Fk lame, I actually liked espn coverage since I have the Disney plus bundle so I get espn plus subscription with it. This means another stupid subscription to get… Espn was helping Italian soccer get main stream.
Well....if you watched the CL last year, you already needed a CBS/Paramount subscription. We shall see what the coverage is like when it comes but the CL stuff was OK. The studio stuff was its usual lame stuff, but at least we still have it on US tv.
Paramount+ will offer Serie A matches in English, Italian, and Spanish. They will also air select games on CBS as well. ESPN+ will also be raising the price of its services next month to $6.99 a month. It launched 2 years ago at $4.99.
Wait, fratello. They will both be carrying Serie A (CL, Coppa)? If they both carry it, will probably go ESPN+…
No, ESPN lost the rights to Serie A in the US. All Serie A and Coppa Italia, including SuperCoppa will be on Paramount+. The Champions League will also be on Paramount+ as well as a few other leagues. Then there are all the movies and tv shows it offers.
To paraphrase Norma Desmond's line in Sunset Boulevard: Italian soccer was always mainstream, it's ESPN that was small time
Paramount+ will be airing earlier rounds of the Coppa Italia. According to their press release they will have a game or two on the weekend of August 13th. If this holds, it will be the earliest we've gotten to see the CI on US tv.
For all the people that loved ESPN and Serie A so much, here's something to think about. For the 3 years it took them almost the entire 3 years before they aired a Serie A game on ABC. They signed an 8 year deal with La Liga and ABC will be showing the Barca game live on the opening day for this season. ESPN didn't do much for helping Serie A.
The best thing that ESPN did for Serie A was the Serie Awesome podcast. It was quite evident the production difference after wathing the Bundesliga coverage compared to Serie A. Advanced statistics and higher production value, in my opinion. Hopefully CBS/Paramount+ puts a good amount into Serie A and Champions League moving forward. They can really make something out of it considering they don't have any other hugh competitors on a weekly basis. ESPN already caters to the EPL (even though they can't show any live matches) and now they have to try and balance the Bundesliga with La Liga.
Not to mention Coppa and Supercoppa. Sure, no where near as important as Serie A and CL, but adds 25% or so of Juve matches, which is cool
More than anything ESPN did for Coppa Italia, every game from the first round will be airing live on Paramount+
Interesting choices there. Immobile - meh Lautaro - class player Damsgaard - looking to make moves Vlahovic - about to be talked about with Haaland and Mbappe soon IMO. Weston - American, but also had a pretty strong opening campaign as a newcomer to Italy and only 23.
CBS announced their Coppa Italia and Serie A schedule through August. Udinese vs Juventus and Genoa vs Napoli will air on CBS Sports Network/Paramount+. All the other games will be on Paramount+. Also, CBS Sports’ full Serie A studio coverage from New York beginning on Sunday, Sept. 12, airing on CBS Sports Network and streaming on Paramount+. CBS Sports HQ will provide pre- and post-match and halftime coverage through the first two weeks of Serie A action starting on Saturday, Aug. 21. CBS Sports Network will also feature standalone programming including preview and highlight shows throughout the season. https://www.viacomcbspressexpress.com/cbs-sports/releases/view?id=58038
Watching the Barca/Real Sociedad match on ABC is quite annoying. Seeing how ESPN has handled their La Liga coverage compared to 3 years of Serie A is laughable. It must have been an insignificant number for how little they seemed to care about our coverage. ABC and high quality stream and content for week 1. With that said, at least CBS/Paramount+ is going to try and up the content and production value that ESPN provided us. I'm excited to hopefully get the type of coverage that Serie A/Juventus deserves!
Contract signed with Messi in La Liga, imagine they are desperately trying to get viewership up to budgeted levels. Going to be a tough year for La Liga with historically weak versions of Barcelona (worst version since probably 2004) and Real Madrid (worst version since probably even further back).
CBS announced today that Matteo Bonetti will serve as lead Serie A analyst and Andres Cordero will do play-by-play announcing for the weekly games on CBS Sports Network.
I think Barca could be surprisingly good without Messi. Probably similar to Juventus when CR7 leaves. However, you are probably right about ESPN kicking themselves about having the rights to La Liga without CR7 or Messi. Who is the biggest name in La Liga now? Griezman, Hazard, or Benzema?