NBC keeping same approach with Premier League coverage after record viewership last season

AP Sports Writer

Pierre Moossa knows in some quarters it isn’t a popular answer. Yet, as NBC approaches its 12th season carrying England’s Premier League this weekend, not many changes are planned in coverage.

On the other hand, NBC doesn’t have any reason to make massive changes after last season was the most-watched Premier League campaign in the United States.

“I think we have to focus even more on the foundation of which made us so successful because so many people are sampling the Premier League for the first time, and so many new fans have been created,” said Moossa, the coordinating producer of NBC’s coverage.

Last season averaged 546,000 fans per TV match window on NBC, USA Network and Peacock, surpassing the previous record mark of 541,000 in 2015-16. It also was a 4% increase over the 2022-23 season.

The interest in the Premier League and increase in subscribers to Peacock due to the Paris Olympics could translate to another year of record viewership.

NBC’s Premier League studio team of Rebecca Lowe, Robbie Earle, Robbie Mustoe, and Tim Howard will once again be on site in England to begin the season. That includes the season-opening match Friday at Old Trafford between Manchester United and Fulham on USA Network. The studio crew will then be in London on Saturday and Sunday for West Ham hosting Aston Villa and four-time defending champion Manchester City at Chelsea. Both of those games will be on NBC.

Five of this weekend’s 10 matches will be on USA Network, two on NBC and three exclusively streamed on Peacock.

This also marks the first time since NBC started carrying the Premier League in 2013 that the season has started after the Olympics. The first weekend of the season during the Rio Games of 2016 and Tokyo in 2021 overlapped.

Lowe thinks there might be some hangover at the beginning of the season with players from the top teams competing in the European Championships, Copa America and the Olympics.

“Some players have hardly had a break because they have maybe two weeks off and then they have to go on a preseason tour all over the world,” Lowe said. “I don’t think that the team (Manchester City manager) Pep Guardiola plays this weekend at Chelsea is going to look like the team in two months team. I think teams are going to start with a lot more youngsters, because the established stars are probably still finding their fitness again.”

NBC has added Gary Neville as a special contributor. The former Manchester United great also works for Sky Sports.

With NBC and Sky Sports both owned by Comcast, it is another example of the synergy employed by both networks.

“Our audience really has the best of both worlds,” Moossa said. “They get to watch every single match that most people around the world can’t, especially the United Kingdom. They also get the best of the domestic rights holder (in England) and our colleagues at Sky. So we get the best of all their coverage, access, resources and support.”

NBC could also benefit from the English Football League signing with CBS. The Championship and League One divisions will receive its most extensive coverage in the U.S. under the multi-year deal.

Three teams from the Championship are promoted each season to the Premier League. Wrexham — co-owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob Rob McElhenney — is in its first year in League One, which is two divisions below the Premier League.

“They’re in the same division Ipswich Town was two years ago, and now they’re in the Premier League. Wrexham can look at Ipswich and say if they can do it in two years, why can’t we?,” Lowe said.

Ipswich also has a celebrity tie of its own, as longtime fan and singer Ed Sheeran has acquired a minority share in the club.

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