FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, May 8th, 2014
TRANSCRIPT: PREMIER LEAGUE “CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY” CONFERENCE CALL WITH REBECCA LOWE & ARLO WHITE
Dan Masonson: Thank you. Good morning everybody and welcome to today’s conference call, looking forward to ‘Championship Sunday.’ Joining us on the call today are Premier League Live host, Rebecca Lowe; our lead Play-by-Play announcer, Arlo White and the Coordinating Producer for our Premier League coverage, Pierre Moossa.
All will offer brief comments and then we will take your questions. So without further ado, let’s turn it over to Pierre.
Pierre Moossa: I just want to tell you that we are thrilled about this weekend. I think Sundays is one of the most ambitious products I’ve been a part of. Ten matches, ten different networks with an hour-long pregame show.
We’ll have announcers on-site for two matches, 10 reporters from all sites, two-hour postgame with live scenes, the trophy lift interviews and all the emotion of it.
In addition, we’ll dedicate a half an hour show to the story of the title winning team. So it’s going to be a very, very, exciting, thrilling weekend. We’re very proud to present this weekend to you guys.
Dan Masonson: Rebecca.
Rebecca Lowe: Hi everybody. Yes, echoing Pierre’s thought there. I’ve never been involved in anything quite as ambitious as what we’re going to do on Sunday.
I think that while we know the title is maybe not as close as perhaps we hoped it would be going into Sunday, I think we’ve all learned a valuable lesson, and the real lesson, to never to try and predict, and think that we know what’s going to happen in this league because we never do.
I think this time a week ago everything looked totally different. And it just takes a second for everything to change. Again, I think if you put yourselves at half -time on Sunday and you see it’s goalless at the Etihad and Liverpool are winning 2-0, things are going to get edgy.
I just think that will be quite some drama to be unfolding live on American television. Also what’s going on everywhere else as well, because final day games always bring goals, they bring crazy things.
It’s like an end of term at school, there’s no rules. No rules apply. So, I am really looking forward to it. I hope that we’ll have lots of people enjoy with us.
Arlo White: Hi everybody, Arlo here in London. I’ve been involved with this obviously all season. I think I’m into the mid-60s, late 60s, maybe even early 70s in terms of the amount of games that I have been very fortunate enough to call for NBC Sports this year.
They have been absolutely magnificent. It’s been almost an unprecedentedly exciting season, as it has captured the imagination both over here and clearly amongst soccer fans in the U.S. as well.
It goes down to this final game. Just to echo what Rebecca was saying as well, this 90 minutes on Championship Sunday is a journey. There are going to be twists and turns and detours throughout it as well.
I can see Liverpool getting a couple of early goals perhaps, and putting the pressure back on Manchester City. City coped with that pressure last night when the defensive wall was put up by Aston Villa, eventually breaking it down.
But as we saw on the final day in 2011-12, crazy things can happen. Queens Park Rangers went down to ten men, [Papiss] Cissé needed to win the game to win the title from Manchester.
They were 2 – 1 down going into stoppage time, and scored two goals. That’s how tight the margins can be. Every expert is saying now, even after all the twists and turns, that Manchester are surely title favorites now.
You’d have to agree with them, they are. It looks like they’re going to win it, but we never know this season. There could yet be more twists and turns.
Dan Masonson: Thank you Arlo. And let’s open it up to questions.
Good morning, this question is Pierre I think – for Pierre to start with. If say on Sunday you have City losing late and Liverpool winning late and there’s a chance for Liverpool to up and things, would you guys go split screen or look around or something like that on NBC?
Pierre Moossa: I think it’s a judgment call. As you know, soccer is a unique game. You never want to leave live action. But we are prepared to go two boxes on NBC.
The one rule I have is that you will always, whatever network you’re on, see the conclusion of that match before you go anywhere else. But right now we’re prepared on NBC for us to show two boxes between City and Liverpool.
I will have to make a judgment call on how things are going. The nice thing is that Arlo is at the arena with Lee, and he will be able to see what we’re putting on the air so he can reference both the pictures.
But I’m very conscious of being respectful to fans that want to watch the conclusion of City, but at the same time we have to truly tell the story. The weekend in both games are quite intertwined.
Arlo, would you ever have imagined – and I know how much of a thrill it’s been for you to be calling all the games this season. But to your point a minute ago, did you ever imagine you’d be calling that many games in a season?
Arlo White: That’s a good question. What it has enabled me to do is to get a really good handle on most of the teams, and at least the teams going for the title. Watching them has become second nature now, so inherently know what they’re trying to achieve and the personnel that’s involved.
So it’s been a latter three years out of the Premier League, living in America and dealing with Major League Soccer to get back into the sport. To do it with this sort of concentration has been fantastic.
Did I expect to be in this position on the final day of a Premier League season so soon? Perhaps not. But it’s definitely a thrill to be involved with it. The Liverpool position this year has been absolutely incredible.
I do remember at the start of the season on a conference call very similar to this, tipping Manchester City for the title. I had no idea that there would be the excitement and the lead changes that we’ve seen so far this season.
I still think, with Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing lining up for West Ham United, former Liverpool players, I just got a feeling something may yet happen on Sunday to thrill us all and to make us even more nervous as we have been already.
Hi, my question is for Pierre. I was wondering why NBC has decided to show ten games on ten different channels. Just what is it exactly NBC is trying to gain from this?
Pierre Moossa: I wouldn’t say were trying to gain anything. I think from day one we set our goals to service the soccer fans. That’s who we are held accountable to. Everything we’ve done is to help promote and provide a better experience, a better seat in the house.
There’s ten games at the same time. If you’re a fan, you’re never going to win because if somebody’s going to want to watch one of the matches. So instead of us making the choice, us forcing which match you’re going to watch, we’re giving everybody else the choice to choose whatever match they want to watch.
That was really the genesis of this. The final day of the season is an exciting day, and emotional day as Rebecca said. There’s going to be so many different things happening, it’s not fair for us to be deciding what you see. It allows you to have that choice.
How much did the tremendous popularity of Manchester United help promote the game and how did they do for your ratings? I know they had a really rough season, but there were also so many story lines that came in this year.
Dan Masonson: Rebecca?
Rebecca Lowe: Do you want me to take that one? Yes sure. You’re right, there were so many story lines. I don’t think anyone expected them to have been quite as disastrous as it begun to turn out to be maybe around Christmas time.
I think Pierre can answer in terms of ratings. I’m not sure in terms of that. But what I do know is that when Manchester United are on, no matter what time it is, no matter who they’re playing, no matter where they are crucially in that table, if they’re seventh with nothing to play for, it’s a big, big game.
Robbie Earle said earlier this season that United is still a big ticket no matter what is happening in that club. It’s almost as big a ticket as well as successful because of the story of them being in demise. So yes, they’re still a big ticket in this league I would say for sure.
Arlo White: Well I think there’s been an element this season of rubbernecking at Manchester United because they’ve been so dominant for so long. When I was growing up, getting into football, you know, and I was 4, 5, 6, 7 years old it was Liverpool who were the dominant team.
People in Strasbourg, so famously, wanted to knock them off their perch. I don’t think anyone expected United to be knocked off the perch and be lying on the bottom of the cage quite as quickly as they have been.
So that in and of itself has been a story. It’s been a bit of a trial for Manchester United. It hasn’t gone very well, obviously. But now the story going into this season was how they would cope without Sir Alex Ferguson. The answer was very badly. Now the story next year if Louis van Gaal gets the job or somebody else gets the job, will the redemption road for Manchester looking ahead to next season is going to be absolutely fascinating as well and as compelling as anything Manchester United seem to do.
Pierre Moossa: I think one of the things to point out – and it’s been one of our focuses all along is to always cover all the stories and not to be focused on just the top four and not to be focused on the big clubs. Rebecca takes a lot of pride in making sure we cover all the clubs and we cover all the stories. It just seems this season that although United hasn’t been in the title hunt, they’ve provided us with a lot of things to discuss and they’ve been a really fascinating changing of the guard, changing – evolution – however you want to put it – when it comes to their season.
And so we have been speaking and discussing them a little bit more than you would normally of team that’s that low on the table. They are a big-ticket and people do love to watch and see them whether they’re winning or losing.
My favorite part of covering it live is definitely when you cover the transfer rumors with Neil Ashton. Do you think we might see more transfer talk next season on the show?
Pierre Moossa: I think one of the challenges that had come up covering the season, we’ve always come from an NBC background – an NBC News background – the sports background where you don’t speculate at injuries, you don’t speculate on rumors, you don’t get into a lot of things that are said. You always go off reports and fact. I think when it comes to the Premier League, it’s a real challenge where the story isn’t the speculation.
The story isn’t the rumor; the story is the fact that there’s these rumors and how those rumors affect players, affect clubs, and how the tabloid journalism at times – and it may not be a fair way to describe it – but all the rumors in the back pages and how they dominate the headlines over in the U.K. What’s been nice about Neil is he’s been able to provide us with that insight when it comes to his rumors.
Moving forward, we’ll probably be looking to do a little bit more of that. I think Neil’s insight is incredible and I think we’re going to continue to find that balance. But I also feel like the season dictates what direction we go in.
This is either for probably Arlo or Rebecca. Two questions – Do you think it’s important to keep an eye on the Americans who are playing EPL because you’re broadcasting to an American audience? And the other one is part of those sub-plots I think we all saw in Everton how well Roberto Martinez did after leaving league. Is that another element that’s going to be important for Sunday pointing out that we also met David Moyes, but that Everton did better with somebody else?
Arlo White: Sure. I think regarding the Americans in the Premier League, there probably aren’t as many as there were four or five years ago. One of the most prominent, of course, would be Everton’s Tim Howard. I think we follow his progress very closely to the point where he’s been standing next to me on four or five broadcasts and did a great job, I think, as we bring him into the broadcasting world.
He signed a new contract now so we won’t get him full time for a while. But it’s been great to work with Tim. I think it’s always good to reflect American success on the field and also off the field with the amount of owners that there are as well from the United States in the Premier League. In regards to [Roberto] Martinez, what an incredible job that he has done in his first season at Everton as manager.
Manchester United are always going to have that global fan base who hang on every word, every utterance, and every result that Manchester United go through. But it’s important to reflect on teams like Everton; I think we have done that very successfully. I’ve been at Goodison Park about four or five times this year and been enthralled with the atmosphere there and thrilled with the football that they played.
Martinez, I think, has been a huge motivating factor and driving factor behind that and I think we’ve managed to reflect it.
Rebecca Lowe: I think this Sunday, especially the two hour post-game Goal Zone when all the final whistles ring out around the country, that two hour post-game, it’s all about reflection. It’s all about what – where are we? Let’s take the top of all the story lines that have run from opening until now – Roberto Martinez, being one of them. That’s taken slightly different turn now with the rumors that Tottenham are going to approach.
Now I know there are the two Robbies [Robbie Earle and Robbie Mustoe] in our studio have different opinions on whether he would actually and should actually take that job. There would be the development of that story in regard to Martinez. But absolutely, some days, it’s not about giving you the story of the day and bringing the pictures and the crucial images and the lasting images of the day.
It’s just about reflecting and taking stock of how the season has unfolded and where those stories are going to go next. Absolutely Martinez and Everton is right up there.
My question is for Rebecca and Arlo. And Rebecca just mentioned the reflection back and the storylines of this year. And obviously there’s a big chapter still to be written on Sunday. But can you pinpoint any storylines you think already that are key for next year as we look ahead? And obviously, some of those are dependent upon the results on Sunday. But do you have any that are just standing out to you right now?
Rebecca Lowe: Oh, there’s so many. To me, oh, there’s just so many. Arlo mentioned some of them minutes ago about what would United do next year? How will they come out with the blocks? Probably on Louis van Gaal – that’s going to be huge – how will Brendan Rogers mentally get that Liverpool team to where they were this season and maybe further? Who will he buy is huge, I think.
Who is going to be the manager of Tottenham? That’s massive. What will happen with Aston Villa? Will Randy Lerner sell up and what does that mean for Paul Lambert. A little bit further down the league, Mauricio Pochettino at Southampton – is he going to stay, is he going to go? What about all of this wonderful young English players at Southampton? Will that team break up? The teams that are coming up, I know Arlo is quite interested in some of those – or certainly one of those. Whether or not there will be – similar to this season – some surprises. I think most of us thought at the beginning of the season, Cardiff are the most likely of the three to stay up. You’ve got to say Crystal Palace and West Ham have had fantastic seasons and in similar and also different ways.
So I think those three coming up will be storylines. To be honest, and this is like us every single week on our conference calls and in the studio and in the makeup room beforehand – there are stories at every club that you could spend an hour discussing. You really could have a 20-hour show. So those will be my sort of main ones and obviously I could just go on. Arlo, what do you think?
Arlo White: No, absolutely Rebecca. I think you’ve hit on most of them. You know, soon as the ball is kicked off – or even before it is kicked off, we’ve got the transfer deadline. Last year, it was about Rudy, is he going to leave, is he going to stay? Is Suarez going to go or stay – they both did.
Now Gareth Bale was sold eventually to around Madrid but bound to have some pre-season tales of transfers that will get our teeth in to increase season programming or on vine or on twitter or whatever it might be. In terms of the top four as well, I think José Mourinho’s second season is going to be absolutely vital. And whether he gets that’s strike and how he sets his team up to play next season is going to be absolutely fascinating. How he treats his young players as well, there seems to be a little bit of a fallout going on at the moment as they approached into the season. And they only reached the – 75 per champion’s league lost their – and were eliminated on the title race last night. It’d be fascinating to see how he and Chelsea respond and who Arsenal will recruit in the off-season as well. Arsène Wenger has a bit of a war chest to spend on players.
They spend a lot of money on [Mesut] Ozil and the jury’s still out perhaps on whether that was a success or not. In his second season, he’s going to make more of an impact. But Arsène Wenger doesn’t normally like to spend massive amounts of money; he likes to nurture young talent. But in order to compete at the top – and they have spent almost 130 days at the top – but in the grand scheme of things at the end, they haven’t been involved in the title race in the last few weeks.
So can they add to the squad and make sure that they’re there on ‘Championship Sunday’ in what, 2014/15?
Dan Masonson: Great. Thank you everybody. We will have a transcript posted on NBC Sports Group press box this afternoon. Thanks to Rebecca, Arlo, and Pierre. And we will see you this weekend.
