It takes something special for a sports broadcast to outshine the action on the field. Yet that is often what happens on CBS Sports, where the Champions League studio show has struck a rare chord with viewers, most often broadcast on streaming branch Paramount+.
The usual group (Kate Scott, Jamie Carragher, Thierry Henry, and Micah Richards), have become fixtures on the American TV circuit, thanks in large part to their on-air chemistry. Scott guides the show expertly – all with with a mass of banter and ribbing along the way.
“I think it’s just authentic,” Scott tells the Guardian earlier this month, “and I think that’s why it works. There was one time on an intro where I used an analogy of a family and kind of the squabbles that can exist within a family, but the underlying thing being a mutual appreciation and love.
“There are times that we can rub each other the wrong way, and that can maybe play out on air … Enjoyment of irritating one another, that’s very sibling-like to me. There’s nothing I enjoy more than kind of irritating my brother and getting under his skin, and I think that can kind of apply within the group as well … But I think there’s always respect and love there that kind of underlines everything.”
The Champions League hasn’t always been the most prized asset in American soccer broadcasting. Before CBS obtained the competition’s broadcast rights in 2021, they were passed around by a number of rivals for over a decade. ESPN, Fox Sports, and Turner Sports all broadcast the competition at some point between 2008 and 2020, at times undervaluing its possible pull. Studio shows weren’t a staple until the latter stages of the season. At times, it seemed like the Champions League was mostly a way for sports broadcasters to fill midweek daytime slots with live programming.
Coinciding with the launch of a committed soccer channel on Paramount+, CBS turned heads when they announced their studio plans in 2021. Scott was already a trusted host after working on Turner’s Champions League broadcasts. Henry’s playing career spoke for itself, and he further endeared himself to American soccer fans in his four-year stint with the New York Red Bulls. Carragher and Richards were known entities to those who followed the Premier League from afar and caught their Sky Sports clips on YouTube.
While the CBS team insist they don’t code switch when speaking to US audiences, broadcasting an ocean away – they film from a studio in the UK – does offer room for fresh approaches.
“I don’t think about that when we’re on air,” Carragher says, “thinking: ‘Oh, this is an American audience’. But, certainly from my point of view, the way I probably let myself go a little bit more or try and wind someone up a little bit more than I would on English TV is because it’s on American TV. Not because [viewers are] American, but because I think I don’t know anyone.
“I don’t really care, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. But you know, if you’re acting the goat on English TV, all your friends and family are watching, or someone’s texting you, or it’s on social media. Because it’s so far away in America, you’re thinking, ‘Oh, I don’t know them. Don’t worry about it.’ I think there was always that feeling for me at the start where we could maybe take a few more chances.”
Although known as a more cerebral pundit than the gregarious Carragher and Richards, Henry also stresses the importance of sincerity.
“I try to do what I’m supposed to do for the show and for the team, in the way I actually like to see the game,” Henry says. “Whether I’m on French TV, American TV or English TV, I’ll usually go about what I need to say and how I need to say it. I’m obsessed with making people understand stuff, so that’s my thing. I know sometimes it looks like I’m a bit cold, but that’s the way I want to go about the thing that I think needs an explanation.”
The relaxed nature, especially compared to more buttoned-up presentations, makes it easy to feel like you’re hanging out with friends. Time has allowed them to established dependable running gags. Even in their conversation with the Guardian, Carragher deftly works in a (relevant) reference to the French club that has blessed this bunch with ample opportunities for double entendre.
“There’s always a story in the Champions League,” Carragher says. “You love a big match-up, and one of the reasons why [Uefa chose] the new format was probably to get a bit more of that in the league phase rather than having to wait until, maybe, a quarter-final. So we see more of those match-ups, but the great stories that we’ve probably had and covered have been some of the smaller teams.
“You think of Bodø/Glimt. You think of Brest, being in the competition as well. These type of teams, who probably most people sat at home have never heard of, become massive stories. We incorporate that in the show and they become a big part of the show as well”
And yet, it never feels like a team of joke writers snuck into the planning meetings.
“Because we’re all authentic with it, nobody, I would say, is acting on the show,” Henry says. “I think sometimes you might have some awkward moments, and people are like: ‘Ooookay, let’s move on’. But because nobody is kind of acting – you were talking about captivating the US audience, but somehow we did captivate other audiences, in other countries, because I guess they can relate – whether to Kate or to Jamie, to Micah or to me – in a way because it is authentic. We are also making the show very relatable while explaining it and having fun.”
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