Gary Lineker couldn't resist. "I would have been in Salford in a green box — now I'm going to be in New York City overlooking Times Square with lots of great guests." That's the kind of line that only lands when you've already won the argument, and Lineker very much has.
Netflix are paying him €16 million to host The Rest is Football as a video podcast throughout the tournament, with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards alongside him and a rotating door of guests. The BBC, who parted ways with Lineker last year, will meanwhile broadcast from the banks of the River Irwell in Salford — at least for the opening month. ITV, for their part, set up shop in Brooklyn with the Manhattan skyline in the background. The optics could not be more different.
Who's actually on screen
The BBC's presenting duties now rotate between Kelly Cates, Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan — the trio who took over Match of the Day from Lineker. Which of them fronts the final hasn't been decided yet, though all three will eventually get to travel stateside for the last week. Shearer, Richards and Wayne Rooney headline the punditry roster, with Olivier Giroud, Gaël Clichy and César Azpilicueta providing some non-UK perspective. Thomas Frank is also on the list — two ex-Spurs managers if you count Ange Postecoglou, who turns up on ITV.
ITV's main presenters are Mark Pougatch and Laura Woods, with Roy Keane, Ian Wright and Gary Neville providing the kind of chemistry that either elevates coverage or derails it entirely. Patrick Vieira and Juan Mata add continental credibility. Duncan Ferguson will offer a neutral take on Scotland's matches, which is a sentence that contains multitudes.
Several BBC names — Cates, Chapman and Logan — are also double-jobbing with their own podcasts through the tournament. That's the media landscape now: everyone has a second screen and a microphone.
RTÉ on the sidelines, again
Ireland won't be at the tournament — that's 24 years and counting since their last appearance — so RTÉ will largely be working from Donnybrook. Joanne Cantwell, Peter Collins, Marie Crowe, Jacqui Hurley, Clare MacNamara and Tony O'Donoghue share presenting duties, with a punditry roster including Richie Sadlier, Didi Hamann, Kenny Cunningham, Niamh Fahey, Kevin Doyle, Shay Given, Áine O'Gorman, Alan Cawley and Stephen Kelly. James McClean makes his World Cup punditry debut. Ray Houghton and Ronnie Whelan will handle co-commentary duties.
The scheduling is going to test everyone's sanity. With 104 matches across 39 days in 16 cities spanning four time zones, there will be 13 different kick-off times. The only Ireland-friendly windows sit between 5pm and 10pm local time. Semi-finals and the final are scheduled for 8pm, which helps. Everything else is a lottery — or a very strong coffee.
- BBC based in Salford for the group stage, travelling to the US for the final week
- ITV broadcasting from Brooklyn throughout
- Gary Lineker hosting Netflix's The Rest is Football from Times Square — €16 million deal
- RTÉ presenting from Donnybrook with six hosts and a deep punditry panel
- 13 different kick-off times across the tournament
Lineker's parting shot about the green box will sting the BBC for a while. Whether his Netflix setup actually outperforms their coverage is a different question — but in the battle of backdrops, he's already won it.
