Does anyone know if Martin Tyler will be calling the US friendlies on ESPN before the World Cup starts or is that when he'll make his debut? It would be smart of ESPN to use him before hand so they can see what kind of feedback they get. I tried e-mailing ESPN but they said: I couldn't find any information anyway, but perhaps I'm looking in all the wrong places.
Tyler will obviously be the #1 PbP guy at the WC...but who's to say he'll do USA matches (aside from the England match, which he'll without a doubt be calling)? Unless another European based PbP guy is added, one has to assume the roster will be Tyler, Rae, Healey, Dellacamera. With JP and Harkes likely doing USA matches, except for USA/England (maybe Tyler and Harkes for that one?) That's what I'd guess.
I hope they dont us him for the uS friendlies , a boring british voice behind US soccer broadcast!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Chances are nearly zero that Tyler will be calling the U.S. games during the World Cup, let alone calling random U.S. friendlies before it starts.
Sucks for England fans in the USA but I doubt if Tyler will call any game involving the USMNT and that includes the the big game on June 12. Eng v USA is on a Saturday afternoon, presumably on ABC and will likely be the biggest US soccer game to hit mainstream TV. The match announcer HAS to be..... Brent Musberger
I believe the plan is this: Studio setup with Fowler, Tirico and Ley. -- US pbp with JP & Harkes. -- Tyler is the lead announcer on All non-US games. They haven't announced a partner. Andy Gray was an analyst on the Euro 2008 coverage and certainly having Martin/Gray would be interesting. When SI wrote about it last year, they said that Gray was lobbying to get Martin, so maybe he's in the setup. -- There will need to be a third team. Certainly Derrick Rae is available and under contract. Adrian Healey is around. Both were involved last time.
They'll have several teams of commentators, I'm sure. It just dawned on me that there are apparently people who thought Martin Tyler would be calling every game of the World Cup. Wowee.
This. Believe it or not, these guys actually do prep a little for each match. Tyler isn't going to do 3 games a day for 3 weeks.
to your points: - JP & Harkes should call US matches, but no one thinks the USA/England match could be Tyler and Harkes? - Andy Gray just signed a deal to do WC coverage for FSC...interesting that they wanted such a big name when they're not even showing the games. - There has to be at least FOUR announcing teams. Last matchday of the group stage has 4 games each day...plus they don't have the same 3 teams announcing all the games for the first 10 or so days straight. They need at least a day or 2 off. So the PbP guys should be Tyler, Rae, Healey, and JP; and for commentary...??? Smyth, Harkes, then who? maybe McManaman, Hislop, Mustoe...
No. Well, somebody, somewhere, might think it. But no -- that pairing is highly improbable, and definitely not a good idea. JP and Harkes will call the U.S. matches. I would bet my entire BigSoccer account on it. A very valuable property, of course.
From SI, when the ESPN deal was announced: Given what the draw turned out to be, I'd be shocked if Tyler wasn't calling at least the England match. Not to mention that they probably paid a pretty penny for Tyler, and the US games will be among the most watched, if not the most. JP is a good, but it's not like he has some unbelievable following within the US soccer fanbase. I certainly wouldn't object to losing JP for Martin Tyler. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/soccer/10/18/worldcup.announcer/index.html
Right, but that wouldn't be the driving force anyway. It would be more about American accents and familiarity with the team, its history, all the nuances, etc.
which is why you have Harkes there for the commentary. I don't think you can broadcast a USA game in the USA without a USA voice...but Tyler doing the play by play would work, not to mention the tension in the booth between an Englishman and American calling the match, I think that's what they'll go for. But I think Tyler stays away from the other USA matches, unless we progress deep into the knockout stages.
I suppose anything is possible. I just would be very, very, very surprised if ESPN takes the biggest U.S. soccer game in ages and slathers the opposition's accent all over it.
You make a good point. But it's really hard to say because it all depends on how they view the calculus of it all. I almost think that a Tyler-Harkes pairing would make more sense for one of the other USA matches rather than the USA-England match.
I mean, seriously, the American twist on soccer is so unique and complex that I'm sure someone as low on the world game's pecking order as Martiin Tyler couldn't quite fill the shoes of say, oh I don't know, JP Dellacamera!!!!
I beleive Tyler was hired in for those Eurosnobs who cant stop whining about how america does soccer.
The scene: Norway is facing Canada in an Olympics hockey gold-medal final. Now, Norwegians play hockey. But as we all know, nobody does hockey like Canada, where it's the national sport. Somebody suggests using a Canadian commentator to call this big game for Norwegian TV. Question: Does the typical Norwegian laugh loud and uproariously at this crazy joke, or just laugh in a normal fashion?
What opponent? What accent? Perhaps the most important person on our opposition has an Italian accent. Martin Tyler may be English, but he's not actually suiting up for England. He's being employed by an American company, broadcasting to an American audience, and he's had decades of impartial commentary. Something tells me he can pull off putting away his English-ness for a few hours. Believe it or not, American audiences are not so xenophobic that they will turn off a soccer match -- featuring the United States National Team -- because they hear a foreign accent doing PBP. I don't think they'll put an all-British crew in there, but Tyler & Harkes would work. Unless middle America mistakes John's feint English accent and sayings for an actual Englishman. Then we're screwed.