Rebecca Lowe said she is ready for the next month and a half as Fox’s World Cup coverage began with the kickoff match in Mexico City. The host, speaking live as the first game was about to start, said, “Wow, it’s really here,” as the network launched its 23rd World Cup with Lowe at the center of a 104-game, 48-team schedule that will run across North America.
The reason her comments matter now is simple: Fox is putting Lowe in front of one of the biggest soccer broadcasts it has ever mounted, and the tournament reaches Los Angeles tomorrow before continuing through July 19 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Lowe, an Olympics and Premier League veteran who has already worked the 2006 World Cup and seven Olympic Games, is the face viewers will hear as Fox tries to turn a sprawling tournament into something approachable for sports fans, casual viewers and people who end up watching at a friend’s house.
Live from SoFi Stadium, Lowe was joined by Thierry Henry, Zlatan Ibrahimović and Alexi Lalas, and she said the first job on opening day is to remember who the audience is. “I want to try and welcome everyone in and begin to sell the Beautiful Game,” she said, adding that Fox’s aim is to impress viewers with everything it has in store and to show the joy of covering the event, the joy fans bring to it and the football itself.
That upbeat pitch comes with baggage. Lowe acknowledged the controversy around the tournament, including anger at the Trump administration, anger at FIFA and complaints over exorbitant ticket prices, but said there is always negativity before a major event and that it tends to fade once the action starts. She pointed to the opening whistle between Mexico and South Africa and said what happens on the pitch takes over. In her view, the noise will not vanish, but the football will soon drown it out.
She also had one eye on another major sports storyline, saying she wished the NBA Finals had already finished so attention could settle fully on soccer. Lowe said the United States was “like a sleeping giant in the world of football,” a line that fits the scale of what Fox is trying to sell: a month and a half of nonstop coverage built around the idea that this tournament can pull in viewers well beyond the usual audience. If that happens, Lowe will be the voice guiding them until the final in New Jersey.
