(LAS VEGAS, NV. – Tuesday, October 19, 2021) Extreme Football League (X League) officials have further cemented the global league’s European strategy by hiring one of the most respected executives in European football, former Chairman of the English Football League (EFL) and former CEO of Premier League’s Leeds United, Shaun Harvey.
Harvey has an impressive resume as a sports executive, which includes securing a historic near $1bn media rights partnership with Sky Sports for the EFL in addition to the EFL’s administration and management, European football’s largest body of professional clubs.
Harvey also held executive leadership positions with the Premier League’s Leeds United as its CEO and with Bradford City as its Managing Director.
“UK sports fans are starved for American Football as evidenced by the nearly 100,000 fans that come into London on the weekend of the NFL matches, coupled the NFL television ratings in the UK”, Harvey added, “beyond the commercial opportunities that surround the X League, what drew me to the franchise is its brand position of empowering female athletes through opportunity. The relationships I have built through the years, as well as my experience in the UK sports ecosystem coupled with momentum building behind women’s sport, positions the X League to be a leading platform for women’s sport”.
X League UK will debut in 2025 with inaugural season clubs in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds, and Liverpool. League officials are planning for X League USA to play a game in the UK starting as early as Fall 2022. X League UK and its member clubs will be owned and operated as a single-entity league.
UK territory media rights discussions are being led by Harvey’s office and will include a myriad of content offerings, including LIVE games, Docuseries franchise, specials, and various short-form programming. LIVE games will be broadcast in a curated form and a revolutionary digital format that will enable fans to be in control of their sports viewing experience, selecting from 30+ LIVE camera angles, 30+ LIVE audio channels, and custom replays.