With Rugby Sevens an Olympic sport starting in 2016, the NBC Sports Group is introducing the American audience to the game. This weekend, we have the Collegiate Rugby Championships in Philadelphia and The Group will be all over it. Starting at noon today, three of The Group’s networks will be airing the event. If you have all of the networks, you can see coverage going from noon until 8 p.m. ET and not leave your couch. Well, you should get up and go outside during that stretch, but anyway, I digress. Here’s the press release from The Group.
14 HOURS OF LIVE COVERAGE OF THE 2011 USA SEVENS COLLEGIATE RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP JUNE 4-5 ON NBC, VERSUS AND UNIVERSAL SPORTS
Network’s to Give Rugby Fans Unprecedented Coverage this Weekend, Including Eight Straight Hours on Saturday
NEW YORK (June 2, 2011) –NBC, VERSUS and Universal Sports will offer extensive live coverage of the 2011 USA Collegiate Rugby Championships this Saturday and Sunday from Philadelphia, Pa. Universal Sports will kick-off the event with two hours of live coverage on Saturday beginning at 12 noon ET, immediately followed by VERSUS coverage from 2-4 p.m. ET. NBC will pick up the rugby action at 4 p.m. ET, and VERSUS will continue coverage from 6-8 p.m. ET.
Sunday’s coverage will showcase live Quarterfinal matches on Universal Sports followed by all the Semifinal coverage on VERSUS. NBC Sports will then air the Bronze Medal, Challenger Final and Championship Final matches from 4-6 p.m. ET. The Championship Final will feature extended, ten-minute halves.
The second-annual tournament features 16 college teams including Notre Dame, Boston College and Penn State as well as last year’s tournament champion University of Utah and runner-up University of California.
The matches consist of seven players per team playing on the same size pitch as a traditional 15’s rugby match. Teams compete in one of four pools and l play seven-minute halves, with only a two-minute halftime, making the play extremely quick and exciting. It was recently announced that Rugby Sevens will be an Olympic sport starting in 2016 and the USA Sevens Rugby Collegiate Championships offer fans a preview of the talent pool available for the U.S. Olympic team.
Veteran announcer Todd Harris will call the game action from PPL Park and will be joined in the booth by analyst Brian Hightower, a former USA Rugby World Cup 99’ participant. Marty Snider will report from the sidelines.
Live schedule for the 2011 USA Sevens Collegiate Rugby Championships (all times ET, subject to change):
Saturday, June 4
12-2 p.m. ET — Universal Sports
2-4 p.m. ET — VERSUS
4-6 p.m. ET — NBC
6-8 p.m. ET — VERSUSSunday, June 5
12-2 p.m. ET — Universal Sports
2-4 p.m. ET — VERSUS
4-6 p.m. ET — NBC
That’s all.
