The has chosen Media City Studios in Salford as its main World Cup base, putting Gabby Logan in position to front the first live game coverage when the tournament begins on Friday 12 June. The broadcaster says the setup is meant to cut costs and emissions while keeping its biggest studio operation close to home.
That decision matters now because the has laid out the full shape of its tournament coverage, from the studio in Salford to the presenters and pundits who will front the opening matches and the final. Logan will host the first game, Canada against Bosnia-Herzegovina, with Micah Richards, Wayne Rooney and Olivier Giroud also involved, and the final on 19 July will use the same core team, with the last pundit slot to be decided by who reaches the showpiece fixture.
director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski said the Salford option was the sensible one, arguing that the broadcaster could not justify sending everyone to North America when the World Cup is being staged across three countries and 16 host cities. He said the plan should deliver a 19% cut in carbon emissions compared with Qatar in 2022 and save millions in costs, a calculation that sits at the heart of the ’s wider production strategy for the tournament.
Inside Media City Studios, the is using HQ3, a 4,700 sq ft space with a 5m by 3m LED screen showing the host cities and the weather and time of day where matches are taking place. There is also an LED floor for analysis, three main broadcast cameras and a jib camera, while roughly 200 people will work on the coverage across the studio and the Sport offices next door. The scale makes the savings argument harder to miss: this is a leaner operation than a full overseas hub, but it is still a major production in its own right.
Most of the commentary will still come from the Americas, with Alan Shearer and Danny Murphy among those on site in the United States, and the will also deliver every game in HDR for the first time. It will stream the first 10 minutes of fixtures on digital platforms, and parts of the Salford set are due to be reused in a new Match Of The Day studio next season. What the has not spelled out is exactly how much of its World Cup coverage will be built in Salford rather than on location, but the opening broadcast on Friday should show how far the broadcaster thinks it can push this split production model.
