NBC made a big splash when they signed a three-year agreement worth upwards of $250 million for the rights to broadcast the English Premier League in the United States and now that the season is set to start, the network has a number of games that will be live on the first day involving some high profile clubs, including Liverpool, , Manchester United, Everton and Fulham.
Arsenal will also be active on the first day of the season against Aston Villa while Chelsea will be playing on Sunday against Hull City. Chelsea and Aston Villa will also play later in the week on Wednesday and Everton will open away against Norwich. NBC and the NBC Sports Network will air the matches and there will also be streaming coverage and online coverage with the NBC Sports Live Extra App of the 17 matches that will be broadcast over the next three weeks. In total on the schedule are 154 games on the NBC Sports Network and the Saturday coverage will have a pre game show that has host Rebecca Lowe as well as Robbie Earle, Kyle Martino, and Robbie Mustoe.
Arlo White will be the lead broadcaster for NBC and the match on Saturday with Manchester United will be the first time the club will not be manned by Alex Ferguson and the team has a quick matchup against Chelsea coming the following week. Liverpool and Manchester will go head to head in September in the first slate of games and after that Arsenal will play the second game against Gareth Bale and Tottenham. Bale has been the subject of constant rumors all summer during the transfer window and Arsene Wenger has been trying to be active as well, going after Luis Suarez as well as Wayne Rooney.
According to ESPNfc.com, Arsenal may try once again to go after Suarez after having two bids rejected and the club may also have plans to try and sign Rooney from Manchester said Wenger. The manager hinted that a third bid could be coming as the team prepares for opening game against Aston Villa. Wenger said the club was not afraid to spend money during the transfer window and that he would like to add more players before the summer is over. Suarez has been embroiled in rumors and controversy over the summer and the website also reports that he was back with Liverpool to train after being told to stay away last week.
Arsenal has gone hard after Suarez and the star has claimed that Liverpool said they could let him go if the team failed to make the Champions League while the club has disagreed. Ownership has said that Suarez will stay with the club and the report says that he will not be eligible to play for some time anyway, as he is serving a suspension for biting an opponent last season. Suarez is suspended and will not play against Stoke City after biting Branislav Ivanovic last April in a 2-2 draw and he will be out for 10-games. Chelsea opens the season on Sunday and it marks the second debut of Jose Mourinho after he previously won two league titles as well as an FA Cup. Chelsea is hoping for that type of success this season and the manager said he was very excited to start the year.
Sat., Aug. 17 7:45 a.m. Liverpool Stoke City NBCSN
10 a.m. Arsenal Aston Villa NBCSN
10 a.m. Norwich Everton Extra Time
10 a.m. Sunderland Fulham Extra Time
10 a.m. West Ham Cardiff Extra Time
10 a.m. West Brom Southampton Extra Time
12:30 p.m. Swansea Man United NBC
