FIFA World Cup Broadcasts on U.S. Network TV
TMC
Early Rounds Final Commentators
2006 ESPN, ESPN2, ABC ABC Dave O'Brien, Marcelo Balboa
2002 ESPN, ESPN2, ABC ABC Jack Edwards, Ty Keough
1998 ESPN, ESPN2, ABC ABC Bob Ley, Seamus Malin
1994 ESPN, ESPN2, ABC ABC Roger Twibell, Seamus Malin
1990 TNT TNT Bob Neal, Mick Luckhurst
1986 ESPN, NBC NBC Charlie Jones, Rick Davis,
Paul Gardner
1982 PBS, ESPN ABC Jim McKay, Mario Machado,
Paul Gardner
1978 None None
1974 CBS CBS David Coleman*
1970 ABC ABC Jim McKay
1966 None NBC Jim Simpson
1962 None None
1958 None None
1954 None None
*Used BBC feed, with BBC commentators.
U.S. Spanish Language Final commentators:
2006 Univision Pablo Ramirez, Jesus Bracamontes, Jose Luis Chilavert
2002 Univision Pablo Ramirez, Jesus Bracamontes
1998 Univision Andres Cantor, Norberto Longo
1994 Univision Andres Cantor, Norberto Longo
1990 Univision Andres Cantor, Norberto Longo
1986 SIN Tony Tirado, Norberto Longo, Jorge Berry
1982 SIN Used Televisa (Mexico) feed, Gerardo Pena (pxp),
analyst
unknown
1978 SIN Tony Tirado, Enrique Gratas
1974 SIN Tony Tirado
1970 SIN Tony Tirado
Quote:
Notes: The World Cup, almost indisputably the biggest sports event on
the planet, had ? until 1994 - received notoriously poor coverage in
the U.S. Over 100 nations have provided wall-to-wall coverage since
the communications satellite launchings allowed for worldwide coverage
beginning in 1966. European coverage of the World Cup has been
extensive since 1954 (though with the World Cup held in Chile in 1962,
much of the Euro coverage that year was tape-delayed).
The first American coverage of the World Cup consisted only of a same
day tape-delayed telecast of the 1966 Final on NBC. 1970?s coverage
was usually week-old highlights shown on ABC?s Wide World of Sports.
1974?s coverage also contained week-old highlights on CBS Sports
Spectacular. 1978 had no coverage on home TV at all!!
Finally in 1982, PBS and ESPN provided the first thorough American
coverage of the World Cup. And ABC at last aired the first live
telecast of the Final (though tarnished by commercials aired during
live action).
In '82, PBS used Toby Charles, a British announcer who was then
narrating Bundesliga highlights on PBS's 'Soccer Made in Germany'
series. Like the German highlights, the WC match featured on PBS was
an edited, one-hour program of the best highlights from 'the match of
the day', with Charles narrating from a studio. There may also have
been a half-hour show of highlights from other matches.
In 1982, one of the color commentators used by Televisa was Pele.
1986 for the first time had extensive live cable and network coverage.
The US coverage in both '86 on NBC and '90 on TNT, broke away for ads
during matches, so there were some missed goals.
1990 was covered exclusively by cable (TNT) and had many features of
the host country (Italy).
1994 coverage had many firsts; the first with ALL matches televised,
the first with no commercial interruptions during live action, and the
first to feature an on-screen score & time box. On the final day of
play in the group stage, when two matches in each group are always
played simultaneously, ESPN opted to show one live match, and tape-
delay the other on ESPN2 (usually at midnight ET, following the end of
their post-match highlight show).
Also, the now-defunct International Channel simulcast some matches in
'94 (live and tape-delayed), using the feeds from a few of the
competing countries
1998 finally brought the U.S. in line with the rest of the world with
ALL matches televised live. 1998 was the first year that US
broadcasters made the effort to show all matches in their entirety,
with constant onscreen sponsor logos in place of commercials.
2002 coverage was all live as well, in spite of the games being played
in Japan and South Korea. 2006 coverage from Germany was fully live as
well.
Latino coverage courtesy of "Nook" from Call of the Game forum.