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ESPN secures rights to EPL (Altidore to miss Hull-Chelsea match)

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The opening match of the English Premier League season will now be shown on ESPN2 as part of ESPN's new deal to air EPL matches throughout the year.

The network finalized a deal with Fox Sports International late on Friday for the rights to air English Premier League matches for the upcoming season, including the Chelsea-Hull City match (7:40am). The network officially announced the deal late Friday night.

 “The Barclays Premier League is one of the crown jewels of professional sports throughout the world,” said Scott Guglielmino, ESPN's vice president of programming.  “We’re pleased to work with Fox Sports International to bring some of the league’s marquee matchups to ESPN2 in our continued efforts to serve soccer fans in the United States.”

The Chelsea-Hull City match was supposed to be the debut of U.S. national team striker Jozy Altidore for Hull, but Altidore revealed late on Friday night via Twitter that he is still sorting out work permit issues and will miss the match.

ESPN had been in lengthy negotiations with Fox Sports International to secure rights to show EPL games on a weekly basis, but the failure to make a deal earlier was putting the airing of the season opener in jeopardy. Saturday's opener will be shown. That possibility was avoided on Friday when the two networks reached an agreement.

Here is the schedule of matches to be shown on ESPN networks through September:

EPL on ESPN2 (through September)

Saturday- Chelsea vs. Hull City (7:40am, ESPN2)

Sat., Aug. 22- Wigan vs. Manchester United (9:55am, ESPN2)

Mon., Aug. 24- Liverpool vs. Aston Villa (2:55pm, ESPN2)

Sat., Aug. 29- Chelsea vs. Burnley (7:40am, ESPN2)

Sat., Sept. 12- Liverpool vs. Burnley (9:55am, ESPN2)

Sat. Sept. 19- Burnley vs. Sunderland (7:40am, ESPN2)

Sat., Sept. 26- Portsmouth vs. Everton (7:40am,ESPN2)

Mon., Sept. 28- Manchester City vs. West Ham (2:55pm, ESPN2)

What do you think of the news? Excited to see this schedule? Will you be up early to see Chelsea-Hull even without Jozy Altidore? Ready to adopt Burnley as your second-favorite EPL team?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I actually like the early start times. I missed this one Any reports on how the broadcast was handled? How many SportsCenter breaks? Who announced?

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  2. Lets be honest they were not going to sell ESPN the choice games…when they can broadcast them on FSC…as for HD FSC said recently they are shooting to move into, but not until early 2010…

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  3. Wow,

    Everything I love about soccer in one place… Great game, great finish, great atmosphere, good commentators with great command of soccer language…. And now it’s on ESPN so I don’t have to PAY to see it, and neither does everybody else! Thanks ESPN, keep it up. Please, please keep the British feed. Just add a post game show and we’re good.

    I woke up this morning like it was Christmas morning as a child thinking, “Could it really true? Am I going to walk into the family room and find a nice surprise (on TV)?”

    I really love live soccer on Saturday morning!

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  4. what a terrible line-up. America gets to watch Man U destroy Wigan and Burnley get the crap kicked out of them twice. Plus we get to watch Burnley (A THIRD TIME ?!!)battle those titans from Sunderland. I hope ESPN isn’t actually paying for this terrible line-up.

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  5. “The following NFL Camp hold-outs are doing sit-ups in their driveway. We’ll say we condemn the behavior yet dedicate 80% of our programming to it.

    Boo-Yaa!

    Now we’ll cut to the following celebrities who are watching a Laker game.

    Boo-Yaa!”

    ————–

    I do hope its a feed from overseas and all the ESPN elements I can’t stand are minimal. At the very least they’re going to cut into the game a dozen times to update you on stuff you won’t care about. If you’ve seen any MLS broadcast you know what I’m talking about.

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  6. Getting a Visa in England can be a real pain and the Govt., unlike here, doesn’t care that Jozy is a footballer and give him special consideration…I’m glad I’m half English (mom born and raised their) thus I don’t need a Visa to enter and leave…it will get sorted out but on thir time, not ours unfortuntely…

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  7. Showed Chelsea vs Hull City today….using the announcer feed from Sky Sports in England (good idea!)….in HD….my problem was their overall presentation….no post game analysis what so ever, cut the game as the handshakes were going on and went straight to a commerical and then sports center…they are going to have to do better with the overall presentation or will risk the wrath of futbal fans…similar to the knocks they get presenting the national team….being in HD was nice though….I’m not a fan of ESPN or their productions….so I don’t expect much from them for the futbal fan….

    Excited it’s on ESPN….actually no as I don’t think the beautful game will get the production it deserves..and agree with Mike M….please don’t ESPNize it…

    Setanta and FSC will also continue to show the EPL…which is good even if it is not in HD…

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  8. that produced and broadcast it better than you did in 12 hours!?—–

    espn didn’t produce the game. they get feed from UK.. i believe its SKY feed and SKY commentators..

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  9. If you are Fox, do you realize you just sold a portion of your exclusive product to a company that produced and broadcast it better than you did in 12 hours!? Turning to FSC after the ESPN2 game was depressing. Can’t wait until next Saturday, Man U in HD!

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  10. “Now back to the studio with this breaking news…..Brett Favre ordered a hot dog at a rest stop near Vikings camp. Our sources say he put relish on it but skipped the mustard.

    Now the following NBA players still have “beefs” with eachother”

    Reply
  11. i love how the second the game was over they cut to espnews to talk about everything but the game. we didnt even get highlights or a recap. wtf? typical espn.

    Reply

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