LOS ANGELES – FOX Sports Tuesday night unveiled unprecedented coverage plans for the largest production in the network’s 24-year history in New York.
FOX Sports president and executive producer Eric Shanks was joined onstage by on-air personalities Alexi Lalas, Landon Donovan, Kate Abdo, Rob Stone, Fernando Fiore, U.S. national coach Bruce Arena and Mexico national coach Juan Carlos Osorio for the Road to Russia celebration.
FOX Sports will offer 350 hours of World Cup programming. FOX Sports’ presentation of next year’s global event features more soccer matches on broadcast television than the last four World Cups combined.
“FOX Sports is thrilled to present what will be the biggest global sporting event of 2018,” Shanks said in a statement. “We will showcase the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia as an international cultural moment unlike ever before in U.S. television history.”
Daytime and late-night studio coverage originates from Moscow’s Red Square. The two-story complex features two sets, a main anchor desk, and an interview area for World Cup Live, World Cup Today and World Cup Tonight, as well as pregame, halftime and postgame programs.
Kate Abdo will host World Cup Live, while Rob Stone will anchor World Cup Today and Emmy Award-winning broadcaster Fernando Fiore will wrap up the day’s action on World Cup Tonight.
“We have been working around the clock to create an unmatched experience for viewers for next summer’s biggest stage, the 2018 FIFA World Cup,” David Neal, executive producer of World Cup on FOX and vice president of production for FOX Sports, said in a press release. “FOX Sports will dedicate endless resources to produce top-tier storytelling that will long be remembered.”
FOX Sports’ coverage also will feature the latest technological advances in the industry, such as Virtual Reality, as well as daily digital content featuring 15 original series on FOX Sports GO.
In collaboration with National Geographic, FOX Sports will feature multiplatform visual coverage enriched by National Geographic’s globally recognized photographers, videographers and journalists.
FOX Sports also is working with Russian pianist and composer Kirill Richter and renowned musician, producer and DJ, Rudenko. Richter has composed an original theme song entitled “Where Angels Fear to Tread,” capturing the culture and authenticity of the country and its people, which will be used throughout FOX Sports’ World Cup coverage.
