Premier League & NBC Sports execs in talks to potentially hold 39th league fixture in the US
The Premier League is in talks with NBC Sports to potentially hold a 39th game in the US, as a network executive vowed to 'continue to push for' the first English top-flight fixture to be played overseas.
Jon Miller - NBC Sports' president of acquisitions and partnerships - revealed that the USA's exclusive broadcaster of Premier League games (since 2013) is currently in the works with league executives to come up with a plan to further deepen ties between English soccer and its American Audience within the next few years.
'We've had conversations with the Premier League and they've been very open and receptive to listening to me,' Miller told The Athletic's Adam Crafton, in part, this week.
'We did the Premier League Summer Series (in pre-season) last year where we had six teams come over; Fulham, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Chelsea, Brighton & Hove Albion, and Brentford. We had nine games in seven days in five cities around America (and 265,000 fans were in attendance). It was great.'
The Premier League has previously tried and failed to organize a 39th round of fixtures across the world in 2008 but dropped its plans after facing backlash from supporters and the media.
The Premier League organized several pre-season 'summer games' across the US last summer
Jon Miller - NBC Sports' president of acquisitions and partnerships - backs the overseas game
Last week, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters remained coy over the possibility of an official league game being played abroad, saying it's not currently in the Premier League's plans despite acknowledging that the door remains 'ajar.'
NBC Sports is currently locked in a six-year contract with the Premier League for continued exclusive coverage of games in the US since 2022. The deal was reported to be worth $450million-per-season to the Premier, 'which represents more than five times the first deal signed with NBC when they began broadcasting the Premier League in 2012,' according to The Athletic.
At the moment, NBC ranks among the Premier League's most significant partners as the network contributes hugely to the spending power and earning potential of top-flight clubs.
What's more is that Premier League games have reached new heights in the US over the last 16 months, as the March fixture between Manchester City and Arsenal drew a record 2.6M viewers across English and Spanish-speaking channels.
Premier League CEO Richard Masters said an overseas fixture isn't part of the league's plans
Miller also wants to bring greater audio access to fans, which will include mic'ing up managers
Additionally, over the last 11 years, nearly 40M viewers have watched the Premier League each season on NBC, and a study by Nielson revealed that 48 percent of all soccer fans in the US now have a favorite Premier League team.
Miller also revealed that he would like to provide greater audio access to fans as he wants to offer a deeper insight into the way managers interact with fourth officials, players and the remainder of their coaching staff.
He told The Athletic: 'There are two things that really bring the viewer and the fan closer to the action: access and audio. So whenever you can increase your access and build your stars up, that's great. And people love to hear what Jurgen Klopp is saying to his team or what he's saying on the sidelines.
'We realize there's got to be some protection against that. But we think that those are the kind of things that we're continuing to push the envelope on. And the Premier League is responsive. They're really good when we come to them with ideas. Far be it for me to try to tell the Premier League what makes a good product. Their product is spectacular.
'But much like we do with the NFL, and golf, we constantly have conversations with our partners and brainstorm on things that we can do to make the games better and more appealing to try to grow our audience.'