamboa: “At Mediapro North America, We Are Committed To Both Established And Emerging Sports”

Hosting an event like SportBiz Miami was an opportunity for Mediapro North America to connect with over 200 professionals from the industry, facilitating the exchange of ideas and collaboration.

Irantzu Diez-Gamboa, CEO of Mediapro North America, explained that during the full-day sessions held at their Medley facilities, more than 30 panels were presented on key industry topics, ranging from technology and audiovisual rights to new formats in network sponsorships.

Sportbiz Miami took place from April 30 to May 2

“For our part, we provided not only the facilities but also over 20 team members who worked hard to ensure that every detail of the event reflected the quality standards and innovative vision that define Mediapro. We believe the future of sports is built through collaboration, and Mediapro wants to continue being the place where connections like these happen,” she told PRODU.

Diez Gamboa emphasized that the event led to many new connections and opportunities. “We love attending events like SportBiz because they foster these relationships, and even more so when they happen at our facilities, giving us a chance to showcase them to the world. Having 200 attendees from different places, especially from Latin America and the U.S.—all important figures in their respective sectors—visit our facilities is extremely valuable,” she added.

Mediapro North America was the location for Sportbiz Miami

She noted that attendees had the chance to see Mediapro North America’s more than 10,000 square meters of space and “understand that this is the ideal space in terms of logistics, production, quality, and accessibility to bring their projects to life.”

PARTNERSHIPS

The executive shared that the company forms partnerships “with those who have what we don’t, who are in places we don’t yet know, who use technologies we can learn a lot from, or who can help us access clients or markets we’re not yet in. At Mediapro North America, we are strong believers in partnerships because we think they’re what allow us to grow, explore new opportunities, and face challenges.”

Among the partnerships Mediapro North America has recently developed are several focused on emerging sports. “At Mediapro, we support both well-established and emerging sports. In fact, the panel we led during the SportBiz Miami event was about emerging sports. While we’re already deeply involved in established sports like soccer, American football, college football, and even baseball, we see opportunities in newer sports like women’s 3×3 basketball, boxing, and MMA. That panel was very well received and sparked a valuable conversation about the future of sports and new business models,” she said.

Diez Gamboa mentioned some of these partnerships: with Lightsout TV for American football (for the production of The Ultimate Fan Zone); with UNRIVALED for women’s 3×3 basketball; with Pro Padel League for padel; and others in the works with combat sports.

“We are steadily gaining ground in North America and establishing ourselves as a strategic partner for leagues, clubs, and brands looking to innovate and connect with new audiences. We believe that all sports and competitions deserve excellent, top-quality production. Usually, budget constraints mean that less mainstream or emerging sports have had lower production levels, which in turn means that fans watching from home don’t feel as immersed in the experience of being at a sports venue. We believe that with today’s production innovations—not just in technology, but also in production methods and tools like VAR or offside lines—viewers at home can enjoy a far more exciting, even 360-degree experience. We work hard to ensure that the production level we deliver to all our clients, all the leagues we collaborate with, and across various sports, matches the level of the major leagues they aspire to,” she stated.

WAYFAIR ARENA

As part of SportBiz, attendees were able to tour the Wayfair Arena, where the UNRIVALED women’s 3×3 basketball tournament is held.

Wayfair Arena

“I think this is a multifunctional space that represents Mediapro’s commitment to innovation and creating unique experiences. It allowed us to demonstrate how Mediapro can be—and is—the ideal partner for any sports-related initiative, from major leagues to emerging sports. It’s an example of how venues can become true innovation hubs for sports or entertainment,” she explained.

She shared that Wayfair Arena was built inside Mediapro’s facilities specifically for UNRIVALED. “It’s an example of the interest that this kind of emerging sport—women’s sports and any type of sport—holds for both brands and the public. It’s located within a production center in Medley and already has a name. A company has already decided to pay for naming rights to a newly built arena. I think that’s a sign of this industry’s significance,” she concluded.

SPORTS AND MEDIA WILL CONTINUE TO GO HAND IN HAND

Asked about the importance of sports content in the coming years, Diez Gamboa said she believes sports and media will continue to go hand in hand.

“Sports have become the key content, the most important content for media, the one that garners the most public attention. It’s what makes audiences switch from one operator to another, from one streamer to another. It keeps people connected to cable, keeps them watching broadcast TV. We tend to think that the consumer only wants soccer or only follows their national team or local club, or, in the U.S., only cares about American football. But sports fans enjoy following a variety of sports, both men’s and women’s. In the past, people questioned whether women’s sports had value for TV or sports fans. We’ve seen that it’s just as legitimate and that it draws millions of viewers. Sports fans love watching sports. It’s a reason to gather with friends and family and celebrate. I don’t know what will happen in five years, but what I can say is that in five years we’ll still be doing sports, that the media and all of us will still be eager to associate ourselves with sports, to produce it, to broadcast it, to get closer to fans. And this will continue attracting brands and investments,” she noted.

Wayfair Arena was built inside Mediapro’s facilities specifically for UNRIVALED’s women 3×3 basketball

Regarding technologies like AI, Diez Gamboa pointed out that “they’re not technologies of the future—they’re of the present, and they must be integrated into our operations, our processes, our ways of working with different industry players. These are technologies that are already here, that raise the quality of the final product and won’t destroy but rather help build what we’ll be in five years. These are technologies that can no longer be questioned—whether we’ll use them or whether they’ll stick around. They are technologies we must use. At Mediapro, we’re already using them, and what we’re going to achieve with them is improving the experience, not just for our clients, but for everyone involved in creating content,” she concluded.