Fox for this month's FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada "is gambling more with its airtime than its checkbook," as it "basically got the U.S. broadcast rights to the women's tournament -- almost as a throw-in -- after agreeing to pay" the governing body $425M to televise the '18 and '22 men's World Cups, according to Kevin Baxter of the L.A. TIMES. The 200 hours Fox Sports will devote to the women's event "is significant, especially considering the U.S. will play no more than seven times." Fox Sports Exec VP/Marketing Robert Gottlieb: "Even if it's 70 people in Lubbock, Texas, who want to see Nigeria versus whatever, for them not to be able to see it on television would really reflect poorly on us as the stewards of the tournament." Baxter notes despite the risk, Fox "is spending big, dispatching broadcasters to each of the six World Cup venues and building a two-story studio for its anchor team at scenic Coal Harbor in Vancouver, where its nearly 400 workers have filled more than two hotels." With the tournament in Canada, the network "will benefit from favorable start times with more than half of the 52 matches kicking off" after 6:00pm ET. Gottlieb: "The way we see it, we're sitting on something that's going to explode this summer" (L.A. TIMES, 6/5). On Long Island, Neil Best writes the WWC "cannot match the men's version for visibility in general and television ratings in particular, but the event that opens Saturday and marks Fox's first World Cup for either gender does come with some significant advantages." One is that unlike the men's tournament, the U.S. "is among the favorites to win the trophy." The previous five WWCs "had been carried by ESPN/ABC, with the last broadcast coverage on ABC" coming in '03. Still, ESPN "plans extensive coverage despite the fact it no longer has live game rights" (NEWSDAY, 6/5).
FOLLOW THE LEADER? SI.com's Richard Deitsch wrote there are "few things" ESPN "has done better in its history" than its presentation of the World Cup. One "can understand why soccer fans are skeptical" with the switch to Fox, as the net "has never distinguished itself editorially on hard news regarding the sport and has had a revolving door of lead broadcasters." But this WWC "gives Fox Sports a huge opportunity to brand itself as an A-plus steward of the sport." Fox WWC Exec Producer David Neal: "First of all I would say: don’t judge us until you see us on the air." Deitsch noted following in the footsteps of ESPN, Fox "will air a 60-minute version" of "Women’s World Cup Today" prior to most matches. The net also will have a "Women’s World Cup Tonight" studio show "airing after matches and late nights" on FS1. Most of the late-night shows "will be an hour in duration," airing as early as 11:00pm and as late as 2:00am. Fox Sports President & COO Eric Shanks: "I won’t lie: I really liked (ESPN’s late-night show from the 2014 World Cup) a lot. It definitely was the impetus for this show, which will be laid back and conversational in nature." JP Dellacamera, Cat Whitehill and Tony DiCicco "will announce all of the USWNT's group games." Neal: "It’s a capricious business in terms of making talent judgments but this threesome that we have, they are equal to the task." Neal said that SI's Grant Wahl "is the on-air point person" for coverage of the FIFA scandal during the tournament. Neal: "We will not shy away from the story but at the same time we don’t want it to detract for the event." Deitsch noted Fox "has licensed music from Florence + The Machine as the backdrop" (SI.com, 6/4).
