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| Owner | ESPN Inc. |
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| URL | espnfc |
| Registration | Optional |
| Launched | 1995 (as SoccerNet) |
ESPN FC (formerly ESPN SoccerNet) is a website and a U.S. television studio program covering soccer that is broadcast daily over the streaming service ESPN+. ESPN FC's origin was a website owned by ESPN Inc. Originally established in 1995 as SoccerNet, the website was acquired by ESPN in 1999. The domain ESPNFC.com now redirects to soccer news coverage on ESPN.com.
Originally titled SoccerNet, the website was established by Greg Hadfield and his then-teenage son Tom in 1995, initially providing live score updates, tables and news articles. Greg, at that time, worked for the Daily Mail and in order to gain capital, effectively rescinded ownership of the site to his bosses in return for £40,000 and a revenue sharing scheme. [1]
In 1999, Buena Vista Internet Group (BVIG) acquired a controlling interest of 60 percent in SoccerNet from the Daily Mail and General Trust for £15M. [2]
ESPN eventually launched a U.S. television studio program on ESPNews, ESPN2, BT Sport, ESPN Australia, and TSN dedicated to soccer, also known as ESPN FC. The program originally aired on weekday evenings at 6 PM, [3] with a weekly recap show airs on Sunday nights. The program has a mostly British cast. Dan Thomas works as the lead host with Adrian Healey, Sebastian Salazar, and Kay Murray filling in.
The studio analysts at the Bristol, Connecticut studio [4] are: Craig Burley, Steve Nicol, Shaka Hislop, Kasey Keller, and Alejandro Moreno. The rest of the crew joins from London and Europe, and on occasion, in the studio, and includes: Steve McManaman, Stewart Robson, Julien Laurens, Gabriele Marcotti, Don Hutchison, Danny Higginbotham, Frank Leboeuf, Jan Aage Fjortoft, Sid Lowe, Ian Darke, Derek Rae, Jürgen Klinsmann, Nedum Onuoha, Alessandro Del Piero, and Santiago Solari. Taylor Twellman, and Herculez Gomez contribute to MLS segments. Former presenters and pundits include: Raphael Honigstein, James Horncastle, Martin Keown, Glenn Hoddle, Roberto Martínez, Kevin Keegan, Rebecca Lowe, Max Bretos, Alexi Lalas, Andrew Orsatti, and Darrell Currie. Also, the now late Paul Mariner used to work as a studio analyst.
ESPN FC also has additional programming like The Gab and Juls Podcast, which has become a TV programme, and the John Dykes Show . [5] In April 2018, the program moved exclusively to the supplemental subscription service ESPN+, though occasional specials will still air on ESPN2. [6]
In November 2013, a favorable story about Qatar's preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup on the site was met with backlash for author Phil Ball's dismissal of allegations of abuses toward migrant workers by the Qatari government. ESPN later apologized and removed the story from the website, saying that it did not meet their "journalistic standards". [7]
ESPN is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Communications (20%) through the joint venture ESPN Inc. The company was founded in 1979 by Bill Rasmussen, Scott Rasmussen and Ed Eagan.
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Communications.
ESPNews is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Communications.
Derek Rae is a Scottish association football commentator and presenter who currently works for ESPN and ABC in the United States for the English-language coverages of Bundesliga, DFB Pokal, and La Liga and Deutsche Fußball Liga for the English-language world feed as well as the Premier League coverage on Amazon Prime Video in the UK. He has provided the English commentary for the FIFA/EA FC video game series alongside former Arsenal player Lee Dixon in 2020, and West Ham player Stewart Robson since 2021. He is also an ambassador for Berwick Rangers.
Thomas Michael Smyth is an Irish soccer commentator. Since February 1993, he has been employed by ESPN in the United States, where his primary role is as color commentator and in-studio analyst for major soccer events. He also commentates on Gaelic games, horse racing, harness racing, and American football.
World Cup Live was a soccer related news and analysis program that aired on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC every four years during the FIFA World Cup. Lead commentators and specialists dissect worldwide matches both through a live feed, and after they have already been played. World Cup Live was created for the 2006 World Cup and continued through the 2010 World Cup. It is planned to broadcast the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup as ESPN has English-language rights. As for anchors, SportsCenter hosts Dave Revsine and Rece Davis worked with ESPN while Brent Musburger hosted the ABC airings. Advertisements are not shown seeing as that play does not stop for two forty-five-minute half's, other than a halftime report, during which, commercials are aired. Logos are shown on the screen during broadcasting throughout the game and advertisements from sponsors can be seen before and after the game. Both pregame and post-game segments are included with a large number of games if time between matches permits, and are always aired for USMNT games. World Cup Live has kept this basic format over the past couple tournaments and plans on continuing for the 2014 World Cup. The show ended after the 2014 FIFA World Cup when Fox Sports acquired the World Cup rights beginning with the 2018 tournament.
MLS on ESPN was the branding used for television presentations of Major League Soccer on ESPN properties, including ABC and ESPN2. Major League Soccer on ESPN debuted in 1996, the league's first season, and ended in 2022 when MLS and ESPN did not renew their broadcast contract. From 1996 to 2006, the weekly soccer match on ESPN2 was called MLS Soccer Saturday, but in the new contract, that was replaced by MLS Primetime Thursday. For the 2009 season and beyond, the Thursday telecast was replaced by a variety of primetime games on Wednesdays through Saturdays. From 2009 until 2019, as part of ESPN's far-reaching strategy of moving sports programming to ESPN, all matches – including MLS Cup – were on either ESPN or ESPN2.
MLS Primetime Thursday was the weekly presentation of Major League Soccer games on ESPN2 for the 2007 and 2008 seasons. The program was presented by Adidas.
MLS Game of the Week was the weekly presentation of Major League Soccer games on ESPN2.
NBCSN was an American sports television channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated to programming primarily involving fishing, hunting, outdoor adventure programs, and outdoor sports. By the turn of the 21st century, OLN became better known for its extensive coverage of the Tour de France but eventually began covering more "mainstream" sporting events, resulting in its relaunch as Versus in September 2006.
Major League Soccer has been broadcast live in the United States nationally since the league's inception in 1996 and in Canada since 2007. As of the 2023 season, Apple Inc. is the primary global rights holder and streams every regular season and playoff match on MLS Season Pass – a new service on the Apple TV app. Some matches will also be broadcast on television via Fox Sports in the United States, and Bell Media in Canada.
MLS Soccer Sunday is a presentation of Major League Soccer produced independently by ESPN and Fox Sports. Sunday afternoons are primarily aired on ABC and Fox while Sunday evenings primarily on ESPN, ESPN2, and Fox Sports 1. Spanish-language simulcasts are broadcast on ESPN Deportes and Fox Deportes.
ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by the ESPN division of the Walt Disney Company, in partnership with ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and the Hearst Communications. It is one of Disney's three flagship subscription streaming brands in the United States, alongside Disney+ and Hulu, and operates using technology of Disney subsidiary BAMTech, now known as Disney Streaming and MT Digital.
Soccer on ESPN and ABC is a number of programs that currently airs soccer matches in the United States. These matches are from European competitions.
The Jump is an American television sports talk program that aired on ESPN from 2016 to 2021, hosted by Rachel Nichols, and focusing on the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Major League Soccer has been broadcast live in the U.S. nationally since the league's inception in 1996 and in Canada since 2007. In the United States the game is broadcast in English on Fox Sports 1 and Fox, in Spanish on Fox Deportes. In Canada, MLS is broadcast on TSN in English and RDS in French.
The Premier League is the most-watched football league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes and a potential TV audience of 4.7 billion people. The Premier League is broadcast in the United States through NBC Sports. Premier League viewership has increased rapidly, with NBC and NBCSN averaging a record 479,000 viewers in the 2014–15 season, up 118% from 2012–13 when coverage still aired on Fox Soccer and ESPN/ESPN2, and NBC Sports has been widely praised for its coverage. NBC Sports reached a six-year extension with the Premier League in 2015 to broadcast the league through the 2021–22 season in a deal valued at $1 billion (£640 million).
The UEFA European Football Championship, commonly known as the UEFA European Championship and informally as the Euros, is the primary football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), determining the continental champion of Europe. Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the European Nations' Cup, changing to the current name in 1968.
NBA Today is an American television sports talk program on ESPN, hosted by Malika Andrews, featuring Kendrick Perkins, Chiney Ogwumike, Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson and Zach Lowe as panelists.
[...] while calling up to 43 games from its studios in Bristol, Connecticut, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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