TheUEFA European Football Championship,[1] commonly known as theUEFA European Championship and informally as theEuros, is the primary soccer competition contested by the seniormen's national teams of the members of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), determining thecontinental champion of Europe. Held every four years since1960, in the even-numbered year betweenWorld Cup tournaments, it was originally called theEuropean Nations' Cup, changing to the current name in1968.
Coverage of the2000 Euros was only available to Americans viapay-per-view. More specifically, viaclosed-circuit television,DirecTV, theDISH Network, andiNDemand cable pay-per-view. Viewers had the option of paying$20 per match, or $149 for the entire tournament.[2]Setanta also chargedbars $3,000[3] for the privilege to carry their coverage. This often meant a $20 cover charge.Fox Sports World did however, offer the rebroadcasts of games on a week-longdelay.
Pay-per-view was still the primary option come the2004 Euros. This time, the price for the entire tournament was worth $179 while the price for bars rose to $4,000. Five live games were however, broadcast on Fox Sports World andFox Sports Espanol. All quarters and semis would be broadcast on a five-day tape delay, with the final airing on a three-day delay. According to Setanta CEO Michael O'Rourke, they we offered the events toESPN andFox Sports Net. Setanta even offered to pay them to put it on, but there just was no appetite.
ESPN first aired the UEFA Euros in 2008 after reached an agreement with UEFA in December 2006.[4] With UEFA wanting the reverberations of the Euros to reach an international audience, ESPN decided to broadcast all matches live and online in 2008. After receiving good reaction from viewers, ESPN and UEFA continued to work by becoming official broadcasters of 2012, 2016 and 2020 tournament.
ESPN Deportes giving comprehensive coverage of the event with more than 6.5 live hours daily with 27 matches is shown live, and 4 tape-delayed matches (due to simultaneous group stage matches on last matchday).Jorge Ramos and Hernan Pereyra led the broadcast teams with the other is included: Fernando Palomo and Rafa Puente, and Ricardo Ortiz andJosé Antonio Noriega.José Ramón Fernández hosted studio coverage with analysts Andres Agulla, Jose Hernandez,Mario Kempes, Richard Mendez, Noriega, and Barak Fever. Reporters included Martin Ainstein, Vito De Palma, Alex de la Rosa.
ESPN Deportes airing 45 matches live, and six matches were tape-delayed (due to simultaneous group stage matches on last matchday). Fernando Palomo andJosé Antonio Noriega was the lead broadcast team. Other play-by-play announcers were: Ricardo Ortiz, Omar Orlando Salazar and Emilio Fernando Alonso. Color commentators:Mario Kempes, Roberto Gomez Junco, Ricardo Mayorga and Hernan Pereyra. Jorge Ramos leads studio coverage while Andres Agulla, Carolina Guillen and Tony Cherchi also presenting. Studio analysts were: Kempes,Mauro Camoranesi, Barak Fever, Richard Mendez, Ortiz, Alex Pareja, Pereyra, Rafael Puente del Rio and Jose del Valle. Martin Ainstein and Manu Martin are the reporters.
This event marked a new era for Spanish language broadcasts withUnivision being selected as the official broadcaster. 40 matches will be broadcast and streamed on PrendeTV, Univision's newly launched, ad-supported streaming service with the remaining 11 matches will airing onUnivision andTUDN including theTurkey vs.Italy opening game at theStadio Olimpico inRome, both semifinals, and the final. Coverage is led by presentersAdriana Monsalve,Lindsay Casinelli, andAlejandro Berry who joined by numerous commentators, such as play-by-play Luis Omar Tapia, Paco Villa, José Luis López Salido, and José Hernández, and color commentators: Diego Balado,Iván Zamorano,Hristo Stoichkov, Tony Cherchi,Marc Crosas andHugo Salcedo. Also contributing as studio analysts and co-commentators is former playersCarles Puyol,Mauro Camoranesi, andJavier Zanetti. Daniel Chanona and Cristina Romero reporting on location from Europe.[21]
