Organized Chaos: UCL Matchday 8 Set to Hit TNT Sports With 18 Concurrent Games in Bumper Night of Fixtures

Organised chaos: UCL Matchday 8 set to hit TNT Sports with 18 concurrent games in bumper night of fixtures By Heather McLean

Tuesday, January 28, 2025 - 11:13

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TNT Sports is ready to bring UEFA Champions League Matchday 8 live to viewers on Wednesday 29 January 2025

TNT Sports is geared up for Matchday 8 where it will be broadcasting 18 concurrent UEFA Champions League games (UCL) on Wednesday 29 January. TNT Sports is the host broadcaster for two matches taking place in the UK, with matches throughout Europe being produced by their respective rights holders for UEFA. Also, viewers can watch TNT Sports' take on all 18 matches on Goals Show Xtra.

All the matches will kick off concurrently at 8pm GMT and be shown live on TNT Sports and Discovery+.

The broadcaster is being supported by EMG / Gravity Media for OB technical services on the ground as well as remote production operations back at the recently merged company's Westworks production centre in London. The Goals Show Xtra studio is being supported by EMG / Gravity at Longwalk Studios in Stockley Park.

Scott Young, group senior vice president, content, production and business operations at Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, Europe, tells SVG Europe: I think this is one of the most exciting days in football coverage and certainly in European football coverage as a broadcaster of football. We have more stories to tell than I think we've ever been faced with before, and not just from a UK perspective but from the optics of this new league. We've always known from the very beginning that Matchday 8 was going to be special. I think now that we're through Matchday 7 and getting ready for Matchday 8, where the different teams have fallen in each of the tables of the top eight, so automatically through or to knock-out phases, there's some incredible stories to tell.

So it's far more than just the two matches which we're a host broadcaster of, continues Young. It is the 18 games and how each of those games can impact all of the UK teams that are sitting in the ladder. So as a fan of football, you can either watch Goals Show Xtra where Allie McCoist and the team will help unpack the complexity and chaos of all 18 matches kicking off at once, or obviously you can follow your team directly on TNT Sports or Discovery+. So Rob and the team have put together a robust production plan that helps explain Matchday 8 and allows football fans to follow their team.

Viewers can pick up with the Matchday 8 action across TNT Sports' Goals Show Xtra where Allie McCoist and the team will help unpack the complexity and chaos of all 18 matches kicking off at once, or on Discovery+ and TNT Sports

Organised chaos

The broadcaster will be focusing on the Aston Villa v Celtic match, with two OB trucks onsite for match and presentation. For the Aston Villa match, TNT Sports has also upped the camera spec slightly, adding Polecams and Batcam for enhanced coverage.

Meanwhile, the big story of Matchday 8, Manchester City, will also be a major focus for storytelling on the evening as the Premier League champions play Club Brugge, facing elimination from the competition if they lose. For this game, there will be two OB trucks onsite for match and presentation, with the presentation being managed as a remote production.

Young comments: So for this match day in particular, we have two host broadcasts; we're at Aston Villa and we're at Manchester City. Obviously it's a unique one because we are the host broadcaster for Villa and Celtics, and they're playing each other. So we sort of facilitate it as a double host broadcast, if you like.

Each OB Manchester City and Aston Villa currently involves around 130 people onsite, including freelancers, staff and suppliers.

In addition to the on-site teams, some members of the team will be working remotely from EMG / Gravity West Works in London, contributing to areas such as VT and engineering.

Additionally, TNT Sports has commentary onsite at the PSV Eindhoven v Liverpool match with a commentary camera via SRT stream. Also, for the Girona v Arsenal match, it has commentary onsite with a commentary camera SRT stream.

Rob Levi, senior director at TNT Sports, notes that Manchester City is set to be an interesting match to follow from a storytelling perspective. We have Manchester City and this is editorially a big story in the making; Manchester City is one of the favourites of the competition but they could completely drop out of the competition if they don't win. So we are going to be there on site, we'll be covering the match. We'll also have presentation from the ground to make sure we are really on top of that story.

Levi adds: Not to forget, we've got two of our other teams who are a little bit more comfortable in the competition and that's Arsenal and Liverpool. So they'll be on two other channel's studios and they've pundits watching those games, analysing those games. Even though they're safe in the competition, there's still a huge appetite for those teams, Liverpool and Arsenal. Lots of fans will be wanting to watch their team and see how they get on.

So we're making sure that we are on top of those two teams as well and covering their stories and at the same time we are still pushing people towards reminding them that the Goals Show Xtra is happening, continues Levi. Lots of goals and lots of stories to tell. There's a lot to take in there, there's a lot going on all at the same time. But it is really exciting and we feel like we're ready for it and we are now ready to go.

Revamped Goal Show Xtra

TNT Sports is dedicating most of its coverage to its two OB matches, but Goals Show Xtra is going to really bring the flavour and excitement of all 18 games to viewers at home

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