Top Stories

Arsenal-United on Fox to be USA’s first live Premier League network broadcast

BPI_MancUnitvArse.dotj

Photo by ISIphotos.com 

Sunday will mark a significant milestone in the progession of soccer in America. 

When Fox airs the Arsenal-Manchester United match at 11 a.m., it will be the first live Premier League broadcast in the United States on network television. With the match being played during the build-up to the day's NFL conference championship games, there is not only a high potential for a large viewing audience, but it also provides the chance to gauge the audience and demand for more broadcasts like it in the future.

Fox has carried a few tape-delayed Premier League matches this season, doing so for the Manchester United-Chelsea match on Sept. 18, the Tottenham-Arsenal match on Oct. 2 and the Chelsea-Liverpool match on Nov. 20. In the past, the UEFA Champions League semifinals has been carried live on FX, while the UCL final has been on Fox for the last two years. Sunday's U.S. broadcast, however, will be the first of its kind.

Sunday's match is the precursor for Fox's second live Premier League broadcast: the Chelsea-Manchester United match on Feb. 5 — Super Bowl Sunday.

Excited for Sunday's broadcast? Expecting big ratings? Hope it is a sign of more to come?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Just finally got someone on phone. They will NOT be showing it live on Fox 5 Atlanta tomorrow. It is on at 12:30. Perhaps those with Satellite can get it from a national feed. Otherwise, SOL until 12:30.

    Reply
  2. Listing the same thing here in Atlanta on local Fox station. I have tried to get someone on the phone this morning but they must have everyone in South Carolina. It could be a misprint with the listings. If they show Paid programing and Atlanta Houses instead of Ars-MUFC, there will be several pissed people marching on that station from the Brewhouse.

    Reply
  3. I would love to hear John Harkes and Bob Costas call the game. Get Saragusa on the sideline. That would be AWESOME!

    Yes I’m being sarcastic.

    Reply
  4. I’m excited for this one, but as has been asked, I’m wondering what a ratings “Winner” looks like. The overall ratings for the tape delayed matches against the NFL on Sunday haven’t been all that impressive, and anyone who thinks this is a double digit winner is kidding themselves. A true ratings Win, IMHO, is a rating that gets above a 2.0… That would be double the audience of MLS Cup for the past few years. Another way to grade the relevance is to check the ESPN bottom line ticker. EPL matches often make the ticker, but I’m not sure if they do Live Score Updates like they do for the NFL and MLB. One of my petty gripes about ESPN is their lack of inclusion of MLS results like they do with other sports. Your run of the mill MLS weekend scores appear once every third or fourth pass thru the ticker. MLS matches rarely are shown as upcoming events, even when ESPN is broadcasting their GOTW. If the ESPN ticker is showing live updates of Arsenal v Man U, there is a better chance of someone remembering the advertising and taking a look.

    I would look at 2.0 as the early Mendoza line for this match.

    Reply
  5. Sundays are my day to sleep in. One of many reasons for not watching a lot of EPL. Also, one possible reason why Pacific Time peoples don’t watch it as much and accept MLS in greater numbers.

    Reply
  6. Yah know what’s funny? When I posted I almost decided against it at the last minute, because I didn’t know if the light sarcasm intended was obvious enough.

    I have my answer…

    But I do indeed watch both leagues nonetheless…

    Reply
  7. Interesting difference of opinion. I was never a fan of Rob Stone calling soccer matches. To my ears he always had a slightly over-dramatic / minor-league-ish sound to the way he calls a soccer match. Didn’t ever hit me with having the right kind of tone for a soccer game. But, hopefully he’s improved.

    Reply
  8. In case you were wondering, no, Eurosnobs are not the only American soccer fans who feel the need to arrogantly announce which types of soccer they deem unworthy.

    Reply
  9. Reminder for viewers in the San Francisco/San Jose/Oakland TV market:

    Arsenal vs Manchester United will air on KICU “TV 36”, NOT KTVU “FOX 2”.

    Why?

    Because A)FOX did not notify its affiliates 6 months in advance, and B)local news makes way too much money for COX Television, which owns both KTVU and KICU. There was no way KTVU would pre-empt local news for an EPL match, especially on less than 6-months notice.

    Reply
  10. I agree. I have so many friends that love to watch soccer and don’t miss broadcasts but none of have FSC so I watch feeds/espn3 but they just skip it.

    Reply
  11. That will depend on whether FOX chooses to take the audio from Premier League Productions (PLP)/IMG Sports Media or from BSkyB.

    Premier League Productions usually assigns Jon Champion to call the big games on Sundays (now that Ian Darke apparently is no longer available to call games for PLP, though Dark still voices the Premier League World magazine show for PLP.)

    BSkyB usually assigns Martin Tyler to call the big games.

    Reply
  12. Rather they just bring in one of the Fox Soccer Report guys from Canada than have Morgan. He was on FSC after they 8-2 game and was calling for Wenger’s head.

    Reply
  13. I think the set-up is actually Rob Stone as the anchor/host, with Wynalda and Piers Morgan in the commentary/analyst roles.

    It sounds like Fox was over there in some form or fashion this week and will have a good amount of original content as far as interviews go, w/ Landon and Rio.

    Hopefully it works well, Rob Stone always did a great job on ESPN, and Fox paid some good coin to put him in that seat.

    P.S. No word on whether Eric will be wearing Sidewinders

    Reply
  14. Most fans I know see the qualities of both leagues. You can’t deny that there are more world class players in the Premier League than MLS.

    On the other hand, the MLS is our American league, a very good league, and it’s growing. Maybe someday it will be one of the best leagues in the world. I love watching MLS, I’m a Revs season ticket holder. I love watching the Revolution and Fulham FC.

    Reply
  15. I agree it’s not a good idea, but to be honest Piers>Curt Menefee. If it keeps him out of a host roll it’s a step up. If I have to deal with both of them then I’ll make sure to turn it on at just about kickoff, and go find something to do at halftime.

    Reply
  16. Ratings for this fixture are going to be massive. The fact that this broadcast is available for everyone not just those who have FSC/Plus will only drive viewership higher.

    Reply

Leave a Comment