English Premier League Soccer Makes Weekend Mornings Special

Jon Miller President of Programming NBC Sports ampamp NBCSN is keenly aware of the demand for football coverage in the USamp160amp160quotWe were extremely excited to begin our partnership with the Premier League six years ago and the results have been tremendousquot he saysamp160 quotIn presenting the best soccer in the world we created a new sports daypart on weekend morningsamp160 Ultimately we have helped grow the Premier League39s audience here in the US to record levelsquotRivalries aside the cool thing about watching these matches is that there are no commercial breaksamp160 So how does NBCSN afford to keep securing these very lucrative rights with only prepost and halftime adsamp160 Clockwraps maybeamp160 They actually build on this with shoulder programming that39s viewed by this rabid fan baseamp160 They also have created personalities from Rebecca Loweamp160to Kyle Martino and the two Robbies Earle and Mustoeamp160 amp160In addition NBC has created special events fan zones if you will at various cities around the country for full interactive events with NBCSN talent to bring the English passion to Main St on weekend morningsamp160 This past year NBCSN camped out in Boston near Fenway Park and had a sixhour party both morningsamp160 This not only added to commercial breaks but it gave Americans the chance to interact with this great sportamp160quotOur production team deserves a great deal of the credit as they have put together a terrific onair team both in the studio and in the gantryquot Miller saysamp160 quotWe have delivered authentic coverage focused on all 20 teams while rolling out numerous innovations to showcase the clubs and players on and off the pitchquotIt39s interestingamp160the lack of competitive bidding for these games and it39s not due to a weekendmorning kickoffamp160amp160ESPN can39t really do this as they39ve put millions to college football and those games would butt up against EPL matchesamp160 Also ESPN and Foxamp160have very lucrative NFL contracts to think aboutamp160 Hence the EPL becomes a great fit for NBCSN whichamp160also has NHL rightsamp160 NBC is committed to showing every EPL matchamp160 There are 20 teams in the league which translates to 10 matches weekly headlined by Manchester United Liverpool Manchester City Chelsea and Arsenal to name a fewWhile most weekends these clubs dominate NBCSN and NBC coverage all games are available on these outlets or the streaming subscription service NBC Goldamp160 Most of theamp160games are delivered via an international feed but NBC produces one or two games weekly with its own announcersamp160 The blend of US and English columnists and announcers also plays a big part in the understanding of the game without being preachyNBC took over the EPL rights from Fox Soccer Channel for the 201314 seasonamp160 Fox Soccer Channel did a great job in elevating awareness of the game in the US but the size of the network always inhibited the league39s growthamp160 Enter NBCSN with 90 million HHs and theamp160ability to use all Comcast assets and a great relationship was bornamp160 They39ve also done an amazing job in using the history of the game both via players and rivalriesamp160 NBCSN has developed specials around the Manchester United and Manchester City rivalry as well as Liverpool vs Everton and Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspuramp160 These Derbies pronounced quotdarbiesquot are fiercely contestedamp160 The 20 EPL teams are spread across the UK but in any one season you can see as many as seven teams based in London alone which makes rivalries more intenseOn Championship Sunday the final matchday of the season all ten matches are simultaneously playedamp160at 10 am ET as the FA wanted to try and make sure all play is fairamp160 The points system in most of the soccer world is three points awarded for a win and one point to each team for a draw With the potential for points to swing in any given direction the FA feels this is the most secure way to close out the leagueamp160 NBC can handle this as they put all 10 games live on linear networks across their Comcast ownership groupamp160 Seeing West Ham United v Burnley on Bravo is indeed a strange site but it39s a great selling point for NBC SportsGiven there39s not just a race for the EPL title but also multiple potential stories via the relegation battle this final day concept is keyamp160 Unlike American sports three teams will be dropped to the 2nd division of English football the Championship Division every season while three teams from that division will be promoted to the EPL to replace those relegatedamp160 This is significant as the money in play for being in the EPL is hugeamp160 It helps teams finance players during the two transfer windows each year that happen in January and from the end of the EPL season until early Augustamp160 The last team to be promoted into the EPL every year could see a swing of over 200 million in potential revenue for that last playoff gameThe unsaid thing in all of this is the passion around this sport across the globe and nowamp160even more so in Americaamp160 Seeing the celebrations around the US Women39s National team winning their 4th World Cup is a testament to this growing popularityamp160 Speaking as one of those fans I do relish my weekend mornings from August to early May planning them out to make sure I get to watch Arsenal be it at 7 am or in the showcase game on NBC at 1230pmamp160 A big nod to NBC Sports for their forward thinking for embracing this league and for not thinking totally about profits and losses but more about a portfoliomanagement approach to the biggest nonUS football league in the worldPhoto courtesy of NBC Premier League Mornings Live fan festsClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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English Premier League Soccer Makes Weekend Mornings Special

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Larry Novenstern

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English Premier League Soccer Makes Weekend Mornings Special

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