Fierce media rivals like ESPN and Fox Sports don't really want their opponents to succeed. But this weekend, the contestants may be rooting for each other.
Fox and ESPN will each be broadcasting two games this weekend in the new UFL, depending on how you look at it. The UFL is a league built from the former USFL and its rival, the XFL. Fox plans to offer both the Birmingham Stallions, who will play the Arlington Renegades, and the St. Louis BattleHawks, who will play the Michigan Panthers. On Sunday, ESPN will feature the DC Defenders taking on the San Antonio Brahmas and the Memphis Showboats taking on the Houston Roughnecks. Several UFL games will be broadcast on ABC during the season.
After several years of failure, there are hopes that a unified league can make spring football ingrained among American sports fans. “The merger will help football,” said Brian Jarrock, a coordinating producer who helps manage spring coverage at ESPN. “His athleticism is improving,” he added. Because the new league features the best that its predecessor had to offer.
When it comes to the UFL, there are more important factors than viewer ratings. Both stations hope to attract the younger audience targeted by UFL productions, which provide increased video and audio access to players, coaches and officials, and, at least in the case of ESPN, continuous updates on sports betting opportunities. I believe. They will need to cooperate more with each other to do so. Previously, Fox aired USFL games in conjunction with NBC, while ESPN spotlighted XFL games on parent company Disney's FX cable network.
“What people loved about the XFL was the access,” Jaroch said. “You can also talk to the coaches on the sideline. We can talk to the players at any time. We have access and transparency with the referees and the command center. These are things that resonated with the fans last year. “We will continue to rely on it.” Fox will provide viewers with a unique view of the game through drones, pylon cameras, player helmets and referee hats. I plan to.
Launching a sustainable NFL counterpart will not be easy. In recent years, the Federation of American Football gained early attention with broadcasts on CBS and elsewhere before collapsing under shaky finances. Fox is an investor in the USFL and co-owner of the new combined league. WWE leader Vince McMahon initially backed the latest edition of the XFL, which was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic and bankruptcy, before Redbird Capital and Dwayne Johnson and Danny Garcia tried to make do with the new season. I was doing it.
Now, ESPN and Fox Sports have multiple common causes. The companies, along with Warner Bros. Discovery, are also partners in a new streaming video joint venture expected to launch later this year. This new streaming hub features all UFL games on a single platform.
Fans can expect innovation, Jaroch says. “Let's try some things different,” he says. “Take your camera to places you've never been before.”
If producers have learned anything, he says, it's that they have to recognize when access doesn't help coverage of a game. In previous coverage of the XFL, ESPN has found that his ability to communicate with officials and coaches has interfered with his ability to perform his normal duties. For referees, he says, “the first job is to referee the game, and the second job is to explain the game to the viewers.''
There is little sense that the new UFL is competing with the NFL, but perhaps if the league grows it will definitely compete with more established leagues for attention and sponsorship dollars. Jarok said there is now a growing sense that the UFL could become a feeder league, or a place to support those who want to remain in the game for a few more years.
In fact, he added, producers want to tell many of these stories so that fans can relate to the people playing the new games. There may be stories that include a quest to make it to the NFL, a desire to continue playing, interactions with family, etc. “We want to humanize it and then analyze it,” he says.
