With Euro 2012 just months away any one no who will be in the booth for ESPN. My guess is that the lead team will be Ian dark and Steve McManaman with Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe the second team what will be interesting is if they bring in any one from overseas.
im sure Adrian Healy will do some games - he did the finals in 2008. Maybe Martin Tyler ? i know Martin is signed on for World Cup 2014 so maybe there is something in the contract stating he'll do the 2012 euros....
I was thinking Adrian Healy but why I think it will be Derek Rae is because he is in the UK and is cheaper for them to fly Derek Rae over.
Tommy Smyth in studio for pregame and postgame, perhaps? I think a lot of it depends on if ESPN US piggybacks off ESPN UK, or does their own thing.
what about ian darke? I wouldn't mind sticking him in there with a european color guy. Let's just hope they don't try to push John Harkes to do the games with darke.
Ian will be there and i think McManaman will be with out him. i would love to see them bring in who they had for the World cup but dont see them doing that.
That should be interesting to see. Last time they had Andy Grey, Julie Foudy (she must've loved that) and Stone/Fowler but had Healy and Rae on the mic in Bristol. Would they send someone on site if they don't have any rights to broadcast in the UK? And will their UK staff be elsewhere doing analysis for whoever has the rights? I think Jon Champion was doing work for some other broadcaster during WC2010. I'm guessing Darke and Healy are locks. I'd love Rae, but he seems to have been relegated to the C team there. If they do go on site, they'd have to have 4 teams to avoid wicked travel schedules, I'd guess. So maybe they roll Rae out. But what happens if they use the WC2006 strategy of one team on site, one roving reporter, and the rest in the Bristol broom closets?
might be a pie in the sky type situation, but what about something like the roving bus they had for women's world cup. The vast distance between host cities might be a problem, but hey one can hope, right? Besides, I'm guessing with proper promotions, they can average bigger audience then they had for women's world cup. Obviously USA isn't in the competition, but I think american crowd are ready to follow big time soccer tournament even when their country isn't playing. It's not like anything else is going on at that time besides mid-season baseball.
I doubt it for the Euros. I'd be surprised if they even have someone on site. Plus the transportation friction between cities in Poland and Ukraine, I'd bet, is much higher than in Germany.
For the WC ESPN had a few shows filmed in Johannesburg at Nelson Mandela Square for their station that did not have rights, Rae Stubbs (from ESPN UK) was hosting a show called South Africa nightly which was mainly based around English campaign in the World Cup with ESPN also sending the Soccernet Press Pass show to South Africa So I would imagine ESPN International/UK will do a similar thing for Euro2012 but they might scale it down to doing shows in the UK and/or US with reporters on the ground
I can understand them doing that for the World Cup - a tournament where the US is in and that has a good amount of cache. But the Euros?
Former German National Team Captain Michael Ballack Joins ESPN for UEFA EURO 2012. Ballack, Steve McManaman and Alexi Lalas to Serve as Lead English-Language Studio Analysts. Michael Ballack, former German National Team captain who plays for Bayer Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga, will join ESPN as a studio analyst for the UEFA European Football Championship 2012™ (Friday, June 8, through Sunday, July 1). Ballack will contribute to ESPN and ESPN2’s English-language coverage of the quadrennial European championship, appearing on pre-match, halftime and post-match shows as well as SportsCenter, ESPNEWS and other news and information programs. Ballack will join ESPN’s Steve McManaman and Alexi Lalas, both stars of the company’s award-winning presentation of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, as the three week tournament’s lead English-language studio analysts from the ESPN studios in Bristol, Conn. McManaman, a Liverpool legend and former England National Team player, has been with ESPN fulltime since November 2010 as an English Premier League match analyst and studio analyst for international matches. Lalas, a former US Men’s National Team defender and Major League Soccer executive, is a studio analyst for soccer. http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/20...ichael-ballack-joins-espn-for-uefa-euro-2012/ LB...
Uhhhh. I know. It's bad enough we have to hear his rah rah Uncle Sam b.s. during the World Cup but what does he have to offer as far as a European based tournament goes? I wonder who's going to be calling the actual matches. I really wish that ESPN would get Andy Gray back again like they had him for Euro 2008. I know it might be a bit of a controversial call but watching some old EPL matches recently left me interested in hearing him again. Otherwise, I hope they consider Derek Rae and Craig Burley as a team as they do a fantastic job covering the SPL matches for ESPN UK. Wonder if Martin Tyler would be brought back. I think it's safe to assume that Mustoe, Healey, etc will be used as well.
Has anyone seen a full schedule? HOPEFULLY "in-studio" means 5-10 minutes before kickoff (such as a 11:55 AM ET on-air time), and half-time with maybe a little bit post-game. An 11:55 on-air time doesn't mean a whole lot of time for Alexi to speak, figuring in two other analysts plus commercials.
Alexi doesn't really know that much about European football. I like him when talking about the U.S. & MLS, but not for the Euros.
Kasey Keller Joins ESPN As Soccer Analyst. Keller will primarily serve as a studio analyst for select MLS and United States Men’s National Team matches and will also be part of ESPN’s presentation of the UEFA European Football Championship™ 2012 from June 8–July 1. During the UEFA European Football Championship in June, Keller will be a match analyst. He will also have a studio role alongside fellow analysts Alexi Lalas, Steve McManaman and Michael Ballack. http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/2012/03/01/kasey-keller-joins-espn-as-soccer-analyst/ LB...
We should get some decent banter from Alexi & Macca. I'm not too sure about Ballack, though. Maybe I'm wrong, but he never struck me as the most charming/charismatic personality.