Talk about short-lived “honeymoons”. It was only last September that Galaxy Racer (GXR), an esports and gaming organization based out of Dubai, emerged as the “home” for European football across the Indian subcontinent.
Per the announcements made then, GXR had bagged the official media rights for the Spanish LaLiga for six years, Italy’s Serie A for four years and France’s Ligue 1, also for four seasons, as a minimum (emphasis ours).
To qoute from the press release issued at the time, “GXR’s partnership with LaLiga, Serie A, and Ligue 1 McDonald’s and Ligue 2 BKT signifies a new era for football fans in India, where cutting-edge technology and a fan-centric approach will deliver unparalleled access to global football content. The platform’s direct-to-consumer strategy aims to revolutionize how Indian football fans interact with the sport, placing them at the heart of the action like never before.”
Fast forward to the present, the three Euro leagues were “dark” in India over the weekend after the leagues cut their signal to GXR, reportedly due to non-payment of rights fees.
Rewinding back to September, to again quote from the release: “As part of this ground-breaking partnership, GXR will not only provide high-quality streaming of top European football leagues, but also offer an immersive fan experience through its innovative Super App. The App promises to evolve beyond traditional streaming by integrating fan engagement tools, news, chat features and real-money gaming in the future updates, creating a comprehensive football ecosystem tailored to the Indian market.
“With media rights for three of Europe’s biggest football leagues, GXR is now positioned to become the largest European football rights holder in India. The content will soon be available in multiple regional languages, including Bengali, Malayalam and Hindi enabling GXR to penetrate key football markets.
“This multilingual offering is expected to drive deeper interaction and loyalty among football fans across the country.”
That is all water under the bridge now of course. The fact remains that the strategists at the LaLiga headquarters in Madrid had come to the considered decision then NOT to negotiate an extension with incumbent rights holder Viacom18 and go with an untried or tested GXR. The million dollar question now is of course, what next? It is reasonable to presume that the next few days, weeks, will throw up some interesting answers.
