The new voice of the US national team broadcast has a lot of experience in American football, but he may not be known to many fans yet.
That will change in a few days.
Luke Wylmanis a veteran of Canadian sports channel TSN, covering the games of the US men’s and women’s teams on HBO Max and TNT. He will make his debut next Tuesday when the U.S. women’s team plays their first game of the year in New Zealand, co-host of the upcoming World Cup (10 p.m., HBO Max).
“I can’t wait to get started,” Wylman told The Inquirer. “This is a role that gives a great deal of responsibility because national team games generate so much interest around the world and have the power to unite people across the country. I think it’s only a big time for both programs, with the young talent of.”
Originally from England, Wylman has worked for TSN since 2011 and has lived in the Toronto area since moving to Canada in 2006. He has called in multiple Women’s World Cup matches and Olympic football and will be in New Zealand and Australia. TSN this summer. (Canada was selected in Australia’s group, along with the Republic of Ireland and Nigeria.)
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This includes Canadian broadcasts of the US women’s team’s most famous victories: the 2012 Olympic gold medal game and the 2015 World Cup semi-finals and finals.
“Seeing almost every seat in Vancouver occupied by American soccer fans is [2015] Carly Lloyd’s performance in the final was an incredible moment and one of the highlights of my career,” Wylman said. “For a long time it was clearly a program of the highest level.”
In the men’s game, Wylman has been the lead voice of TSN’s MLS for many years. He has hosted his studio coverage of the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League and European Championship, calling games at the recent World Cup, hosting his Gold Cup at Conca Cafe in the past.
Before coming to Canada, Wylman spent six years as a reporter and broadcaster for the BBC.
Wylman continues to call TSN’s MLS games. MLS doesn’t play in most of the FIFA men’s window (although it does play sometime this year), so there aren’t a lot of scheduling conflicts.
the rest of the team
As for analysts, WBD Sports employs a quartet of well-known former pros. shannon box When Julie Fordy from women’s games, and Damarcus Beasley Kyle Martino of the Men’s Game.
Boxx, the only newcomer to the group, is a star of the U.S. women, including four World Cup appearances from 2003-2015 and three Olympic appearances from 2004-2012. bottom.
Foudy has a long history in television, serving as ESPN’s Chief Women’s Soccer Analyst from 2006 to last year. The network no longer has major women’s soccer rights, but the star of her 1999 World Cup she remains with ESPN and has other roles.
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Beasley recently entered the broadcasting industry after a long career in four World Cups, MLS and Europe. Later this year, he will join Boxx and Foudy in the National Soccer Hall of Fame.
Martino never reached the heights of others on the field, but found a place in the broadcast booth. After becoming Union’s first local television analyst in 2010, he worked for Fox and ESPN before going to NBC in 2012 when he acquired the rights to MLS. He will then stay with the network until 2021, continuing with the English Premier League and the Olympics. Now he’s back in the world of television.
Sarah WalshFox’s soccer coverage and former host of ESPN’s SportsCenter will serve as the studio host. Melissa Ortiz, formerly a reporter for Fox, FuboTV and ESPN. She was in Qatar creating her media content for Fox and her social media for US Soccer.
Both are former college soccer players. Ortiz played professionally for a while and won his 28th cap with the Colombian national team in the 2010s.
“I always felt that the best broadcasts were basically like friends talking about sports,” Wileman said. “Hopefully I’ll be able to build those relationships pretty quickly. And the people I’ve got together have a lot of experience, so there’s nothing wrong with being able to build that chemistry pretty quickly.” must.”
Synopsis of how to watch
WBD Sports rights games are controlled by US Soccer. So this is a home-and-away friendly (including his SheBelieves Cup for the women’s team). Concacaf Nations League group stage game for men’s teams. And the men’s world cup qualifiers.
However, in the short term the final result is irrelevant as they are not expected to be required to compete in the 2026 tournament co-sponsored by Canada and Mexico.
Unfortunately, a new problem arose in the broadcast plan. original announcement All the games in the deal will be streamed on HBO Max, and some will also air on TNT.
It’s not a deliberate choice by WBD or US Soccer. The problem is the nature of WBD’s distribution agreements for TNT and other platforms. For now, some of the live sports properties that air on TNT and its sister channel TBS are also not available for streaming on HBO Max. A source said the company is working to change that in the future, but it’s not clear how long it will take before the fix is implemented.
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This is certain. The situation is not the same as CBS’s choice to drop his NWSL game, which airs on CBS Sports Network, from streaming platform Paramount+. And TNT is the only TV channel to broadcast the game under WBD Sports’ deal. Games are never bounced to other channels.
Raphael Poplock, senior vice president of business development and strategic partnerships for WBD Sports’ Bleacher Report, said: “So using TNT as a coherent linear network is a priority for us.”
While HBO Max is at the center of the deal, it’s clear that WBD Sports as a company still focuses on traditional television broadcasting of live sports.
“Now that we have HBO Max, we want to be able to have both. [streaming and TV] Doug White, WBD Sports’ vice president of sports program planning, said: “But we know that in the eyes of most viewers, most fans, the most visible screen is still a straight line. [TV]”
