English second tier and American broadcaster said to be close to agreeing a new contract
American sports broadcasting giant ESPN is reportedly on the cusp of renewing its TV rights deal with the EFL Championship. Reports suggest that ESPN is already making plans for the upcoming season, which starts this Friday (July 29) in the English lower leagues, despite the fact that an agreement has not yet been struck.
It is understood that ESPN intends to air the opening game of the 2022/23 EFL Championship season on its television channels ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes, before moving the rest of the campaign to its live streaming subscription service ESPN+.
Despite being the second tier of English football, the Championship is remarkably popular both at home and abroad. In terms of stadium attendances and global television numbers, the Championship remains one of the most watched football leagues in the world, and this popularity extends to the United States. It is without doubt the most popular second tier football league on the planet.
This season is expected to be more interesting to American fans than ever as the division will feature several high profile American players. Daryl Dike, the striker who impressed at Barnsley in 2020/21, and is currently at West Bromwich Albion, will be looking to get back to his best. The same is true for Norwich forward Josh Sargent, who made the switch from the Bundesliga to Norwich at the start of last season, and following The Canaries' relegation, will ply his trade in the Championship this campaign.
Other American stars playing in the Championship this season include exciting winger Lynden Gooch, who finally achieved promotion from League One with Sunderland last term, Luton Town's Ethan Horvath and Huddersfield Town's Duane Holmes.
Unfortunately for American soccer fans, ESPN doesn't hold the rights to every Championship game. Those rights are shared with the clubs themselves who also distribute matches via their own channels on the league's live streaming platform iFollow. The American broadcaster is able to air three of four games per weekend, but if you are an American based fan of a particular Championship team, you will need a subscription to ESPN+ and iFollow if you want to watch every single game of your team's season.
Fortunately, most Americans watching Championship football are likely to be casual and not committed to a specific team. However, if they are dedicated to following a particular club, they will need to fork out for the monthly subscription to ESPN+, which, while it is not so expensive in comparison to the prices British fans must pay for the same content, still adds up when coupled with the iFollow day passes needed to catch games which won't be streamed on ESPN+.
There is no doubt that the popularity of football in general in the US is skyrocketing and even when it comes to English football's second tier. ESPN will be happy to renew a deal with the EFL Championship and continue to bring live action to their subscribers.
As the new season approaches, don't forget that you can watch some of the biggest matches from across Europe live and at a very low cost on our football live streaming page. We also provide football predictions for every match of the weekend so be sure to check those out.
