FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
ARLO WHITE TO BE THE VOICE OF NBC SPORTS GROUP’S MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER BROADCASTS
NEW YORK – November 30, 2011 – Arlo White will serve as the play-by-play voice for NBC Sports Group’s coverage of Major League Soccer (MLS) starting with the first broadcast on NBC Sports Network on March 11, 2012, it was announced today.
“Arlo is one of the top voices calling soccer today in the U.S., and we are very excited to have him be the lead play-by-play announcer to launch our new agreement with Major League Soccer,” said Sam Flood, Executive Producer, NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network. “I also want to sincerely thank the Seattle Sounders FC ownership for making Arlo available, so he can be the MLS voice for the NBC Sports Group to a national audience.”
White, who spent the last two years as the play-by-play voice for the Seattle Sounders FC of MLS on television and radio, is a native of England. He previously spent nine years with BBC Radio Sport in England where he was part of the BBC Radio 5-Live announcing team for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. White also served as a host on BBC Radio 5 Live and hosted the station’s flagship Premier League Football show, Saturday 5 Live Sport, as well as the Monday Night Club alongside BBC football commentator John Motson.
“It is a tremendous honor for me to join the NBC Sports Group, an organization that I have revered from afar for many years,” said White. “I am extremely passionate about the future of Major League Soccer, and this partnership with NBC will provide a huge boost for the sport in the United States. I am very proud to have been called up to play a major role in it.
“I am indebted to the Seattle Sounders FC and the club’s wonderful fans,” White added. “Joe Roth and Adrian Hanauer provided me with an opportunity for which I will always be grateful. It was a privilege to serve as the voice of the Sounders, and I thank the supporters for giving me such a warm welcome.”
From 2002 to 2005, White was part of the 5 Live Breakfast program on the BBC, where he covered, among other events, the 2003 Cricket World Cup in South Africa, the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and various Champions League football matches.
The remainder of the NBC Sports Group’s MLS broadcasters will be announced at a later date.
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In August, Major League Soccer (MLS) and the NBC Sports Group announced a three-year media rights agreement that commences at the start of the 2012 MLS season. The partnership 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 and live-streamed on NBCSports.com. This agreement was the first rights deal for the NBC Sports Network, which will be re-branded from VERSUS on January 2, 2012.
Each season, NBC will broadcast three regular-season MLS games, two playoff games and two appearances by the U.S. National Team, marking the first time four MLS matches will be broadcast on network television since 2002. The NBC Sports Network will televise 38 regular-season games, three playoff games and two U.S. National Team matches. All telecasts on NBC and NBC Sports Network will consist of pre-game and post-game coverage. NBCSports.com will live stream all NBC Sports Group matches and will add bonus features similar to its NFL and NHL streams.
Along with MLS telecasts on five Comcast SportsNets (Philadelphia, New England, Bay Area, Mid-Atlantic and Chicago), this agreement provides the league with coverage across the NBC Sports Group’s unique four-tier portfolio of assets: broadcast network, national cable, regional sports networks and digital platforms.
