Америкт болж буй ДАШТ-ий нэвтрүүлгүүд яагаад европ дүр төрхтэй байна вэ?

As an English journalist covering the Word Cup in the USA, there were plenty of unfamiliar and, dare I say it, very American elements to the whole experience.

The size of everything, from food portions to cars. The colossal billboards by the side of highways advertising legal representation. The sign at the entrance of a co-working space that informed guests they weren’t allowed to bring in their gun. Being asked on numerous occasions if you were here “for FIFA” rather than “for the World Cup”. The guy in a bar in Houston who, when the cameras found Tom Cruise in the stands watching the USA vs Paraguay, stood and applauded. When you arrive in the U.S. from England, it all takes a while to get used to.

But one thing that was familiar to this interloper from London, was the TV coverage. Specifically, the number of European, and specifically British voices that comprised the Fox Sports coverage.

Fox is the only place you can legally watch English language coverage of the World Cup in America, having paid a widely reported $485million for the U.S. broadcast rights.

But the American coverage doesn’t feel especially American — at least not in terms of the people on it.

Firstly, and most prominently, there is the lead presenting team: the excellent Rebecca Lowe, from England but familiar to U.S. viewers from fronting NBC’s Premier League coverage, has been joined by Thierry Henry, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the much maligned Alexi Lalas.

Then you move to the booth: the USMNT games and a few others were handled by the long-standing American pair of John Strong and Stu Holden, but six of the nine lead commentators/play-by-play announcers throughout the tournament were British, although mostly not new to Fox.

Ian Darke has been a consistent and familiar voice on U.S. TV for years. Similarly Derek Rae, a broadcasting stalwart who has been at every World Cup since 1990 in some capacity. Jacqui Oatley worked for Fox at both the last men’s and women’s World Cups, in 2022 and 2023. Darren Fletcher commentated for Fox at Euro 2024.

Plenty of the co-commentators are English, too, like Rob Green, Owen Hargreaves and Warren Barton. And then there are other analysts and reporters, such as Mark Clattenburg, Geoff Shreeves, Alex Aljoe and Katie Shanahan. Natalie Gedra is Brazilian but has worked in the UK for years, currently for Sky Sports.

Even Fox’s late-night, entertainment-focused companion show was presented by Englishman James Corden.

There are some South and Latin American contributors too, who often covered games involving Hispanic teams: Javier Hernandez has been a regular presence, and while it took a while to figure out who the handsome, bearded man discussing Colombia was, it was pleasing to see Juan Pablo Angel on air.

The coverage hasn’t been devoid of American voices: Landon Donovan, Cobi Jones, Maurice Edu, Lori Lindsey and JP Dellacamera, calling his last World Cup before retirement, were all regular presences. But they are certainly in the minority.

None of this is necessarily a criticism. For the most part the actual coverage has been really good. Lowe is one of the best in the game. Ibrahimovic tends not to say much of substance, but what he does say is delivered in such a ‘Zlatan’ way, Fox are getting what they paid for. And he is good for the odd zinger, frequently at the expense of Lalas. Henry is there for his gravitas and often masterful analysis, his breakdown of Harry Kane’s second goal against DR Congo being a case in point.

The commentators are also broadly excellent: Darke is an institution, Rae combines gravitas and a lightness of touch, Oatley is, from an English viewer’s perspective, heard all too rarely in this role, in general more of a presenter in the UK than in the booth.

Fox are of course free to hire the people they believe will provide the best coverage, regardless of nationality. It just felt notable that an American broadcaster at an American World Cup didn’t feature many American voices.

The question is: why?

Fox insists that it simply wanted to staff its coverage with the best talent available, and that many of its people — particularly those in the booth — have worked for it before anyway.

But there is surely more to it than that. One theory is that English and European voices provide an air of authority, even legitimacy, to a sport which, while embraced by millions in America, is still ‘foreign’, certainly when compared to NFL, baseball and basketball. And therefore, the theory follows, the viewer needs to be guided by ‘foreign’ voices. That theory might be a little reductive, and even patronising to U.S. football fans, but it does hold some weight.

Perhaps another way to put it is that British and European broadcasters have the experience: the likes of Fletcher, Darke, Oatley, Lowe, Aljoe and the others cover high-level football every week, whether that’s the Premier League, the Champions League or any other European divisions, and have been doing so for many years.

That’s also reflected in American TV coverage of football year-round: NBC’s lead presenter for the Premier League is Lowe and their lead commentator is Peter Drury. ESPN have Craig Burley and Don Hutchison as regulars. CBS’s Champions League coverage is presented by Kate Scott and their usual studio trio is Henry, Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards. American viewers are used to seeing their football coverage delivered by Brits and/or other Europeans.

And this is a global event, and as such it makes sense to cover it with a global perspective. Most broadcasters will have an international element to their coverage: in the UK, for example, the BBC has used Olivier Giroud, Benni McCarthy, Gael Clichy, Cesar Azpilicueta and Thomas Frank.

“Because it’s an international tournament, I think it’s quite normal,” Rae says. “If you look around the world, you will see that there is that international component on every broadcast, whether it’s a European country, or the USA, or somewhere else.

“When I was young, I used to watch BBC and ITV in the UK, and it was always just a bit more interesting to get an international perspective, to hear from people outside who had credibility to talk about it.

“There are American voices on the Fox coverage as well. I think broadcasters who’ve covered the World Cup in the USA have realised that it’s better with it being a balance, and not being just completely one-sided.”

It’s also just a language thing: whereas the German coverage, to pick one example, has been exclusively staffed by Germans, the UK and American outlets have the advantage that more people around the world speak English, and so they have more options. That’s also the case for Telemundo, the USA-based Spanish language service, which has gathered its people from all around Central and South America, as well as Spain: Gabriel Batistuta, Ivan Zamorano, Guti and Jose Pekerman have all been on duty for them.

One question is whether the choice to go with so many European voices caused any consternation among other Americans in the industry. The Athletic did speak to one experienced American broadcaster who expressed significant frustration that they and their compatriots had been overlooked. They chose not to comment for this article because… well, would you lay into a potential future employer in public?

Fox’s coverage of the World Cup might not have sounded especially American. But this is a World Cup, and should be covered by the world. And if nothing else, the familiar voices all helped this Englishman get used to the portion sizes.