NEW YORK – August 28, 2012 – NBC Sports Group will broadcast three soccer games this weekend with MLS coverage Friday and Sunday on NBC Sports Network, and the Women’s Gold Medal USA team in a friendly against Costa Rica from Sahlen’s Stadium in Rochester, N.Y., on Sat. at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC. MLS action starts Friday when the Portland Timbers host the Colorado Rapids live from Jeld-Wen Field in Portland, Ore., at 10:30 p.m. ET, and continues on Sunday when the San Jose Earthquakes host Chivas USA at 9 p.m. ET.
Additionally, NBC Sports Network will air the second episode of Dream On: The Journey of Wembley FC tonight at 8 p.m. ET. The soccer docu-series follows the development of Wembley FC, an amateur English soccer club, as they prepare for the annual FA Cup competition. The club, sponsored by Budweiser, looks for help to win the title by recruiting former FC Barcelona and England manager Terry Venables as a technical advisor, and a roster of former FIFA World Cup stars, including Brian McBride, Claudio Caniggia, David Seaman and Martin Keown, as mentors. The eight episode series airs every Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET.
COMMENTATORS: Arlo White (play-by-play) and Kyle Martino (“Between the Benches” analyst) will call all the action for the Team USA game. Russ Thaler (studio host) and Kate Markgraf (studio analyst) will be on-site in Rochester, N.Y. for the pre-game and halftime analysis. White, Martino and Thaler will team up again on Sunday’s MLS game, with John Strong (play-by-play), Brian Dunseth (analyst) and Carolyn Manno (host) calling Friday’s game in Portland.
RATINGS: The MLS game on Sunday, August 26, which featured FC Dallas against the Los Angeles Galaxy, was up 82 percent from the 2011 regular-season average on Fox Soccer. After 27 regular season games, the MLS on NBC Sports Network is up 101 percent in average viewership compared to the 2011 regular season average on Fox Soccer (137,000 vs. 68,000).
UPCOMING MLS GAMES: (All Times ET, Home Team Listed First)
Wed., Sept. 5, Colorado vs. Portland, 9 p.m. (NBC Sports Network)
Fri., Sept. 14, Kansas City vs. Houston, 8:30 p.m. (NBC Sports Network)
Sat., Sept. 15, Portland vs. Seattle, 3:30 p.m. (NBC)
For the full NBC Sports Group 2012 MLS Schedule visit www.NBCSports.com. Viewers can also follow all the action on Twitter @MLSonNBCSports.
ProSoccerTalk on NBCSports.com: Steve Davis (@SteveDavis90), a respected soccer journalist for more than two decades, is the featured writer for ProSoccerTalk on NBCSports.com. Davis, who has covered Major League Soccer, since its inception in 1996 contributes regular posts and will provide video reports to NBCSports.com, and is expected to be an occasional guest on NBC SportsTalk, the daily hour-long news and information show on NBC Sports Network. # # #
Last August, Major League Soccer (MLS) and the NBC Sports Group announced a three-year media rights agreement that calls for 46 MLS games and four U.S. National Team contests to be televised live across both NBC and NBC Sports Network each season. This agreement was the first rights deal for the new NBC Sports Network. All telecasts on NBC and NBC Sports Network will consist of pre-game and post-game coverage.
--NBC Sports Group--
