To much fanfare, NBC’s second season of Premier League coverage kicked off on Saturday morning. And with the first weekend in the books (well, aside from Burnley-Chelsea this afternoon), one thing is immediately clear – not much of anything has changed. Quite frankly, that’s perfectly fine.
Every year, networks feel the need to retool their coverage for the sports they cover. New graphics! New sets! New shows! New sets! New segments! New analysts! New commentators! Everything is new, new, new…and there’s no way for fans to get used to the coverage, because there’s something new every year. Look at the revolving carousel of talent during Sunday Night Baseball – how is Dan Shulman supposed to have chemistry with anyone in the booth when his color commentator (or commentators) changes every year?
And quite frankly, when networks *do* eschew change, they usually simply end up keeping the elements that fans despise intact (hello, Chris Berman).
That’s not the case with the Premier League on NBC. If you liked last year’s coverage (and nearly everyone did), you will continue to be a fan of this year’s coverage. Rebecca Lowe is still her marvelous self hosting the pre-match, halftime, and post-match shows, while Robbie Earle and Robbie Mustoe continue to provide the top-notch analysis EPL fans have grown accustomed to. Their tactical analysis and ability to simply break down what happened and why is a terrific asset. Arlo White remains the lead play-by-play voice for the network, and called a pair of games this weekend. Jon Champion, Peter Drury, and Martin Tyler can also be heard on NBC’s coverage thanks to the world feed, which is an added bonus.
The only major change with NBC’s coverage this year includes the addition of the Men in Blazers, holed up in a brand spanking new panic room in New York. There were some technical difficulties with the first segment the duo was in because of the ongoing construction on their panic room, but the pair added some needed lightness to a serious, although excellent, studio show.
If you were afraid that NBC would try to re-invent the wheel after a successful first year of Premier League coverage, breathe easy. They realized that they didn’t need to overhaul their coverage and are in just as good of a place as they were a few months ago, if not better.
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