Review of FOX Sports’ UEFA Champions League TV coverage

FOX Sports concluded its seventh successive season of covering the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League competitions on Saturday at the San Siro. While FOX’s coverage of the Bundesliga remains a work in progress, the network’s coverage of UEFA competitions is established and consistent. But the content at times remains subpar and FOX’s studio programming remains inferior to that ESPN or NBC. UEFA Champions League pregame show Clunky and far from informative, the pregame show for UEFA Champions League featured basic analysis and predictable talking points. Rob Stone as studio host continues to be an enthusiastic but mediocre presenter.

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UEFA Champions League pregame show

Clunky and far from informative, the pregame show for UEFA Champions League featured basic analysis and predictable talking points. Rob Stone as studio host continues to be an enthusiastic but mediocre presenter. Grant Wahl’s insider segment was a positive addition but his news generally was related to Major League Soccer and other US soccer related storylines, which might have been of little interest to the viewers that tuned in.

Eric Wynalda and Alexi Lalas are both top drawer analysts when in the right environment, but the pregame show for Champions League did not provide such an environment. Wynalda would occasionally make good points, but often got mired in mindless discussions or lazy analysis. Lalas didn’t add much in terms of analysis in studio, often sitting out of discussions or using hyperbole to describe the stakes in matches involving either top sides or perceived underachieving ones. Lalas did, however, excel at game analysis on UEFA Europa League, which is something we will get into in more detail below.

Last but not least, Brad Friedel proved a solid addition when used in a studio analysis role.

Match coverage

FOX Sports did well this season giving Champions League maximum exposure via FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports regional networks and FOX Sports 2 as well as the MultiMatch 90 feature on FOX Soccer Plus. Hosted by Ross Dyer, the MultiMatch 90 is a great platform for soccer fans provided they have access to FOX Soccer Plus or are willing to fork over $20 a month for FOX Soccer 2Go.

Using the international commentary feed for games also was a smart move by FOX Sports.

UEFA Champions League postgame show

By sub-licensing some group stage games to ESPN, FOX opened itself up for a head-to-head comparison of postgame shows. The ESPN FC crew that handled post-game broadcasts was outstanding. Hosted by Dan Thomas and using rotating analysts including Shaka Hislop, Alejandro Moreno, Craig Burley and Steve Nicol, the analysis was crisper and the interchanges cleaner.

The Final

For the seventh successive season, FOX broadcast the UEFA Champions League Final on over-the-air FOX affiliates throughout the United States. For this match, FOX sent Brad Friedel to provide analysis in Milan and “borrowed” Geoff Shreeves from sister channel Sky Sports in the UK. Friedel is gaining confidence on the microphone with every passing week and he did well paired with Shreeves to give some background and analysis of the match.

In the past, FOX has experimented with an on-site studio and the use of American sports personalities on the pregame show. Fortunately, FOX avoided the later this year and despite leaving the studio team in Los Angeles, the pregame show was above the normal standard from the network that was provided during the course of the competition leading up to the final.

The decision to use Tony Jones and David Pleat from the international feed rather than native FOX announcers was a good one. Jones and Pleat did an outstanding job keeping a match interesting despite it being cagey and lifeless at times.

FOX Sports also made the very good decision to stick with the broadcast and show the trophy ceremony much as they had during the FA Cup Final a week earlier, which like this match went into extra time.

Europa League

Considering it is a second-tier competition, FOX’s coverage of Europa League was outstanding. Pregame shows and exposure to the most attractive games of the matchday were provided via FS1 and FS2.

Ian Joy was outstanding as the studio host, much like he was on Bundesliga coverage. FOX used the Europa League as an opportunity to experiment with top American voices calling games over monitors from the network’s LA studio. The commentary duo of John Strong and Alexi Lalas, which also serves as FOX’s top team for MLS matches, were outstanding in presenting the biggest game of each matchday. Strong is one of the most informative American voices on soccer. And Lalas’ in-match analysis was usually on the mark – a contrast from the seemingly irrelevant or lazy analysis he would give in studio for UEFA Champions League games.

The only way to explain Lalas’ strength on Europa League while his weakness in terms of the UEFA Champions League studio work is the comparison between Rob Stone as a studio host who asks predictable and simple questions versus John Strong as a commentator who pushes different buttons.

Conclusion

FOX Sports isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. While chances are that ESPN and NBC would do a better job of presenting UEFA club competitions, FOX has made the necessary effort and talent upgrades to get a passing grade for this season.

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