Follow live coverage of Germany vs Scotland at Euro 2024 today
You don’t need to be a sports television programmer to predict the dream of Fox Sports executives when it comes to this month’s UEFA Euro 2024 and the Copa América 2024 — both of which will be telecast on the networks of Fox Sports.
But we decided to ask one anyway.
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Zac Kenworthy is the vice president of production for Fox Sports and one of the point persons for the network’s presentation of soccer. He naturally dreams of a long run for the U.S. men’s national team in Copa América — the top men’s soccer tournament for national teams in South America, plus additional invitees from the Americas — as well a famed team making its way to the final at the Euros — the quadrennial men’s tournament for European national teams.
Friday kicks off one of the most ambitious stretches in Fox Sports’ soccer history as the Euros run from Friday through July 14 while the Copa América runs from June 20 through July 14. Fox owns both properties.
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“I think when the U.S. men’s national team is doing well, the audience checks in, and I’m not just talking about the sports audience, but an audience in general,” Kenworthy said. “We saw that in 2015 with the incredible numbers that the U.S. women’s national team put up for that World Cup in prime time. A U.S.-Argentina final would be absolutely gold for us if I could dream.
“On the Euro side, I’ve done all the plotting about who can go where, but there’s so many iterations of it. I won’t lean into a specific matchup there, but it’s obvious that the power of the England national team is massive for us. The power of (France’s) Kylian Mbappé is something to behold. I also think there’s something to be said for a host nation being in the final. What we found with the U.S. audience is that an environment like Germany in the summer, when the weather’s great, the beer gardens, all that sort of stuff, it creates a real sense of FOMO. You wish you were in Berlin.”
Added Ian Darke, the lead broadcaster for Fox’s Euro coverage: “Soccer from sunrise to sunset, 78 matches from two massive tournaments going on more or less simultaneously, starting Friday with Germany and Scotland,” said Darke. “It is going to be a treat if you follow and love this game like we do.”
Most of us will not be in Berlin, so viewing Darke and Co. on television will have to suffice. If you’re based in the United States and are interested in watching two of the great soccer tournaments in the world, here’s what you need to know.
Euro 2024 coverage debuts Friday at 2 p.m. ET on Fox for the pregame (kickoff is at 3 p.m. ET) with host nation Germany vs. Scotland. The Copa América begins June 20 at 7 p.m. ET (kickoff is at 8 p.m. ET) on FS1 when Lionel Messi leads Argentina vs. Alphonso Davies and Canada.
Fox says four broadcast teams will be working on-site for Euro 2024. Darke will pair with Landon Donovan to form the lead broadcast team. They will call the Germany-Scotland Euro opener from Munich. The other broadcast teams include Derek Rae and former England goalkeeper Robert Green; Jaqui Oatley and Warren Barton; and a fourth team making its Fox Sports debut — Darren Fletcher and former England midfielder Owen Hargreaves. (Fletcher received rave reviews for his MLB call for London of the Mets-Phillies.)
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Tom Rinaldi and Geoff Shreeves will offer on-site reporting from Germany. Michael Timbs will report from fan festivals in Germany.
“The reason you would say the Euros are way more popular now and many more people will be watching is because there’s so much soccer on TV in America,” said Donovan. “There’s so many players that the American audience is aware of that they never would have been aware of before. They’re not going to know every player on Hungary or Switzerland or Austria, but there will be players on those teams where someone goes, oh, I saw him play for Arsenal or Liverpool or he plays for Real Madrid. That brings intrigue.”
John Strong and Stu Holden will call every U.S. men’s national team group-stage match and beyond from for Copa América. Reporter Jenny Taft will be embedded with the USMNT for as long as they are in the tournament. Strong and Holden will also be in-stadium for Argentina matches along with reporter Ana Jurka, who makes her Fox Sports debut as a reporter assigned to powerhouse Argentina.
The other broadcast teams consist of JP Dellacamera and Cobi Jones and Luis Omar Tapia with Maurice Edu. Dr. Joe Machnik and Mark Clattenburg serve as rules analysts for both tournaments. Kenworthy said the goal is to call as many Copa games on-site as possible. Dellacamera and Jones will travel at times and also call some games from Fox Sports headquarters in L.A.
“It’s really going to be based on what the need is and how that game is elevated, whether we are on the network (Big Fox) versus certain times when we’re on FS1 and the matches aren’t as attractive to an American audience,” he said. “We just have to be smart about our resources there. But the goal is to call as many matches in the field as possible.”
Fox has deserved the good-faith criticism it has faced for its studio presentation of men’s soccer tournaments. The presentation has always been too American-centric for a global sport, and for anyone who has watched similar coverage in England or Canada, in-depth discussions of tactics for non-U.S. teams is lacking. The Euro coverage presents a golden opportunity for Fox because the only discussion of the U.S. will come with its Copa coverage.
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Fox’s studio coverage for the Euros consists of a new lead host (Jules Breach) and a host of new analysts U.S. soccer broadcasting — former England national team striker Daniel Sturridge, former Italian national team member Giorgio Chiellini and former Danish goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel. Holdovers include Ariane Hingst and Stu Holden.
Alexi Lalas and Edu will work both the Euros and Copa América. The main studio set for Copa América includes long-time soccer host Rob Stone, Lalas, Carli Lloyd, Clint Dempsey and former Colombia national team striker Juan Pablo Ángel. Lloyd has been excellent on-air since joining Fox.
On the issue of criticism of Fox’s studio show during previous men’s tournaments, Kenworthy said Fox Sports officials believe in their presentation strategy.
“I think the way we present the game and what our numbers and research shows us is that we’re doing it the right way,” Kenworthy said. “People want to be entertained. Yes, they want coverage of the game. But the reality is they want an elevated experience, and I think that’s what we provide with these big personalities. …
“This game continues to grow in North America. … But the reality is our research shows us that when these major international tournaments are on our air, the majority of people who are watching are not just casual sports fans, but are sometimes not even sports fans. So we need to appeal to a broad base and not alienate a group. We need to appeal to the soccer fan, and we also need to grow and expand this game and provide a pathway so more people come in and watch these dual events at Fox.”
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Kenworthy said Chiellini is a larger-than-life character who has injected himself into the Fox Soccer crew by taking a big interest in how American sports television works.
“We’ve seen him as a player. The chest bumps, the celebrating last-ditch tackles, the way he inspired the Italian national team,” Kenworthy said. “It was an obvious early call for us, him being based in Los Angeles and the fact that he works with LAFC, There was an instant sort of interest and attraction between him and us. We’re assembling a group of people to come and talk about the world’s game and genuinely some of these people care about television and care about the way we present things at Fox, which I think is kind of cool because we’re all a bit of TV nerds here.”
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They are for Euro 2024 games through June 26. Here’s what we know right now on match announcers.
TelevisaUnivision will air the Copa in the United States, and obviously it’s a massive soccer property for the Spanish-language broadcaster and audience. Here is the complete broadcast schedule. Play-by-play commentators for TelevisaUnivision’s U.S. coverage include Daniel Norh, Felipe Sebastian Muñoz, Enrique Bermudez, Jose Luis Lopez Salido, Paco Gonzalez and Ramses Sandoval. The complete list of on-air talent is here.
Univision also has the U.S. Spanish-language rights to the Euros. That will air exclusively (outside of the final) on the company’s streaming service, Vix.
SiriusXM listeners will have access to English-language broadcasts featuring Fox’s match commentary of all 32 Copa América matches and 46 of the 51 Euro matches, including every match from the knockout stage. Broadcasts will air on Fox Sports on SiriusXM as well as SiriusXM FC. Matches will be available to SiriusXM listeners in the radios in their cars and on the SiriusXM app. SiriusXM FC channel will also have shoulder programming on the tournaments.
“I think there’s a number of factors; it’s easiest to say you want the (viewership) to be great,” Kenworthy said. “That’s always at the back of our mind. But you want to get that sense come July 15 when the tournament is over that you miss waking up and going to bed with the coverage. It’s easy to see the reviews on social media and whatnot, but I think we will have a sense if our group coalesced and came together. Internally, when we leave a control room at the end of a major tournament, we want to feel like we put out the best possible product.”
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(Top photo of a giant replica Euro 2024 ball, as seen Thursday in Gelsenkirchen, Germany: Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Getty Images)
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Richard Deitsch is a media reporter for The Athletic. He previously worked for 20 years for Sports Illustrated, where he covered seven Olympic Games, multiple NCAA championships and U.S. Open tennis. Richard also hosts a weekly sports media podcast. Follow Richard on Twitter @richarddeitsch
