ESPN VP Skipper Says Net Is Ahead Of Schedule With World Cup Plans
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Skipper Working On ESPN's
World Cup Coverage |
ESPN VP/Content John Skipper indicated that the net is "ahead of schedule" in regards to it coverage plans for the '10 FIFA World Cup, according to Richard Deitsch of SI.com. Skipper said, "Our ambition level is going to exceed the ambition of any broadcaster in the world relative to the amount of content we will produce." ESPN producers John Battsek and Michael Davies "have been dispatched to interview every living player who has scored a goal in a World Cup final," as the net "plans to air a documentary" from the interviews. Skipper said that he "expects any holdouts from the 50 or so subjects to ultimately fall into place." Some subjects "asked for money, though Skipper would not name them." Skipper also said ESPN plans to "take a page out of the ABC Sports Olympic playbook and do 'Up Close and Personals' on players from around the world." Deitsch reports ESPN "will do a long-form feature on at least one player from all 32 World Cup teams." The game coverage "will feature four reporters, including one reporter embedded with the U.S. team." Another reporter "will focus on the South American teams, and two additional reporters will rotate around the tournament." ESPN will have "two on-site sets, including 'SportsCenter,' and three host anchors offering live and tape-delayed coverage." No decision has been made as yet on game announcers, but Skipper said, "We will have international talent. Everybody on our air will be a longtime soccer announcer." Skipper: "I will be disappointed and surprised if these are not the highest ratings ever for the World Cup in the United States. And we were just given a huge gift with the Confederations Cup." Deitsch wrote in terms of "scale and magnitude, the World Cup appears to be a dress rehearsal for what could be a future Olympics on ESPN." Skipper: "I'll answer that slightly by indirection: Our goal is to an Olympics-level broadcast. We view this as the first fully ESPN World Cup. ... We will treat this as the Olympics" (SI.com, 7/1).
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