ESPN Networks All Over Euro 2012 Championships

Four years ago, ESPN laid the groundwork for its highly praised international soccer coverage by doing a bang-up job with Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland. While the games were called off a monitor in Bristol, CT, ESPN provided understated coverage that was widely praised. There was only one huge case of technical difficulty that affected the coverage not only in Bristol, but around the world.

But that incident asides, Euro 2008 gave ESPN a blueprint to cover the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and since then, soccer has had a home on the Alleged Worldwide Leader.

This year, ESPN will be all over Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. This is the 2nd biggest international soccer competition after the World Cup.

There will be 16 teams vying for the European Football Championship title. Spain which won the 2010 World Cup also took the Euro 2008 title and looks to defend its championship.

Traditional soccer powerhouses England, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal and Denmark will be among the 16 teams vying for the Euro 2012 Championship.

ESPN and ESPN2 will combine to air all 31 games of the tournament. This year’s coverage will include pregame, halftime and postgame studio programming.

ESPN Deportes will air 27 games throughout the month of June.

We have the ESPN press release.

ESPN Inc. Presents UEFA European Football Championship 2012

All matches live and in High Definition; ESPN3 to Simulcast all Matches in English and Spanish on ESPN3
All 31 Matches on ESPN Deportes – 27 Live; Extensive Surround Programming on ESPN Deportes

ESPN networks will combine to televise more than 200 hours of live coverage of the UEFA European Football Championship 2012™ beginning Friday, June 8, through Sunday, July 1, in eight cities across Poland and Ukraine.

ESPN Deportes, the company’s Spanish-language sports network, will lead the three television networks (ESPN and ESPN2) with 106 hours of programming featuring 27 live matches and four tape-delayed telecasts on concurrent match windows. ESPN will present 22 matches and surround programming – pregame, halftime and postgame shows – totaling 62 hours, and ESPN2 will feature 33 hours of coverage with nine matches and surround programming, all live.

All 31 matches will be available in high definition and carried on ESPN3, WatchESPN, ESPN Deportes Radio, and 25 matches live on ESPN Mobile TV. This will be the first time the UEFA European Football Championship will be available on ESPN Deportes HD.

This will mark the most comprehensive coverage of the three-week competition in the United States. In 2008, ESPN2, ESPN, ESPN Classic and ABC combined to present live all 31 matches of the UEFA European Football Championship. ESPN Deportes, the Spanish-language home of the championship, also televised all 31 matches – five on tape-delay.  Key programming highlights:

PREGAME, HALFTIME AND POSTGAME SEGMENTS

For the first time, ESPN match telecasts for the UEFA European Football Championship will include pregame, halftime and postgame studio segments. The pregame segments will include the teams walking onto the pitch, the national anthems and ceremonial handshakes – all symbolic traditions of signature international soccer competitions.

  • ESPN/ESPN2: Every ESPN and ESPN2 match will feature a 15-minute pregame, halftime and a postgame shows. The opening and final matches will each have a 30-minute pregame program. ESPN’s flagship news and information program SportsCenter will air in-between matches on weekdays with two match windows.
  • ESPN Deportes:  The Spanish-language home of the UEFA European Football Championship 2012 in the United States will provide the most-comprehensive coverage of the event with more than 6.5 live hours on days with two match windows, from June 9 – 15.  Highlights include a 30-minute pregame show beginning at 11:30 a.m.; a halftime program; a 30-minute program aired in-between matches; and a special one-hour postgame edition of Fuera de Juego at 5 p.m.  Daily coverage will be on ESPN Deportes SportsCenter at 6 p.m., Juego Cruzado at 7 p.m. and Cronometro at 7:30 p.m.  On opening day, Friday, June 8, the pregame program will expand to one hour beginning at 11 a.m., and on Sunday, July 1, the title match will be preceded by a 90-minute pregame show. (Note: On days with single match windows, coverage will begin at 2 p.m. ET)
  • ESPN Deportes programming vice president Freddy Rolón discussed the network’s planned coverage of UEFA EURO 2012 on ESPN Front Row.

ESPN3

ESPN’s signature broadband network will provide live online simulcasts of all 31 matches in Spanish and English. The service will also feature ESPN and ESPN2’s English-language presentation of live pregame, halftime and postgame segments, as well as ESPN Deportes’ live surround programming around the 31 matches.

Additionally, all 31 matches will be archived and can only be accessed on ESPN3 through July 31, 2012, and non-exclusively through the end of the calendar year (Dec. 31, 2012). All matches will be available for replay on ESPN3 shortly after completion.

ABOUT UEFA EURO 2012

With 13 of the 16 national teams in the championship ranked among top 20 teams in the FIFA World Rankings, the UEFA European Football Championship is arguably the most prestigious and competitive international soccer tournament in the world. The first championship was in 1960, hosted by France.

Teams representing the 16 nations compete in the Championship. Of these, 14 earned spots in the three-week tournament following a two-year qualification process among 50 UEFA member nations while the host nations – Poland and Ukraine – received automatic berths.

Current 2010 FIFA World Cup champion, Spain, won the last European Championship – UEFA EURO 2008 – hosted by Austria and Switzerland.

UEFA EURO 2012 – Groups:

GROUP A GROUP B GROUP C GROUP D
Poland (#70) Netherlands (#3) Spain (#1) Ukraine (#59)
Greece (#14) Denmark (#10) Italy (#8) Sweden (#18)
Russia (#13) Germany (#2) Republic of Ireland (#20) France (#17)
Czech Republic (#29) Portugal (#6) Croatia (#9) England (#5)

Key matchups in the group stage:

  • Netherlands vs. Germany (Wed., June 13 at 2:45 p.m.): Traditional European rivals and two of the top teams in the world playing in the second of three matches in Group B – the tournament’s “group of death”.
  • Spain vs. Italy (Sun., June 10 at 12 p.m.): A matchup between the last two FIFA World Cup champions in their first Group C match, where both teams are favored to advance.
  • France vs. England (Mon., June 11 at 12 p.m.): Traditional powers in European soccer entering the tournament with a recent history of underachieving in marquee tournaments.
  • Germany vs. Portugal (Sat., June 9 at 2:45 p.m.): Germany has beaten Portugal in their last two matches – at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA EURO 2008.  Each team needs a result in the first of their three Group matches.

Match schedule (Subject to change):

Date Time (ET) Match Site Networks
Friday, June 8 12 p.m. Poland vs. Greece Warsaw ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
  2:45 p.m. Russia vs. Czech Republic Wroclaw ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
Saturday, June 9 12 p.m. Netherlands vs. Denmark Kharkiv ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
  2:45 p.m. Germany vs. Portugal Lviv ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
Sunday, June 10 12 p.m. Spain vs. Italy Gdansk ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
  2:45 p.m. Republic of Ireland vs. Croatia Poznan ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
Monday, June 11 12 p.m. France vs. England Donetsk ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
  2:45 p.m. Ukraine vs. Sweden Kiev ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
Tuesday, June 12 12 p.m. Greece vs. Czech Republic Wroclaw ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
  2:45 p.m. Poland vs. Russia Warsaw ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
Wednesday, June 13 12 p.m. Denmark vs. Portugal Lviv ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
  2:45 p.m. Netherlands vs. Germany Kharkiv ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
Thursday, June 14 12 p.m. Italy vs. Croatia Poznan ESPN2/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
  2:45 p.m. Spain vs. Republic of Ireland Gdansk ESPN2/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
Friday, June 15 12 p.m. Ukraine vs. France Donetsk ESPN2/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
  2:45 p.m. Sweden vs. England Kiev ESPN2/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
Saturday, June 16 2:45 p.m. Czech Republic vs. Poland Wroclaw ESPN2/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
  2:45 p.m. Greece vs. Russia Warsaw ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes at 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, June 17 2:45 p.m. Portugal vs. Netherlands Kharkiv ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
  2:45 p.m. Denmark vs. Germany Lviv ESPN2/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes at 5:30 p.m.
Monday, June 18 2:45 p.m. Croatia vs. Spain Gdansk ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
  2:45 p.m. Italy vs. Republic of Ireland Poznan ESPN2/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes at 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday, June 19 2:45 p.m. England vs. Ukraine Donetsk ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
  2:45 p.m. Sweden vs. France Kiev ESPN2/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes at 5:30 p.m.
Thursday, June 21 2:45 p.m. Quarterfinal I – 1A vs. 2B Warsaw ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
Friday, June 22 2:45 p.m. Quarterfinal II – 1B vs. 2A Gdansk ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
Saturday, June 23 2:45 p.m. Quarterfinal III – 1C vs. 2D Donetsk ESPN2/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
Sunday, June 24 2:45 p.m. Quarterfinal IV – 1D vs. 2C Kiev ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
Wednesday, June 27 2:45 p.m. Semifinal I – Winners QF I vs. QF III Donetsk ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
Thursday, June 28 2:45 p.m. Semifinal II – Winners QF II vs. QF IV Warsaw ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes
Sunday, July 1 2:45 p.m. Final – Semifinal Winners Kiev ESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes

*** ESPN Deportes match coverage will begin at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
*** ESPN and ESPN match coverage begins at 11:45 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

That will do it.

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013. He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television. Fang celebrates the three Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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