Like many of you, I was a little surprised when CBS Sports won the American TV rights to the UEFA Champions League and Europa League. Like Turner Sports, its predecessor as rights holder, CBS Sports did not have much history with football. Would CBS try to cover an even more American spin like Turner did? Would they just use the tournaments as inventory and put the bare minimum effort into the coverage?
Hopes for CBS coverage took something of a hit when the schedule for this August was confirmed – almost all games were scheduled for CBS All-Access, the subscription service, run by CBS. If most of these games are paid for, how much effort will CBS actually put into creating an acting product?
Now, it turns out that they put a lot of effort into their coverage of the Champions League, and most fears were adopted when the talent roster for the coverage was revealed. The Champions League kicked off again with Barcelona and Turin on Friday with second-leg matches and on Saturday in Barcelona and Munich, and CBS continued to make themselves proud, while fans also showed that when they pay for CBS All-Access, they will at least get quality content.
I feel the need to share this trailer for the Champions League told by Patrick Stewart, who did a great job setting the stage for what the coverage on CBS would look like.
“Here is where you live to be cast into the night sky. Where history clashes with a moment of greatness. Where immortality is the goal of strangers and legends.”@SirPatStew sets the table for returning the @ChampionsLeague. pic.twitter.com/H1RkmtJrsp
– Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) August 7, 2020
The studio coverage was smart, with host Kate Abdo doing a good job of putting the analysts on the panel and playing traffic coach. The analysts generally did not step on each other’s toes, did not get into controversial debates and treated the viewers like adults who actually knew what they were watching, unlike rubes who watched live sports on TV and just up the channel. Micah Richards was a standout for me, especially when you consider his relative unexperience as an analyst compared to his colleagues on set.
“This is why they brought him in. A manager like Pep Guardiola is winning it @ChampionsLeague. There is no doubt about it. ” @MicahRichards look closer @ManCityUS‘European ambitions. pic.twitter.com/SzTxqfBNyi
– Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) August 7, 2020
.@MicahRichards breaks the two penalty kicks dropped in the first half of @juventusfcen vs. @OL_Engelsk. pic.twitter.com/hZZIqSe23d
– Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) August 7, 2020
However, there was * something * shtick with this brace segment (complete with the CBS college basketball music at the beginning), but it was more fun and less cringeworthy than you would expect.
“Micah, Pep is not looking.” –@ Carra23@MicahRichards, shocking, pact @ManCityUS about the @ChampionsLeague. ? pic.twitter.com/3Rn5Dmn3zq
– Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) August 7, 2020
I also really enjoyed this segment with Alex Scott, Peter Schmeichel, and Jamie Carragher talking about penalty kicks, which can come into play over the rest of the tournament.
“For me, it was important to put myself in the situation where I felt I was in control of something. I have no control over everything in a penalty kick.”@ Pschmeichel1 breaks down his strategy on how to deal with punishments. pic.twitter.com/wLCYWkbFtf
– Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) August 7, 2020
The unforgettable VAR discussion was also well done, with the analysts (Schmeichel, Carragher, Roberto Martinez) speaking their minds and not blindly defending the system.
“If we can not get it right, we should scrap it.”@ Pschmeichel1 and the rest of the comment team talks about the merits and concerns for VAR. pic.twitter.com/YpBovBIXR9
– Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) August 8, 2020
CBS also had talent on-site for pre-match analysis and pre-match interviews, another step that demonstrates its commitment to coverage.
The starting XIs are in for both @ChampionsLeague matchups and Steve McManaman is pitchside to break the teams down. pic.twitter.com/CalBr9WJpF
– Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) August 7, 2020
“Barcelona knows its borders.”@GuillemBalague goes to pieces @FCBarcelonathe winning strategy and their chances against Bayern Munich. pic.twitter.com/KGWywKw3Av
– Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) August 8, 2020
CBS also does not like sports, with an insightful conversation about racism in world football covering some of Saturday’s first name show.
“Sports have the power to change the world and it does, because that’s what we see.”
A powerful and sincere conversation between @kate_abdo, @MicahRichards, @ Carra23, en @AlexScott about overcoming racism in football. pic.twitter.com/julcENb1qh
– Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) August 8, 2020
I will also give some credit to the CBS social media team, for getting highlight videos posted on Twitter within about five minutes of the event. It will be harder to do this with more than two games at once, but for now this is an impressive turnaround.
With all that said, the coverage did not go smoothly. There were some technical hurdles that appeared the first two days of coverage, largely revolving around the reports on the spot. Some viewers also complained about the video quality of the CBS All-Access streams, which I can see on a rewatch (although it is by no means unchatchable).
And of course, there’s the expected frustration over the CBS All-Access paywall. Yes, it is a pity that all quarter-final and semi-final games are paid for, but TV broadcasting is a no-go for midweek games on as few messages as CBS could have given for the relaunch of the Champions League. this month. However, I still do not understand why CBS Sports Network was not an option. Is CBS really betting on broadcasting three hours of Tiki & Tierney instead of the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals of both the Champions and Europa League? Unless there is some sort of contractual obligation to bind the network so tightly to the radio program, it seems to me a missed opportunity.
But overall (albeit with a sample size of only two days) CBS Sports made itself proud of its Champions League coverage. I was not dying to hit the mute button during studio coverage (which I regularly did with Turner coverage), I did not turn off my TV immediately when the match I was watching (ended, an earlier habit of mine) was I did not even think to see on what network the Spanish broadcast was (you get the picture). It felt like the coverage of the CBS Champions League was in the same league as the coverage of NBC’s Premier League and the well – received coverage of ESPN’s World Cup and European Championship in the past. In this country, the Champions League has been used as a tournament for experiments (Gus Johnson, Steve Nash, come on down). But with CBS raising the bar, it looks like the tournament will finally get the respect it deserves on American airwaves (and, unfortunately, streaming devices).
