FIFA World Cup on NBC is the branding used for presentations of the FIFA World Cup produced by the NBC television network in the United States. NBC[1] was the official American network television broadcaster for the international association football competition in 1966 and 1986.[2][3]
Coverage history
edit1966
editThe first American coverage[4] of the World Cup consisted only of a previously filmed telecast of the 1966 Final on NBC.[5][6][7] The Final was aired before their coverage of the Saturday Major League Baseball Game of the Week. NBC used the black & white BBC feed and aired it on a two-hour film delay. This was the first time soccer had been shown in the United States as a stand-alone broadcast. Previously, ABC's Wide World of Sports had shown England's Football Association Cup on as long as a two-week delay.
1986
editOn October 6, 1984. NBC's anthology series, SportsWorld[8] provided World Cup soccer qualifying coverage featuring the United States and the Netherlands Antilles.
1986 marked the first time that the World Cup had extensive live cable and network television coverage in the United States. ESPN carried most of the weekday matches while NBC did weekend games. To be more specific, NBC aired seven[9][10] matches, including the "Hand of God" quarterfinal, with broadcasters on-site. NBC's theme music[11] for their 1986 coverage was Herb Alpert's[12] "1980", from his 1979 album Rise. It was originally a cue meant for the ill-fated 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics broadcasts. Meanwhile, ESPN aired about 25 matches that year, all with broadcasters in studio.
NBC's producers were forced to run the games' audio feed through telephone lines rather than through satellites. This was because the International Broadcast Center in Mexico City crossed up many communication lines. Consequently, various countries received commentary from others (or no sound or video at all). NBC in this case, received commentary from somewhere in Southeast Asia and so were forced to have Charlie Jones call collect and broadcast the Italy-Bulgaria opener via a handset telephone receiver. NBC lost the sound but still had video so Charlie Jones dialed collect again.
Commentators
edit- Don Criqui[13] (studio host)
- Rick Davis[14][15][16] (color commentary)
- Charlie Jones[17][18][19] (play-by-play)
- Seamus Malin[20][21] (studio analyst)
- Paul Gardner[22][23][24] (color commentary)
Telemundo Deportes' coverage
editOn October 22, 2011, Deportes Telemundo acquired the Spanish language rights to broadcast the FIFA Men's and Women's World Cup for around $600 million, replacing Univision as the tournament's Spanish language broadcaster, which began carrying the World Cup tournaments in 1970 (Fox acquired the English language U.S. broadcast rights through a separate agreement). The deal, which began with the 2015 Women's World Cup and runs through 2026, includes rights to associated FIFA-sanctioned tournaments (including the Men's Under 20 and Under 17 World Cups, and the Men's Beach Soccer World Cup), which will be telecast on Telemundo and NBC Universo; the deal was extended on February 12, 2015, to include rights to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.[25][26][27]
On May 16, 2015, during Telemundo's 2015–16 upfront presentation in New York City, it was announced that Deportes Telemundo would be replaced by a new division initially known as NBC Deportes; the new division was formed as a branch of the English-language NBC Sports division, and be responsible for sports content for Telemundo, NBC Universo and related digital platforms. While it retained all existing sports telecast rights and programs aired by both Telemundo and NBC Universo, the latter network also began to expand its sports coverage, primarily in preparation for the 2016 Summer Olympics and the start of the division's contract with FIFA—whose first events included the 2015 U-20 World Cup and Women's World Cup.[28][29][30]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Janofsky, Michael (July 7, 1990). "WORLD CUP '90; Is the Penalty Shootout Here to Stay? FIFA Says Yes". The New York Times.
- ^ "The early days of World Cup broadcasting in the US". Big Soccer. May 20, 2014.
- ^ Perovich, Kathy (May 6, 1983). "NBC to cut back on coverage of golf". The Oklahoman.
- ^ "World Cup broadcasting history in the U.S." Radio Discussions. May 24, 2006.
- ^ Palme, Max (3 March 2014). The Heroes of World Cup 1966. AuthorHouse. p. 197. ISBN 9781491893197.
- ^ Tennent, Gillett, Kevin D., Alex G. (5 August 2016). Foundations of Managing Sporting Events: Organising the 1966 FIFA World Cup. Routledge. p. 135. ISBN 9781317240600.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Clary, Jamie (June 21, 2010). "TV And The Growth Of US Soccer". The Yanks Are Coming.
- ^ "Our History". NBC Sports.
- ^ Jones, Grahame L. (May 25, 1986). "THE WORLD CUP : With the Start Six Days Away in Mexico, Emotions and Hype, but Not Pele, Prevail". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ White, Russ (June 13, 1986). "SIN'S WORLD CUP IS RUNNING OVER". Orlando Sentinel.
- ^ "Past Olympics Media Coverage". GameBids.com. October 24, 2014.
- ^ Gumusyan, Aram (August 1, 2016). "A brief history of the World Cup, European Championship and Copa America on US TV". World Soccer Talk.
- ^ "Patriots announce 2003 preseason broadcast team". patriots.com. April 10, 2003.
- ^ "WORLD CUP". Sports Illustrated. July 21, 1986.
- ^ Green, Randy (June 10, 1990). "World Cup Telecasts Present Challenges". Seattle Times.
- ^ Blockus, Gary R. (August 25, 1989). "PHILADELPHIA HOSTS INTERNATIONAL SOCCER TONIGHT". The Morning Call.
- ^ "Sport: Watching the World Cup". Chicago Reader. June 7, 1990.
- ^ "OBITUARY: Broadcaster Charlie Jones dies at 77". The San Diego Union Tribune. June 13, 2008.
- ^ Goodwin, Michael (1986-07-01). "TV SPORTS; KICKING AROUND IDEAS AND EACH OTHER". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
- ^ "VOICES OF WORLD CUP". The Washington Post. June 17, 1994.
- ^ Marshall, Bruce (June 17, 2010). "World Cup Rewind". VegasInsider.com.
- ^ "1986 Press Photo NBC Sports World Cup Commentators Charlie Jones, Paul Gardner". ebay.com.
- ^ Stewart, Larry (June 6, 1986). "So Far, World Cup Runneth Over With Series of Blunders". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Atkin, Ross (July 3, 1986). "Seaver changes Sox; World Cup soccer ties; NFL in London". The Christian Science Monitor.
- ^ Longman, Jeré (October 21, 2011). "Fox and Telemundo Win U.S. Rights to World Cups". The New York Times. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
- ^ Flint, Joe (October 22, 2011). "Fox, Telemundo buy TV rights to FIFA World Cup soccer". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
- ^ Richard Sandomir (February 12, 2015). "Fox and Telemundo to Show World Cup Through 2026 as FIFA Extends Contracts". The New York Times. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
- ^ Veronica Villafañe (May 13, 2015). "Telemundo Deportes rebrands as NBC Deportes". Media Moves. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
- ^ Kent Gibbons (May 16, 2015). "Upfronts 2015: NBC Deportes Ramps Up". Multichannel News. NewBay Media. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
- ^ Cynthia Littleton (November 4, 2014). "Spanish-Language Cabler Mun2 to Relaunch as NBC Universo". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved November 7, 2015.