News: ESPN acquires Euro 2020, Europe WCQ '22 and Nations League rights

I think it is pretty safe to say Darke and Healy are going to be the main Play-by-play guys. Maybe Jon Champion too.
Not a bad trio if you think about it.

It is the possible color commentators that have me a bit concerned. Probably the likes of Twellman, Keller and maybe Moreno for Spain / Portugal games.
Not good.

 

^ and probably the likes of Wambach & Foudy.....even worse

 

Oh heck no. I hope not.

 

I very much doubt you'll hear all three as color commentators, maybe one. More likely they're on some of the studio shows.

If by "probably" you mean zero chance, sure. Again, they might pop up a bit on the coverage and/or ESPN FC, but I'd be stunned if they were calling matches.

 

Well they had Twellman do the Germany-England match. So I think they are set on him doing something. They had Keller doing it 4 years ago. And I think Moreno did World Cup and also recent friendlies of Spaim.

So it is not out of the question. I hope you are right though.

 

Speaking of the World Cup Darke Worked with Stewart Robson. And that pair was pretty good. Maybe they bring him back.

 

Maybe Derek Rae will call some games.

 

He confirmed on Twitter that he will.

Also, Mike Tirico will be part of the coverage, his final assignment before leaving ESPN.

 

Tirico's first Euros, right? I thought it was just Lowe (and Ley?) in '12. Tirico does a decent job but it'll be weird not having Ley around.

 

http://awfulannouncing.com/2016/ian...rkgraf-lead-espns-euro-2016-commentators.html

 

No suprises with Darke, Healey, Rae, and Champion. I'm kind of suprised with Max Bretos and Mark Donaldson calling games. Im really suprised with Kate Margraf, I thought the women contingent at espn would be relegated to the night time shows and espn fc.

 

http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2016/05/177157/

 

Some personal observations:

I have been using both WatchESPN and the "New" ESPN App on my Android tablet during the NBA Eastern Finals and I have noticed that the picture looks better and crisper on the ESPN app. On WatchESPN it looks a bit pixelated.

Just something to take note of for when the tournament starts up. The New ESPN app is the way to go.

 

ICYMI: Good story on @katemarkgraf and her #EURO2016 assignment for ESPN (via @tsnmike). https://t.co/OS1UDoisfk

— bill hofheimer (@bhofheimer_espn) May 20, 2016

 

ESPN & ESPN Deportes Launch First Ad for UEFA EURO 2016 Campaign “More Than Football” https://t.co/5bMz2vWI5u

— Ana Livia Jardine (@AnaLiviaJardine) May 26, 2016

With two weeks until the kickoff of UEFA European Football Championship, today ESPN is debuting “More Than Football,” an integrated marketing campaign celebrating the world’s most competitive international soccer tournament. Starting June 10, the month-long event will feature 51 matches in 10 cities throughout France.

The campaign’s inaugural spot – available in English and Spanish — introduces sweeping shots of French landmarks interlaced with footage of some of the most iconic moments and players in the history of the tournament, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Following a French theme, which will be emphasized throughout the campaign, the ad plays to the sound of French alternative rock band M83’s “Outro.”

ESPN, ESPN3, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Deportes Radio will present exclusive coverage of UEFA EURO 2016. Additionally, ESPN’s digital hub for soccer, www.espnfc.com, ESPN FC on TV, SportsCenter, as well as ESPNDeportes.com and ESPN Deportes’ Fuera de Juego and Jorge Ramos y Su Banda will combine to present the most-comprehensive news and information coverage of the quadrennial football championship for Europe in the United States. Full schedule of the matches on ESPN is available here.

 

Due to historic levels of flooding, ESPN's set in Paris will go to a Plan B..

http://awfulannouncing.com/2016/esp...ng.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

They should use it as a life gives you lemons you make lemonade situation. Maybe have someone silly like Ale Moreno or Burley in rain coats doing some sort of wannabe weather channel in hurricanes type of spoof reports.

 

Expanding schedule of UEFA soccer for ESPN through 2022 announced: https://t.co/GjXLQzUzde

— Mike Soltys (@MichaelJSoltys) August 15, 2016

http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-r...prehensive-media-rights-uefa-football-events/

 

As mentioned in other threads on BS, The Nations League draw and schedule is out:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018–19_UEFA_Nations_League

It will be interesting to see how serious ESPN and Univision cover this tournament.

Group 1 will be shown on ESPN and Univision for sure you would think.
The rest of League A maybe ESPN2 and Univision Deportes? Who knows?

Then the other Leagues on ESPN3 and maybe Galavision.

 

Spain - England and Italy - Portugal matches will probably be on ESPN and Univision too now that I think about it.

 

On Saturdays I think NCAA Football will get priority on ESPN channels.

 

ABC will have some Nations League matches next month.
Here is a schedule of some ESPN family matches:

https://worldsoccertalk.com/2020/08...as-part-of-major-plans-for-uefa-competitions/

 

There will be 2 games on ABC, 2 on ESPN2, and 3 on ESPNEWS. There will probably be more on ESPN3 (free if you get ESPN channels from a TV provider, otherwise not possible to watch legally) and/or ESPN Plus. In a normal year ABC would be showing three NCAA Football games on Saturday September 5.

Edit: ESPN doesn't have any games scheduled for ESPN3 or ESPN Plus yet, but I'm assuming that's because they haven't chosen what games.

 

Interestingly, none of the games are posted on the ESPN+ schedule yet. I assume that they will show pretty much all the NL matches like 2 years ago(?), but nothing posted on the espn website yet.

COVID/Trump doing wonders for soccer coverage by major networks this summer and autumn.