Soccer on ESPN | |
---|---|
Genre | Association football telecasts |
Theme music composer | Lisle Moore |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Camera setup | Multi-camera |
Running time | 2+ hours (or until game ends) |
Production company | ESPN |
Release | |
Original network | ESPN ABC ESPN+ ESPN2 ESPNews ESPNU ESPN3 ESPN Classic |
Picture format | 480i (SDTV), 720p (HDTV) |
External links | |
Website |
Soccer on ESPN is a number of programs that currently airs Association football matches in the United States. These matches are from International, European, and American competitions. [1]
ESPN airs matches from the A-team, youth, and junior European Soccer Championships, UEFA Nations League, UEFA qualifying competitions, and UEFA friendlies. These matches will be on all ESPN owned channels. [2] Friendlies or qualifiers are regularly commentated by play-by-play men Adrian Healey, Mark Donaldson, and Ross Dyer. Analysts include: Craig Burley, Kasey Keller, Paul Mariner, Matteo Bonetti, Alejandro Moreno, Matt Lawrence, and Janusz Michallik.
Higher profile matches are commentated by Jon Champion and Ian Darke with analysts Stewart Robson, Steve McManaman, and Taylor Twellman. Through their deal with the MLS, ESPN shares the rights for USMNT and USWNT friendlies and qualifiers with Fox Sports. For men's matches, Ian Darke and Taylor Twellman commentate with Kasey Keller as a fill-in game analyst or studio analyst on air.
The women's matches are commentated by Ian Darke or Sebastian Salazar alongside analyst Julie Foudy.
ESPN airs summer friendly tournament International Champions Cup on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPN+, and ESPN Deportes.
ESPN currently airs MLS matches on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 in a contract from 2015 to 2022. ABC will only air the MLS Cup in odd-numbered years since 2019. ESPN also airs all out-of-market games on ESPN+. Jon Champion and Taylor Twellman are the lead broadcast team. (See ESPN Major League Soccer ). [3]
ESPN airs all matches from the USL on ESPN+ with select matches on ESPNews or ESPNU. [4] The games are produced by the USL, and commentary is provided by Mike Watts and Devon Kerr.
ESPN regularly airs college soccer on ESPNU, SEC Network, ACC Network, and Longhorn Network. Jenn Hildreth is the lead commentator for women's soccer coverage. College soccer is also available on ESPN+ via school productions.
ESPN airs select matches from the EFL Championship, EFL League One, EFL League Two, and EFL Cup on paid streaming service ESPN+. This broadcast started in 2017. [5] The 2020 promotion playoff Final was hosted by Alexis Nunes alongside pundit Don Hutchison and guest Jack Harrison. The 2021 promotion playoff Final was presented by Dan Thomas alongside Shaka Hislop in the studio, Don Hutchison and Alexis Nunes onsite, and Jon Champion and Matt Lawrence commentating.
ESPN airs all matches from the FA Cup on paid streaming service ESPN+ with select matches on ESPN and ESPN2, as well as Community Shield (before the cup season stars). This broadcast started in 2018 when Fox Sports coverage of the tournament expired. [6] [7] In 2020, coverage of the final was hosted by Dan Thomas alongside Craig Burley, Don Hutchison, Shaka Hislop, and reporter Alexis Nunes. The final was commentated by Martin Tyler and Stewart Robson. For other rounds, ESPN airs a digital prematch show hosted by Kay Murray or Mark Donaldson alongside ESPN FC pundits.
ESPN acquires the rights of the Scottish Premiership started in October 2020. Every week, at least one match is airing on ESPN+ in English and Spanish. In addition, ESPN will also have coverage of select matches from the Scottish Championship, Scottish League Cup and Scottish Challenge Cup. Mark Donaldson and Steve Nicol commentate on high-profile matches.
ESPN won the rights to the Bundesliga again starting with the 2020–21 season, as well as Supercup (before the league season starts). All matches will air on ESPN+ with at least four matches per year airing on the linear TV channels. [8] Last time, ESPN had previously aired the league last time until 2011–12. Linear TV matches are preceded by a 30-minute prematch show as well as a digital prematch show with postmatch coverage on ESPN+. Derek Rae and Taylor Twellman commentate on matches on linear television while the ESPN+ matches are commentated by world feed. Studio coverage is hosted by Kay Murray on TV an Dan Thomas on digital alongside Jan Aage Fjortoft, Craig Burley, Kasey Keller, Jurgen Klinsmann, Steve Cherundolo, and reporter Archie Rhind-Tutt. ESPN also broadcasts the second-tier competition, the 2. Bundesliga. Every week, at least one match is broadcast on ESPN+, with Ross Dyer and Jonathan Yardley serving as commentators. The Bundesliga on ABC debuted in 2021 with Bayern vs BVB. Rae and Twellman commentated on the match while Kay Murray hosted in studio alongside Twellman and Klinsmann.
ESPN also air the German domestic cup, the DFB Pokal. [9] Matches usually air on ESPNews and ESPN2. Linear TV commentary is provided by Adrian Healey and Taylor Twellman.
In 2018, ESPN has reached a multi-year media agreement for airing Dutch Eredivisie. Every week, ESPN+ airing four matches in English and some matches are available in Spanish. [10]
In 2018, ESPN won the rights for Italy's Serie A when beIN Sports' contract expired. ESPN is set to air over 340 matches each season, with a Game of the Week on ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPNews and the rest of the matches on streaming service ESPN+. There is also a weekly preview and highlight show on ESPN+. [11] ESPN uses its own broadcast teams for games shown on television - commentary is provided by play-by-play Mark Donaldson and analyst Matteo Bonetti - with all other matches each week shown on ESPN+. Ross Dyer and Steve Cangialosi fill-in when Donaldson is working MLB. Janusz Michallik works as the secondary game analyst. Commentary for matches on ESPN+ is taken from the World Feed. ESPN FC provides viewers with Serie A analysis show The Serie Awesome Podcast with Italian football writers Gabriele Marcotti, Mina Rzouki, and James Horncastle.
The rights package also including both Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana tournaments. ESPN airs twenty-four matches of Coppa Italia, beginning from Round of 16 through two-leg semifinals on ESPN+. Meanwhile, the Coppa Italia Final and the Supercoppa Italiana will air on ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPNews also on ESPN Deportes. This broadcast started in January 2019.
ESPN, ABC, and ESPN+ are set to begin coverage of La Liga for the 2021–22 season. Further details are to be determined.
ESPN is currently aired both Copa del Rey and Supercopa de España tournaments through 2022.
ESPN formerly held the rights to the FIFA World Cup in 1986 and between 1994 and 2014. Commentary teams are listed below
In the last few years of its existence, the NASL did manage to get some games on a new cable sports network that had begun in 1979 called ESPN. In 1981, they signed a contract to broadcast 20 games on Saturdays. The new USA Network also carried games, usually on Wednesday [12] nights.
The MISL landed a steady national TV contract for the first time since 1983 when they were on USA, as ESPN would televise 15 regular-season games on Sunday afternoons, the All-Star Game [13] and assorted playoff games. [14] beginning in the 1985–86 season. The MISL received no broadcast revenues from ESPN. In other words, the agreement with ESPN to had the league pay the cable network to televise its games. Bill Kentling, director and general manager of the Wichita Wings, was vehemently against the ESPN deal, [15] thinking that was ridiculous to go against the National Football League without having any time to set up sponsorship. Commissioner Frank Dale however, disagreed with Kentling's assessment saying: “If I held out waiting for money for the rights for something that has traditionally not done well in the ratings, we'd still be off the air.” Ultimately, the MISL got only three sponsors [16] for the weekly telecasts on ESPN.
For the 1986–87 season, ESPN actually paid the MISL a fee [17] instead of the league paying the network, as it had done the previous season. This time, ESPN would broadcast 18 games, including the All-Star Game from Los Angeles, as well as four playoff games. The San Diego Sockers were scheduled be on four delayed telecasts during the regular season.
On commentary, ESPN employed JP Dellacamera, [18] Bob Kurtz, Bob Ley, and Bob Carpenter on play-by-play with Ty Keough, Seamus Malin, and Shep Messing as analysts.
Starting with the 1993–94 season, NPSL games would be broadcast on both ESPN [19] and the then brand new ESPN2, [20] giving national exposure to the league. [21] As part of a three-year agreement, a Game of the Week (dubbed Balls of Fire) would be televised on ESPN2 on Friday [22] nights. ESPN2 would carry as many as 20 games [23] in 1993–94 and 24 [24] in 1994–95. [25] Meanwhile, the best-of-five playoff finals in late April and the NPSL All-Star Game at St. Louis on February 22 would be carried on ESPN. It was routine however for ESPN to heavily edit rebroadcast of games that were initially aired on ESPN2 fit it into a two-hour time slot.
Dave Johnson and Art Kramer were ESPN's initial primary broadcast team. Other commentators included Gregg Mace [26] and Ed Vucinic, [27] who by 1995–96, would provide play-by-play for the NPSL Championship Series alongside Art Kramer.
ESPN formerly had the rights of the UEFA Champions League between 1995 and 2009. Lead commentary team was Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth with the ESPN2 team being Adrian Healey and Robbie Mustoe. The pre-match programme was hosted by Andrew Orsatti.
ESPN2 formerly aired matches from the Premier League between 1996 and 1998, [28] [29] and the from 2010 to 2013. From 2010 to 2013, ESPN2 had its own commentary team live in England. Ian Darke and Steve McManaman called the action live in England, with Darrell Currie, Dave Beckett, or Alicia Ferguson reporting pitchside. On occasion, the network would simulcast ESPN UK's coverage with full studio coverage from host Ray Stubbs or Rebecca Lowe and commentary from Jon Champion and Chris Waddle. In the U.S., ESPN's studio team was host Andrew Orsatti or Georgie Bingham with analyst Robbie Mustoe.
Name | Nationality | Coverage | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Ian Darke | International Matches United States men's national soccer team United States women's national soccer team | Lead play-by-play announcer | |
Jon Champion | MLS International Matches FA Cup | MLS lead play-by-play announcer | |
Derek Rae | Bundesliga International Matches | Bundesliga lead play-by-play announcer | |
Glenn Davis | MLS United States women's national soccer team College Soccer | ||
Mark Donaldson | Serie A International Matches | Serie A lead play-by-play announcer | |
Fernando Palomo | International Matches Mexico men's national football team Mexico women's national football team | ||
Steve Cangialosi | MLS Serie A | ||
Jenn Hildreth | College Soccer | Women's College Soccer lead play-by-play announcer | |
Ross Dyer | International Matches Serie A 2. Bundesliga | ||
Jonathan Yardley | MLS International Matches College Soccer 2. Bundesliga | ||
Mike Watts | USL College Soccer | USL lead play-by-play announcer | |
Sebastian Salazar | United States women's national soccer team |
Name | Nationality | Coverage | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Steve McManaman | International Matches ESPN FC | Lead color commentator | |
Taylor Twellman | MLS Bundesliga USMNT International Matches | MLS, USMNT, and Bundesliga lead color commentator | |
Kasey Keller | MLS International Matches DFB-Pokal Bundesliga | ||
Craig Burley | International Matches FA Cup | ||
Stewart Robson | International Matches | ||
Matt Lawrence | International Matches | ||
Alejandro Moreno | MLS International Matches | ||
Julie Foudy | MLS USWNT | Lead USWNT color commentator | |
Brian Dunseth | MLS | MLS color commentator | |
Paul Mariner | International Matches | ||
Matteo Bonetti | International Matches Serie A | Serie A lead color commentator | |
Janusz Michallik | International Matches Serie A | ||
Devon Kerr | USL College Soccer | USL lead color commentator | |
Charlie Davies | College Soccer | Men's lead color commentator | |
Angela Hucles | College Soccer | ACC lead color commentator | |
Lori Lindsey | College Soccer | ||
Cat Whitehill | College Soccer | SEC lead color commentator |
Name | Nationality | Coverage | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Rece Davis | International Matches | Lead International host | |
Kelly Cates | International Matches | International host | |
Dalen Cuff | International Matches | International host | |
Dan Thomas | ESPN FC FA Cup EFL Cup Bundesliga | Lead ESPN FC Studio host | |
Sebastian Salazar | MLS ESPN FC | ||
Kay Murray | ESPN FC International Matches Bundesliga | ||
Mark Donaldson | ESPN FC | Digital | |
Ross Dyer | ESPN FC | Digital | |
Alexis Nunes | ESPN FC | Digital |
This was the first World Cup on ABC featuring commentary from legendary broadcaster Jim McKay.
Coverage was led by Bob Ley alongside analyst Seamus Malin. For the final on ABC, Jim McKay, Mario Machado, and Paul Gardner called that game between Italy and West Germany at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. [31] [32] (See List of FIFA World Cup broadcasters)
JP Dellacamera was the play-by-play announcer alongside color commentators Seamus Malin and Shep Messing. Remaining matches were called by the World Feed. (See List of FIFA World Cup broadcasters)
The 1994 World Cup marked the return of the World Cup on ESPN and ABC and the first time they used their own commentary teams for all matches. Roger Twibell, Seamus Malin, and Rick Davis were the network's lead broadcast team. Al Trautwig and Rick Davis were the secondary broadcast team. [33] [34] [35] Other play-by-play announcers were: Bob Carpenter Bob Ley, Ian Darke, Randy Hahn, and Jim Donovan. [34] [35] Other color commentators were: Clive Charles, Ty Keough, Peter Vermes, Ron Newman, and Bill McDermott. Jim McKay was the studio host alongside studio analyst Desmond Armstrong. (See List of FIFA World Cup broadcasters)
Bob Ley and Seamus Malin was the lead broadcast team with four other broadcast teams include: Roger Twibell and Mike Hill, JP Dellacamera and Bill McDermott, Derek Rae and Ty Keough, and Phil Schoen and Tommy Smyth. Brent Musburger and Eric Wynalda worked in the studio for ABC while Phil Schoen and Dave Revsine hosted "World Cup2Night" on ESPN2 with analysts Julie Foudy, Keough, Smyth, and Jim St. Andre. [36] [37] [38] (See List of FIFA World Cup broadcasters)
Hockey play-by-play announcer Jack Edwards and color commentator Ty Keough led the commentary teams in South Korea and Japan. [39] [40] Three other broadcast teams called games in Bristol, Connecticut were: JP Dellacamera and Tommy Smyth, Glenn Davis and Shep Messing, and Mike Hill and Shep Messing, and Seamus Malin. Terry Gannon hosted in the studio alongside studio analysts Eric Wynalda and Giorgio Chinaglia. (See List of FIFA World Cup broadcasters)
Lead MLS and MLB play-by-play announcer Dave O'Brien and color commentator Marcelo Balboa worked as the lead broadcast team in Germany with other broadcast teams: JP Dellacamera and John Harkes, Glenn Davis and Shep Messing, Adrian Healey and Tommy Smyth, and Rob Stone and Robin Fraser. Brent Musburger returned for his 2nd World Cup as lead studio host with other hosts Rece Davis, and Dave Revsine. Studio analysts in the studio were: Alexi Lalas, Eric Wynalda, Julie Foudy, and Heather Mitts. (See List of FIFA World Cup broadcasters)
ESPN's coverage of the 2010 World Cup has been widely recognized as a breakthrough in US soccer broadcasting. [41] Esteemed commentator Martin Tyler led a team of all-British commentators in South Africa, Chris Fowler and Mike Tirico were the lead hosts in a studio set right outside of Soccer City in South Africa. Martin Tyler, who called England games, worked with Efan Ekoku as the network's lead broadcast team. Ian Darke and John Harkes, who called USMNT games were named the #2 broadcast teams. Other broadcast teams were: Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe, Adrian Healey and Ally McCoist, and Jim Proudfoot and Roberto Martínez. Studio analysts included: Steve McManaman, Jürgen Klinsmann, Martínez, Ruud Gullit, Alexi Lalas, Shaun Bartlett, and Tommy Smyth. Bob Ley was another studio host, working his 4th World Cup. Reporters were: Jeremy Schaap (USA and Final), Julie Foudy, Allen Hopkins, Rob Stone, Selema Masekela, Andrew Orsatti (Australia), John Sutcliffe (Mexico), and Dan Williams [42] (South Africa). [43]
The 2014 World Cup marked the end of the FIFA World Cup on ABC and ESPN. Ian Darke and Steve McManaman were the lead broadcast team, Jon Champion and Stewart Robson were the #2 team. Other play-by-play announcers were: Derek Rae, Daniel Mann, Adrian Healey and Fernando Palomo. Color commentators: Taylor Twellman, Craig Burley, Efan Ekoku, Roberto Martínez, Kasey Keller and Alejandro Moreno. All commentators were in Brazil with the top 5 teams at the stadiums while the remaining team called matches off monitors in Rio. Mike Tirico was the lead studio host alongside other hosts Bob Ley and Lynsey Hipgrave with analysts: Alexi Lalas, McManaman, Michael Ballack, Moreno, Keller, Gilberto Silva, Santiago Solari, Martínez, Twellman, and Ruud van Nistelrooy. Reporters included: Jeremy Schaap (Lead), Julie Foudy, Bob Woodruff, John Sutcliffe, Rubens Pozzi. [44]
Following controversy over ESPN's "American" commentary teams, the network decided to use more traditional coverage by tapping Adrian Healey and Andy Gray or Robbie Mustoe to be its lead broadcast team. ESPN also tapped Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth to be its secondary broadcast team. [45] [46] The studio team featured hosts Rece Davis and Rob Stone with analysts Julie Foudy and Alexi Lalas. [47] [48]
Ian Darke and Steve McManaman were the lead commentary team for ESPN. The studio team was based at headquarters in Bristol. Studio hosts were Bob Ley, Max Bretos, and Rebecca Lowe. Other broadcast teams were: Adrian Healey and Robbie Mustoe and Derek Rae and Kasey Keller or Taylor Twellman. Studio analysts were: Michael Ballack, Alexi Lalas, Keller, Twellman, and Tommy Smyth. Special contributors, who were live from Poland and Ukraine, were Glenn Hoddle and Roberto Martínez. Reporters included are: Alicia Ferguson and Darrell Currie. [49] [50]
ESPN was live in France with a set on the River Seine. Mike Tirico, Steve Bower, and Bob Ley hosted. Ian Darke, Steve McManaman, and Taylor Twellman returned as the lead broadcast team. Jon Champion and Stewart Robson were the #2 broadcast team. The top two broadcast teams called the games on-site from that country. [51] [52] [53] Other play-by-play announcers who called from the network monitors in Bristol, Connecticut were: Derek Rae, Adrian Healey, Mark Donaldson , and Max Bretos. Other color commentators who called from the network monitors in Bristol were: Tommy Smyth, Alejandro Moreno, Kate Markgraf, [54] and Paul Mariner. Studio analysts were: Craig Burley, Santiago Solari, Vincent Kompany, who was ruled out of that tournament with a serious injury, [55] [56] McManaman, Twellman, Julie Foudy, Roberto Martínez, Frank Leboeuf, Michael Ballack, and Kasey Keller. Jeremy Schaap, Marty Smith, and Alison Bender were reporters.
Euro 2020 is set to be broadcast live by ABC (5 matches), ESPN (40 matches including Final), and ESPN2 (6 matches). This is the first time since 2008 that ABC broadcast the European Championships free-to-air. [57] [58] Rece Davis [59] [60] [61] will be the lead host alongside Kelly Cates, Sebastian Salazar, Kay Murray and Dalen Cuff. Ian Darke and Stewart Robson are the lead broadcast team, calling some of 8 games at Wembley Stadium in London. Other broadcast teams are: Jon Champion and Taylor Twellman, Derek Rae and Efan Ekoku, Steve Cangialosi and Alejandro Moreno, and Mark Donaldson and Matteo Bonetti. Studio analysts were: Steve McManaman, Alessandro Del Piero, Julie Foudy, Tim Howard, Chris Coleman, Nedum Onuoha, Kasey Keller, and Craig Burley. Former referee Mark Clattenburg will work as rules analyst. Reporters included: Sam Borden, Martin Ainstein, Archie Rhind-Tutt and Alexis Nunes. [62] [63]
Rece Davis and Alexi Lalas worked in the studio during the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. ESPN tapped MLS on ESPN's lead broadcast team of JP Dellacamera and John Harkes to be its lead broadcast team, Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth to be its #2 broadcast team, and Adrian Healey and Robbie Mustoe to be its #3 broadcast team. [64] [65]
Bob Ley hosted in the studio alongside analysts Steve McManaman, Alexi Lalas, Roberto Martínez, and Michael Ballack. Ian Darke and Stewart Robson was the lead broadcast team. Other broadcast teams were: Fernando Palomo and Alejandro Moreno and Adrian Healey and Kasey Keller. [66]
John Paul "JP" Dellacamera is an American play-by-play sportscaster primarily for Major League Soccer with the Philadelphia Union, as well as major soccer tournaments and ice hockey.
Julie Maurine Foudy is an American retired soccer midfielder, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. She played for the United States women's national soccer team from 1988 to 2004. Foudy finished her international career with 274 caps and served as the team's captain from 2000 to 2004 as well as the co-captain from 1991 to 2000. In 1997, she was the first American and first woman to receive the FIFA Fair Play Award.
Derek Rae is a Scottish association football commentator and presenter who currently works for ESPN and the Bundesliga World Feed. He is also an ambassador for Berwick Rangers.
Martin Tyler is an English football commentator and assistant manager at Woking. He has worked as a commentator for Sky Sports since 1990, covering the Premier League and UEFA Champions League, as well as other domestic and international competitions. Tyler had previously commentated for ITV in the 1970s and 80s. He provided his voice to the football video game series FIFA from 2006 until 2019. FIFA 20 was the last game he ran commentary on as both him and Alan Smith were cut from FIFA 21. In 2003, he was voted the FA Premier League Commentator of the Decade.
Jonathan Martin Champion is a British sports commentator currently working for ESPN. Champion is a well-established and experienced commentator who has also worked for the BBC and ITV over the last 20 years. Champion currently covers international football and Major League Soccer for ESPN. His broadcast partner for international matches is Stewart Robson, while he works with Taylor Twellman for MLS. His late father David Champion was the deputy headmaster of the independent school Bootham School, York. Jon's commentaries can also be heard on the worldwide feed of many Premier League and League Cup matches worldwide.
Adrian Healey is an English football commentator, currently working with Austin FC on their regional broadcasts. He was part of the ESPN commentary team in South Africa for the 2010 World Cup. He has also been a fill in host for Dan Thomas on ESPN's soccer show ESPN FC.
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.
Stephen Robert Bower is an English football commentator, one of the main voices for BBC TV's Match of the Day, culminating in being part of the commentary teams for the 2010, 2014, and 2018 FIFA World Cups. Bower commentated on New Zealand's historic draw with Italy and Argentina's 4–1 win over South Korea amongst others.
ESPN FC is 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.
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.
Ian Darke is an English association football and boxing commentator who currently works for ESPN and BT Sport. Darke was previously one of Sky's "Big Four" football commentators alongside Martin Tyler, Alan Parry and Rob Hawthorne. He was also the main commentator for Sky's big boxing fights and along with Jim Watt, covered some of the biggest fights involving British boxers.
MLS Game of the Week is the weekly presentation of Major League Soccer games on ESPN2.
BT Sport is a group of pay television sports channels provided by BT Consumer; a division of BT Group in the United Kingdom and Ireland that was launched on 1 August 2013. The channels are based at the former International Broadcast Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. BT Sport is available on the BT TV, Sky and Virgin Media television platforms in the UK and Sky, Eir TV and Vodafone TV in the Republic of Ireland.
Fox currently airs association football matches in the United States. These matches are from the FIFA World Cup, the FIFA Women's World Cup, the Gold Cup, Copa América, MLS, and the Liga MX. Fox formerly aired the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, the Premier League, the Bundesliga, the Serie A, and the FA Cup.
FIFA World Cup on ABC is the branding used for presentations of the FIFA World Cup produced by the American Broadcasting Company television network in the United States. ABC first broadcast World Cup matches in 1970, when they aired week-old filmed highlights shown on ABC's Wide World of Sports. ABC would broadcast at least portions of the World Cup again in 1982. And finally, beginning in 1994, ABC was the official American network broadcaster of the World Cup up through 2014. ABC also broadcast the FIFA Women's World Cup in 1999 and 2003.
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 Champions League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competition winners. The competition attracts an extensive television audience, not just in Europe, but throughout the world. The final of the tournament has been, in recent years, the most-watched annual sporting event in the world. The final of the 2012–13 tournament had the competition's highest TV ratings to date, drawing approximately 360 million television viewers.
The UEFA European Football Championship, commonly known as the UEFA European Championship and informally as the Euros, is the primary association 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.
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