Wrexham’s U.S. Tourney to Air on Peacock and CNBC
The Soccer Tournament—a winner-take-all, 7v7 championship featuring media-darling British club Wrexham AFC—signed a media rights deal with NBC Sports for the inaugural event taking place June 1-4 in Cary, N.C.
Along with Wrexham, the 32-team tournament includes teams from several prominent leagues, including the English Premier League’s West Ham and Wolverhampton, the Bundesliga’s Borussia Dortmund, Liga MX’s Club Necaxa and MLS’ Charlotte FC. Italian Serie B’s Como 1907, featuring Cesc Fabregas and Thierry Henry, will also participate, along with retired U.S. star Clint Dempsey’s Team Dempsey, and U.S. Women, a team of former U.S. women’s national team players.
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Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming platform, will broadcast 27 matches during the four-day tournament: 12 group stage matches, which will include all of Wrexham’s games, and 15 knockout stage matches until the final.
Participating teams will split into eight groups of four teams each, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the knockout stage.
The $1 million, winner-take-all championship match will be shown live on Peacock and CNBC on June 4, and air again on June 10 following the conclusion of the women’s final of the French Open tennis tournament at Roland-Garros.
“As broadcasters of the Premier League, NBC/Peacock has a strong relationship with the very soccer fans we’re looking to introduce our event to,” TST founder and CEO Jon Mugar said in an email. “We are excited to showcase the drama of the winner-take-all final on June 4 and 26 additional high-stakes matches through this partnership.”
This year TST will be producing the broadcast alongside Tupelo Honey Raycom, Mugar’s production partner on The Basketball Tournament (TBT), the winner-take-all basketball tournament launched seven years ago. “Our events are all about two things: high stakes and stories,” Mugar said. “Both will emphasize our production [for TST].”
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