Friday will see the first match of Euro 2016, with host France taking on Romania, but the match will now air on ESPN2 instead of ESPN. The network announced the decision Wednesday to make way for ESPN’s coverage of Muhammad Ali’s memorial service, which they plan to release more details on by Thursday. Coverage of the memorial service will begin at 2 p.m. Eastern, the same time that the pre-match show for France-Romania is scheduled to start ahead of a 3 p.m. Eastern kickoff, so it makes sense to move it to the alternate channel. That also should be a nice lead-in for UEFA Euro Tonight (5 p.m. Eastern) and ESPN FC (5:30 p.m. Eastern), both of which will air on ESPN2. Here’s more information about the broadcast personnel and streaming options:

France vs. Romania will originate live from Stade de France in Paris. Ian Darke (play-by-play), analyst Taylor Twellman and reporter Steve Bower, will call the match in English. On ESPN Deportes, Fernando Palomo and Tato Noriega will handle match commentary in Spanish. Additionally, the match will be streamed live in English and Spanish on WatchESPN.

ESPN3 Surround will also deliver exclusive France-Romania content via four different streams – the Spidercam feed, the Spidercam triple-box feed, the Tactical Cam feed, and the Tactical Cam triple-box feed – offering fans alternate camera angles, experiences and stories around the UEFA EURO 2016 opening match.

This reduces the number of Euro 2016 matches ESPN itself will carry to 38 and bumps the number ESPN2 will carry to 13. Nielsen estimates ESPN2 is currently in almost as many homes as ESPN (89,326 versus 89,465), so there shouldn’t be too many people unable to see the match despite the move. However, there is an audience that naturally turns to ESPN rather than ESPN2, so it will be interesting to see what impact that has on the ratings. It will also be interesting to see which pulls in higher numbers, coverage of Ali’s memorial service or the start of Euro 2016. Both are prominent sports events that should draw well, but which will draw more viewers?

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.