This news has been brewing for some months now. Sportsnet and Fox Soccer are partnering to launch a new nightly soccer highlights program. To me., it seems this takes former Canadian soccer shows like Fox Soccer Report and Setanta Connected to a whole new level. Sportsnet will produce two versions of the show. Fox Soccer News will air at 10pm ET on Fox Soccer in America. Soccer Central will air at 11pm ET on Sportsnet World in Canada.
Brendon Dunlop will host the new show. Analysts will include former Fox Soccer Report analyst Bobby McMahon, Kara Lang, Colin Miller and Thomas Rongen.
Here is the press release.
Sportsnet, in partnership with FOX Soccer, today announced it will be launching Soccer Central, a new nightly one-hour soccer news show beginning Friday, Aug. 17 at 11 p.m. ET on Sportsnet World – on the eve prior to the start of the highly anticipated 2012-13 Barclays Premier League campaign.
Fuelling footy fans with news, highlights and analysis from the world’s best soccer leagues and events, Soccer Central will air every night at 11 p.m. ET on Sportsnet World, 365 days a year. Sportsnet will also produce Fox Soccer News, a separate edition of the one-hour soccer news program that will air nightly at 10 p.m. ET on FOX Soccer in the US.
“The launch of Soccer Central bolsters Sportsnet’s already robust portfolio of soccer programming and solidifies our commitment to delivering viewers premium soccer content,” said Scott Woodgate, Vice-President of News and Information Programming, Sportsnet. “We are thrilled to partner with Fox Soccer as we continue to serve as Canada’s premiere destination for soccer news, opinion and highlights.”
“With the increased resources we are devoting to Fox Soccer News, we look forward to the show reaching new heights as America’s nightly soccer destination,” said FOX Soccer Senior Vice President and Assistant General Manager Dermot McQuarrie. “We’ve committed to make this show the one-stop shop for soccer news and highlights from home and around the globe.”
Brendan Dunlop –former co-host of The Footy Show on The Score and The Hardcore Footy Show on Hardcore Sports Radio on Sirius XM – will host Soccer Central, alongside a line-up of soccer’s top analysts including Thomas Rongen, former professional player and coach; Colin Miller, former captain of Canada’s men’s national soccer team; Kara Lang, former member of Canada’s women’s national soccer team; and Bobby McMahon, known for his analysis on the Fox Soccer Report.
In addition to covering the world’s best soccer competitions such as UEFA Champions League, Europa League and La Liga, Soccer Central will feature a bureau in London led by Paul Burland and Paul Belverstone filing daily reports on England’s most prominent clubs.
More information regarding new on-air personality additions for Soccer Central will be announced in the coming weeks
A Rouge Point 
Sportsnet world……expensive!
Good news is it will re-air on the regional channels Monday-Friday at 1pm ET/MT/PT.
If sportsnetworld was HD for Shaw Direct I would buy it, but too expensive to not be HD, so I’ll wait till then and it be better be soon. I love what sportsnets doing but I just want the channel HD and I’ll buy it. Love watching EPL and champions league football in Canada.
Couple of thoughts…
1) I hope Fox Soccer News and Soccer Central are not too different. As much as we love Canadian coverage, I hope we get the same amount of balance that Fox Soccer Report gave us for years.
2) Very happy to see Bobby McMahon will be used on this show as he is the best analyst on the continent. I hope they use him the same way that FSR did and I hope Dunlop doesn’t disagree with him just for the sake of the talking head format that we see now all the time.
3) I am not a big fan of Brendan Dunlop. I really don’t see what they see in him. I think they rushed and looked at who was the closest and youngest candidate to hire and make him the face of their show. He just bugged me during the Footy Show over the years when he would bring up dumb arguments and always seemed to know much less than James and KJ.
4) Surprised that they are going to let the show air on Sportsnet the next day as I was strongly considering getting Sportsnet World after I heard about this show but now I think I’ll just wait and watch it the next afternoon without spending the ridiculous $20 for one channel.
Yes its $20 but for what you get i would not call it ridiculous.
Thanks. I thought it was more….maybe I’ll get rid of some of the garbage channels that I am not watching.
The only differences I imagine would be branding between the two, and the Sportsnet version featuring more Canadian MLS/National team talk than the Fox version.
And I don’t foresee it being replayed EVERY day on the regular Sportsnet channels as I’m sure there will be times when a (live) event will be showed instead.
It’s just about every weekday. Baseball is the only thing I could see conflicting.
Glad to see this new show.
But a little bummed out about the continued pillaging of the Score. Maybe once the La Liga/Serie A TV rights are settled the Score can get in on something. At least the podcast is still going.
The Vodcast will be on TV on Mondays and Thursdays starting sometime in September as well.
Bobby McMahon comes with a lot of biased and baggage…but the more football information the better!