Having A Ball: ESPN Pleased With Results Of Euro 2008 Broadcast

By William Cooper, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Daily

Drake Says He Became Interested In ESPN Airing Euro Tourney In '04

The Euro 2008 Championship will conclude Sunday afternoon when Germany faces Spain in the Finals, and thus far ESPN has received critical praise for its coverage of the event. The positive reviews must be music to the ears of ESPN Senior VP & Exec Producer Jed Drake. The idea of broadcasting the tournament initially came to Drake while he was at the same event he currently is attending for the net, Wimbledon. Drake said when he was working at the tennis tournament four years ago while Euro 2004 was taking place, “I was like, my God, this tournament is really a big deal. You walk down the street, everybody’s talking about it. You walk into pubs, everybody’s talking about it. So for me personally, I was (hoping) that we (would) have an opportunity to do this event.” Drake feels that in its maiden voyage with the European Championships, ESPN has “captured an event that is enormously important to the soccer world, and we’ve given it its proper treatment, which has been needless to say significant.” That has included live coverage of each game, a replay of the day's best match on ESPN Classic and a daily “Euro 2008 Today” highlight show on Classic.

PLEASANT NEW VOICES: One of the best received elements of ESPN’s coverage of the tournament has been the work of its announcers. Though they face the challenge of calling games from ESPN’s Bristol HQs through the international world feed, Drake feels that ESPN owes “a great to deal to the broadcasters who’ve really distinguished themselves and I think set a new standard for world feed broadcast.” Drake specifically highlighted the work of analyst Andy Gray, referring to him as a “major advancement in terms of our soccer coverage. … Andy is a perfect fit for this event.” Drake remains high on the other soccer broadcasters within the ESPN stable, namely JP Dellacamera and John Harkes, who traditionally announce ESPN’s domestic events including MLS and U.S. national team matches. However, expect to hear more from this international contingent, which includes Adrian Healey, Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth, going forward. “When it comes to other international events, we will look very closely at our successes here and try to replicate them,” Drake said.

Drake Feels High Quality Of Play Has Made Coverage Of Euro 08 Easier

THE BEAUTIFUL GAME: The facilitator of ESPN’s success in many areas of its coverage of Euro 2008 has been the highly entertaining nature of the event itself, which Drake feels has been a “great, great competition.” He said international European soccer is a “beautiful game played at a brilliant level. When it’s captured in the manner in which it has been it’s really just a joy to watch.” Drake called the combination of such a high-quality tournament and ESPN’s debut telecast of the European Championships a case of “the planets aligning.” Drake: “Our commitment to this event and the quality of play in the event itself have really just lined up. The result is a lot of very happy football fans.”

VIEWERS' CHOICE: For its Euro 2008 broadcasts, ESPN has been averaging more than 500,000 viewers, impressive for matches that air in the mid-afternoon. Beyond the numbers, however, Drake takes particular solace in the response he has received from fans who have been content with not just their ability to watch the event, but also the coverage that ESPN has produced. “It's been really, really heartening,” he said. “We know, like in many other sports, soccer fans are exceptionally passionate about their sport, as well they should be. … When you do something really good for them they are quick to reach out to you to say thank you.” Drake feels ESPN’s coverage of the event has established the net as “very much attached to the soccer world as now we look long-term towards South Africa and World Cup 2010.”

2010 AND BEYOND: Going forward, ESPN still plans on sending broadcasters to large soccer tournaments, such as the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Having announcers on-site allows the net to provide coverage of events around the games, as well as information to viewers about issues that might complicate the broadcast, such as the technical difficulties that blacked out key moments of the Germany-Turkey semifinal match on Wednesday. Drake admitted as much, saying, “As good as our announcers have been -- and they have been very, very good -- there are inevitably things that need to be seen in order to capture the entire picture and you can only do that when you are on site.”