Soccer on CBS Sports is a number of television programs that have aired

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

matches in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known as ...

, and

Paramount+ Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

(formerly CBS All Access). These matches are from International, European, and American competitions.

Current programming

UEFA club competitions

In November 2019, CBS acquired rights to

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

club competitions, including the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

, for three seasons beginning in the 2021–22 season, replacing

Turner Sports Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (WBD Sports) is the division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) that is responsible for sports broadcasting, sports broadcasts on its parent company's various channels in the United States, including TBS (American TV ch ...

. The package would center around the

CBS All Access Paramount+ is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures (including CBS Studios), Paramount Me ...

(now Paramount+) subscription service, which carries all matches lives, with selected matches to be carried by the main CBS network. CBS Sports Network is largely carrying "whiparound" coverage on matchdays. CBS's studio coverage for the Champions League is produced from

IMG img or IMG is an abbreviation for image. img or IMG may also refer to: * IMG (company), global sports and media business headquartered in New York City but with its main offices in Cleveland, originally known as the "International Management Group ...

's studio in

Stockley Park Stockley Park is a business estate and public country park located between Hayes, Yiewsley and West Drayton in the London Borough of Hillingdon. In August 2020 it was listed in the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic In ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. During the suspension of the 2019–20 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Europe The global COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Europe with its first confirmed case in Bordeaux, France, on 24 January 2020, and subsequently spread widely across the continent. By 17 March 2020, every country in Europe had confirmed a case, and all ...

, Turner Sports dropped out of its contract with UEFA. CBS would pick up the remainder of the contract and begin its coverage early, beginning from the remaining round of 16 matches in August 2020.

National Women's Soccer League

On March 11, 2020, the NWSL announced that it has entered into a three-year media agreement with

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W 5 ...

and the video game-oriented streaming service

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle con ...

. For the 2020 NWSL season, CBS Sports will broadcast 87 matches (including the playoffs) split between

, and

in Canada and the United States, with the exact distribution among the channels subject to change, while Twitch will stream an additional 24 matches for free. Twitch will also become the NWSL's international media rights holder and stream all matches outside Canada and the United States for free.

CONCACAF

Paramount+ will offer more than 200 matches from the

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typese ...

region, airing English-language rights of Nations League Finals in June 2021 including

matches, and CONCACAF Men's and Women's World Cup qualifiers, except USA and Mexico home matches.

Brasileirāo and Argentine Primera División

CBS will stream more than 360 matches a year from Brazil's top-tier

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

and more than 300 matches a year from Argentina's

Primera División Argentina Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

in English-language on

AFC

CBS reached an agreement with

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

to acquire the exclusive U.S. rights for several competitions, including Men's World Cup qualifying, Men's Champions League, Men's Asian Cup, Women's Club Championship and Women's Asian Cup (which is also becoming their Women's World Cup qualification). These coverage are expected to begin in the fall of 2021 on Paramount+.

Serie A

CBS acquired rights of

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

, replacing

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, for three seasons beginning in 2021-22 until 2023–24. More than 400 club matches will be on

, featuring 380 Serie A matches, 25

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

matches—including selected knockout rounds, and the

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...

match each year. Select matches will airing on other CBS Sports platforms, including

. For the first two weeks, CBS' studio coverage will be based from

CBS Sports HQ CBS Sports HQ is a streaming video sports channel operated by the CBS Sports and Paramount Streaming divisions of Paramount focused on airing sports news, highlights and scores, similar to pre-2010 ESPNews. CBS Sports HQ is co-headquartered in St ...

studio in Stamford, Conn. Additional coverage details will be announced in later date with full studio coverage from

CBS Broadcast Center The CBS Broadcast Center is a television and radio production facility located in New York City. It is CBS's main East Coast production hub, similar to CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles as the West Coast hub. The Broadcast Center is one of tw ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

beginning on Sunday, Sept. 12.

Scottish Professional Football League

CBS replaced ESPN as the U.S. rights holder of the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

after reaching a multi-year deal beginning from 2021–22 until 2024-25 season. The majority of the matches, including the

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

and the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

, will air on

with select matches, including

Old Firm derby The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

are shown on

FA Women's Super League

CBS was awarded a multi-year contract to broadcast the

FA Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

beginning in 2022–23 seasons. A total of 57 matches are scheduled to be aired selectively on the

and the majority can be accessed via

On-air personalities

Play-by-play

* ''

UEFA club competitions UEFA competitions (french: competitions de l'UEFA), referred improperly by the mass media as European football, are the set of tournaments organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), generally in professional and amateur assoc ...

'' **

and the

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...

–

Clive Tyldesley Clive Tyldesley (born 21 August 1954) is an English television sports broadcaster. He was ITV's senior football commentator from 1998 until 2020. In that role, he has led the ITV commentary team at four World Cups and four European Championships ...

(lead), Andres Cordero, Pien Meulensteen **

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

–

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their ...

– Andrés Cordero ** UEFA world feed (Gravity Media): Tony Jones,

Martin Tyler Martin Tyler (born 14 September 1945) is an English football commentator. He has worked as a commentator for Sky Sports since 1990, covering the Premier League and UEFA Champions League, as well as other domestic and international competitions. T ...

(UEFA Champions League only),

Guy Mowbray Guy Nicholas Mowbray (born 16 February 1972) is an English football commentator, who primarily appears on the BBC and BT Sport. While working for Eurosport at the 1998 World Cup, he became the youngest ever television commentator on a World Cup ...

, Dan Mason, Jonathan Pearce,

Simon Brotherton Simon Charles Brotherton is a sports commentator for the BBC, appearing on Match of the Day and BBC Radio Five Live, as well as BT Sport television. Brotherton was still at school when he began his career with BBC Local Radio and developed furth ...

Sam Matterface Samuel Peter Matterface (born 21 April 1978) is an English sports broadcaster currently working for TalkSPORT and ITV Sport. Career Matterface started working in sports radio in 1992 for local hospital radio station OHR, before moving into com ...

, Kevin Keatings,

Jim Proudfoot Jim Proudfoot (born 16 December 1972) is an English football commentator who has worked on national radio and television since the late 1990s. Early life Proudfoot was born in the West Country on 16 December 1972 but moved to the Midlands at a yo ...

, Steve Wilson, Phil Blacker, Dan O'Hagan, Pien Meulensteen * ''

'' – Andrés Cordero ** Serie A world feed: Patrick Kendrick, Owen Neilson, David Windsor, Thomas Holmes Reed, David Ferrini, Simon Harding, Marco Palmieri, James Fielden, Rowan Druffin, Patrick Tarroni, Richard Whittle, Andrew Pickering, Paul Visca, Alex Milone * ''

'' – Andrés Cordero,

Adrian Garcia Marquez Adrian Garcia Marquez (born December 28, 1973) is an American sportscaster who works for Fox Deportes as a play by announcer, narrator, and host. Adrian also serves as one of the international voices of the NBA calling action on the NBA League P ...

Lisa Byington Lisa Byington (born May 18, 1976) is a play-by-play announcer, studio host, and feature producer/reporter. She has broadcast games for Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports, Fox Sports 1, FS1, Big Ten Network, CBS, Turner Sports, Pac-12 Networ ...

* ''

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

'' – Jenn Hildreth,

JP Dellacamera John Paul "JP" Dellacamera (born January 11, 1952) is an American play-by-play sportscaster primarily for Major League Soccer with the Philadelphia Union, as well as major soccer tournaments and ice hockey. Commentary career Soccer In the 1 ...

Mike Watts Mike Watts is an American audio engineer, mixer, and record producer, who has worked with a variety of artists including The Dillinger Escape Plan, Glassjaw, As Cities Burn, Hopesfall, As Tall As Lions, The Dear Hunter, and Gates. Watts ha ...

Color commentators

* ''

'' **

and the

–

Robert Green Robert Paul Green (born 18 January 1980) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played in the Premier League and Football League and for the England national team. Green made his first-team debut for Norwi ...

(lead),

Ray Hudson Raymond Wilfred Hudson (born 24 March 1955) is an English former professional football player and manager who currently works as a radio host for SiriusXM FC 157. He started playing professionally at 17, in 1973, with Newcastle United. Fans nic ...

Matthew Upson Matthew James Upson (born 18 April 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre back. Upson played for England at full international level including at the 2010 World Cup. Upson started his career with Bedfordshire ...

Karen Carney Karen Julia Carney (born 1 August 1987) is an English sports journalist and former professional footballer who played as a winger and midfielder. Carney has been a regular broadcaster for live football on Sky Sports and Amazon Prime, includi ...

–

– Matteo Bonetti ** UEFA world feed (Gravity Media):

David Pleat David John Pleat (born 15 January 1945) is an English football player turned manager, and sports commentator. Pleat made 185 Football League appearances for five clubs, scoring 26 goals. He had two spells as manager of Luton Town, and four as ma ...

, Alan Smith,

Leon Osman Leon Osman (born 17 May 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent almost all of his career at Everton, making 433 appearances and scoring 57 goals. Earlier in his career he spent time on loan at Fo ...

Andy Townsend Andrew David Townsend (born 23 July 1963) is a former professional footballer and sports co-commentator for Premier League Productions and CBS Sports. As a player he was a midfielder who notably played in the Premier League for Chelsea, Aston V ...

Clive Allen Clive Darren Allen (born 20 May 1961) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward for seven different London clubs. Allen was a prolific striker throughout his career ...

Efan Ekoku Efangwu Goziem Ekoku (born 8 June 1967) is a former Nigerian professional footballer, and sports commentator. As a player, he was a striker who notably played in the Premier League for Norwich City and Wimbledon and in Switzerland for Grassho ...

Stewart Robson Stewart Ian Robson (born 6 November 1964) is an English former football player and TV and radio football pundit. He played for Arsenal, West Ham United where he was their player of the season in 1988, and Coventry City. After his footballing c ...

Don Goodman Donald Ralph Goodman (born 9 May 1966) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. His professional career spanned for nearly 20 years, during which he played nearly 600 Football League games and scored 162 goals. Car ...

Sue Smith Sue Smith may refer to: * Sue Smith (politician) (born 1951), member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council *Sue Smith (footballer) (born 1979), English footballer *Sue Smith (trainer) (born 1948), British horse trainer *Sue Smith (writer) Sue Smi ...

Laura Bassett Laura Bassett (born 2 August 1983) is an English former football defender who represented England internationally. She played for FA WSL club Notts County, Birmingham City (two separate spells), Arsenal, Leeds Carnegie, Chelsea, and Australian ...

* ''

'' – Matteo Bonetti ** Serie A world feed:

Massimo Paganin Massimo Paganin (born 19 July 1970) is an Italian former professional footballer, who played as a defender; he was capable of playing both as a centre-back, as well as in the position of full-back. Career Paganin was born in Vicenza. Massimo's ...

, Manuel Pascali,

Lorenzo Amoruso Lorenzo Pier Paolo Amoruso (born 28 June 1971) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender for seven teams in Italy, Scotland, England, and San Marino during his foo ...

* ''

'' –

Maurice Edu Maurice Edu (born April 18, 1986) is an American former professional soccer player. A highly touted prospect, Edu was the first overall pick in the 2007 MLS SuperDraft and won the MLS Rookie of the Year Award with Toronto. His performances for T ...

Marcelo Balboa Marcelo Balboa (born August 8, 1967) is an American former professional soccer who played as a defender in the 1990s for the United States national team, becoming its captain. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. After retirin ...

Aly Wagner Alyson Kay Wagner (born August 10, 1980) is an American sports broadcaster and retired soccer midfielder who last played for Los Angeles Sol of Women's Professional Soccer and the United States women's national soccer team. She is a two-time Ol ...

, Janelly Farías * ''

'' –

Lori Lindsey Lori Ann Lindsey (born March 19, 1980) is a retired American soccer midfielder who last played for Canberra United in the Australian W-League and was also a member of the United States women's national soccer team player pool. She played one ...

Reporters

* ''

'' –

Guillem Balagué Guillem Balagué (born 2 November 1968) is a Spanish football journalist, author, and pundit. He was a regular pundit on Sky Sports' show ''Revista de la Liga'' and has also written for some of Britain's newspapers as well as several Spanish new ...

Jules Breach Jules Breach is a British sports Television presenter, broadcaster. Early and personal life Breach was born in Brighton, Sussex. She moved with her family to Mauritius until she was 5 at which point she returned to the UK and attended St Mary� ...

, Nicolás Cantor * ''

'' – Ana Quiles, Marco Messina * ''

'' – Nicolás Cantor,

Jenny Chiu Jenny may refer to: * Jenny (given name), a popular feminine name and list of real and fictional people * Jenny (surname), a family name Animals * Jenny (donkey), a female donkey * Jenny (gorilla), the oldest gorilla in captivity at the time of ...

* ''

'' – Marisa Pilla

Studio hosts

* ''

'' –

Kate Abdo Kate Abdo (; born 8 September 1981, Manchester, England) is an English sports broadcaster who currently hosts UEFA Champions League coverage for CBS Sports and Fox Sports' FIFA World Cup Tonight. Throughout her career she has worked internation ...

** ''Golazo Show'' – Nicolás Cantor,

Manish Bhasin Manish Dev Bhasin (born 21 May 1976 in Leicester, England) is a sports journalist and presenter broadcasting for Premier League Productions as the face of the Premier League's global coverage to over 700 million viewers as well as the BBC in ...

Ayo Akinwolere Odunayo Andrew Akinwolere (born 30 November 1982), previously known as Andy Akinwolere, is a British television presenter. Early life Akinwolere was born in Ibadan, Nigeria in 1982, and moved to the United Kingdom with his family when he was ei ...

, Pien Muelensteen * ''

'' –

Poppy Miller A poppy is a flowering plant in the subfamily Papaveroideae of the family Papaveraceae. Poppies are herbaceous plants, often grown for their colourful flowers. One species of poppy, ''Papaver somniferum'', is the source of the narcotic drug opi ...

* ''

'' –

* ''

'' –

Studio analysts

* ''

'' **

and the

–

Thierry Henry Thierry Daniel Henry (born 17 August 1977) is a French professional football coach, pundit, and former player who is an assistant coach for the Belgium national team. Considered one of the best strikers of all time and one of the best players ...

Jamie Carragher James Lee Duncan Carragher (; born 28 January 1978) is an English football pundit and former footballer who played as a defender for Premier League club Liverpool during a career which spanned 17 years. A one-club man, he was Liverpool's vic ...

Micah Richards Micah Lincoln Richards (born 24 June 1988) is an English former professional footballer, sports pundit for Sky Sports and BBC Sport, and as an ambassador of Manchester City. As a player, he was a right back who played in the Premier League and ...

Peter Schmeichel Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

, Alex Scott,

Freddie Ljungberg Karl Fredrik "Freddie" Ljungberg (; born 16 April 1977) is a Swedish former professional footballer and manager who played as a winger. He was most recently a former assistant coach, and interim head coach of Arsenal. He began his career at Hal ...

** UEFA Europa and the Europa Conference Leagues –

Lianne Sanderson Lianne Joan Sanderson (born 3 February 1988) is a current broadcaster and former English professional footballer who played as a forward. She won 50 caps for the England national team. At international level, Sanderson made her debut for Englan ...

Jermaine Jones Jermaine Junior Jones (born November 3, 1981) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a defensive midfielder. Born in Germany to an American father and German mother, he came up through the German club system and represe ...

Julien Laurens Julien Laurens (born 4th October 1980) is a French football journalist and broadcaster based in London. Career Laurens works for the French newspaper Le Parisien, and has featured regularly on BT Sport Talksport and ESPN as well as contribut ...

* ''

'' – Matteo Bonetti, Marco Messina,

Fabrizio Romano Fabrizio Romano (born 21 February 1993) is an Italian football journalist. He has worked for Sky Sport Italy, and is regarded as one of the most well-informed and reliable sources for football transfer news. __NOTOC__ Early and personal life R ...

Giuseppe Rossi Giuseppe Rossi (; born 1 February 1987) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward. Born in the United States, Rossi spent most of his career in Europe with Villarreal and Fiorentina, in addition to spells with other clubs in England, It ...

Mike Grella Michele Grella (born January 23, 1987) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward and winger, who is currently a soccer analyst for CBS Sports Network and Paramount+. Club career Youth and amateur Grella was born i ...

Charlie Davies Charles Desmond Davies (born June 25, 1986) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward. Davies set several soccer records at his high school, the Brooks School, before appearing for the Boston College Eagles an ...

, Antonio Cincotta, Christine Cupo, Aaron West * ''

'' –

Clint Dempsey Clinton Drew Dempsey (; born March 9, 1983) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward and midfielder. During his career, he played in the Premier League for Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur and in Major League Soccer ...

Oguchi Onyewu Oguchialu Chijioke Onyewu (born May 13, 1982) is an American former soccer player who is the secretary-general of R.E. Virton. He was previously the sporting director for Orlando City B. During his professional career, he played as a defender ...

Briana Scurry Briana Collette Scurry (born September 7, 1971) is an American retired soccer goalkeeper, and assistant coach of the Washington Spirit . Scurry was the starting goalkeeper for the United States women's national soccer team at the 1995 World Cup ...

Kaylyn Kyle Kaylyn McKenzie Kyle (born October 6, 1988) is a former Canadian soccer player who last played as a midfielder for the Orlando Pride in the National Women's Soccer League. She was also a member of Canada women's national soccer team, winning a ...

, Jenny Ruiz-Williams, Janelly Farías, * ''

'' –

Ian Joy Ian Paul Joy (born July 14, 1981) is an American born Scottish sports broadcaster and former professional footballer. Early and personal life Born in San Diego, California, Joy is the son of English former professional player Brian Joy. His moth ...

, Luis García,

Jimmy Conrad James Paul Conrad (born February 12, 1977) is an American retired association football player who played as a defender. During his 13-year MLS career, he was four-time MLS Best XI and the 2005 MLS Defender of the Year. He also earned 27 caps wi ...

Heath Pearce Heath Pearce (born August 13, 1984) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a defender for teams in Europe and North America. He represented his national team on 35 occasions. Pearce is currently the host of "The Mixer", ...

Thomas Rongen Thomas Eddy Rongen (born 31 October 1956) is a Dutch American football coach who has spent the majority of his playing and coaching career in the United States. In December 2016, he was named Chief Scout of the United States Men's National Team. ...

Nigel Reo-Coker Nigel Shola Andre Reo-Coker (born 14 May 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, as well as a football commentator and pundit for CBS Sports. Reo-Coker came through the youth team ranks at Wimbledon, and h ...

, James Benge, Jonathan Johnson * ''Rules analyst'' – Christina Unkel

Former programming

North American Soccer League

In 1967, two professional soccer leagues started in the United States: the

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

-sanctioned

United Soccer Association The United Soccer Association was a professional soccer league featuring teams based in the United States and Canada. The league survived only one season before merging with the National Professional Soccer League to form the North American S ...

, which consisted of entire European and South American teams brought to the US and given local names, and the unsanctioned National Professional Soccer League. The National Professional Soccer League had a national television contract in the U.S. with the

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or multichannel video programming distributo ...

(which signed a two-year contract to broadcast a game every Sunday afternoon live and in color). The NPSL kicked off on Sunday, April 16 with a full slate of five matches. However, the ratings for matches were unacceptable even by weekend daytime standards and the arrangement was terminated.

Bill MacPhail William Curtis MacPhail (March 25, 1920 – September 4, 1996) was an American television sports executive. Early life and family MacPhail was born in Columbus, Ohio, son of Larry MacPhail, a baseball executive and innovator. He was a graduat ...

, head of

, attributed NASL's lack of TV appeal to empty stadiums with few fans, and to undistinguished foreign players who were unfamiliar to American soccer fans.Sports Illustrated, Soccer Is Getting A Toehold, August 30, 1976, http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1091476/index.htm The leagues merged in 1968 to form the North American Soccer League (NASL). It has been suggested that the timing of the merge was related to the huge amount of attention given throughout the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

-speaking world to the victory by

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in the ...

and the resulting

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

, ''Goal''. While the USSF and

refused to recognize the NPSL, the television contract with

guaranteed some element of financial stability. In

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

, although the

Los Angeles Aztecs The Los Angeles Aztecs was an American professional soccer team based in Los Angeles, California that existed from 1974 to 1981. The Aztecs competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1974 to 1981 as well as the 1975 NASL Indoor tour ...

had a league-best record and points total, and rightly should have hosted the championship final,

intervened and strongly influenced the NASL's decision to play the match in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. CBS was under contract to air the game live and was unwilling to black-out the large

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

viewing audience. At the time it was the standard in many US-based sports for the host market not to broadcast games locally unless they were sold out. At the time, the

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a mem ...

had a capacity of 94,500 and, even in a best-case scenario, an Aztecs sell-out was unlikely. Moreover, in an effort by CBS to capture more viewers during the peak East Coast time slot, a Los Angeles-hosted game would have begun at 12:30 ( PDT) local time. The league recognized that both these factors would be detrimental to ticket sales and agreed to moved the game to the

Miami Orange Bowl The Miami Orange Bowl was an outdoor athletic stadium in Miami, Florida from 1937 until 2008. The stadium was located in the Little Havana neighborhood west of Downtown Miami. The Miami Orange Bowl was considered a landmark and served as the ho ...

with a 3:30 ( EDT) local start. CBS had also stepped in the previous week and forced the Toros to play their semi-final match at the much-smaller Tamiami Stadium in

Tamiami Park Tamiami Park is a public urban park in metropolitan Miami, just south of the Modesto Maidique campus of Florida International University. Background The park was built in the late 1960s on the site of the former ''Tamiami Airport'', which was re ...

. This was done so that if Miami did win, CBS's production crews would have a full week for set-up in the Orange Bowl stadium.

1974 FIFA World Cup

By 1970, the NASL was struggling, and had lost its TV contract with CBS. As a result, they didn't provide any network TV coverage of the 1970 World Cup.

's coverage contained week-old filmed highlights on ''

CBS Sports Spectacular ''CBS Sports Spectacular'' is a sports anthology television program that is produced by CBS Sports, the sports division of the CBS television network in the United States. The series began on January 3, 1960, as ''The CBS Sports Spectacular'', a ...

''. For the Final, CBS used

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

's feed with announcer

David Coleman David Robert Coleman OBE (26 April 1926 – 21 December 2013) was a British sports commentator and television presenter who worked for the BBC for 46 years. He covered eleven Summer Olympic Games from 1960 to 2000 and six FIFA World Cups from ...

Major Indoor Soccer League

The

MISL The Misls (derived from an Arabic word wikt:مثل#Etymology_3, مِثْل meaning 'equal') were the twelve sovereign states of the Sikh Confederacy, which rose during the 18th century in the Punjab region in the northern part of the Indian ...

made inroads on national television in 1982–83. While the spring would see the end of the league's two-year deal with the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

, CBS would broadcast a playoff game live from Cleveland on May 7 that drew an estimated four million viewers. One game during the 1983–84 season was televised on CBS (Game 3 of the championship series on June 2) as well. 1984–85 would be the final year the MISL would have games aired on network television, CBS broadcast Game 4 of the championship series live on May 25. CBS used

Gary Bender Gary Nedrow Bender (born September 1, 1940) is a retired American sportscaster and 2008 inductee into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. He officially retired, April 13, 2011, from Fox Sports Arizona after 18 years calling the NBA's Phoenix Suns g ...

and

Kyle Rote Jr. Kyle Rote Jr. (born December 25, 1950) is an American former professional soccer forward who played seven seasons in the North American Soccer League (NASL) and earned five caps with the United States men's national soccer team between 1973 a ...

on commentary.

NCAA Men's Soccer Championship

By 1990, CBS would televise the final of the

NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament The NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament, sometimes known as the College Cup, is an American intercollegiate soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the Division I men's national champi ...

between

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). ...

and

Rutgers Scarlet Knights The Rutgers Scarlet Knights are the athletic teams that represent Rutgers University's New Brunswick campus. In sports, Rutgers is famously known for being the "Birthplace of College Football", hosting the first ever intercollegiate football ...

Mike Joy Michael Joy (born November 25, 1949) is an American TV sports announcer and who currently serves as the lap-by-lap voice of Fox Sports' coverage of NASCAR. His color analyst is Clint Bowyer. Counting 2022, Joy has been part of the live broadcast ...

and Seamus Malin provided commentary, with '' Jim Gray'' serving as the sideline reporter.

References

External links

* {{Association football on television CBS Sports CBS Sports Spectacular CBS original programming CBS Sports Network original programming

American live television series