NEW YORK 鈥� Andres Cantor screamed 鈥淕oal!鈥� for 38 seconds, four fortissimo shrieks of shock, elation and hysteria that exceeded even the usual volcanic standard set by the Pavarotti of the pitch. Getting ready to broadcast its first World Cup, Telemundo hopes his huge-capacity lungs persuade American viewers that soccer is better in Spanish.
鈥淚 never time myself,鈥� the five-time Emmy Award-winning broadcaster said. 鈥淚f I can have three new people watch soccer because they have this crazy announcer that goes nuts when a goal is scored and that鈥檚 what they think about, but they鈥檙e watching the game, I鈥檓 happy for the game.鈥�
Alongside the competition on the field will be the battle for American viewers of an audience likely to shrink because of earlier U.S. kickoff times than four years ago 鈥� and because this will be the first World Cup since 1986 that won鈥檛 have a United States team competing. ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC averaged 3.5 million viewers for 48 group-stage games four years ago, boosted by a 13.4 million average for the three first-round games involving the Americans.
Fox acquired U.S. English-language television rights for three World Cups starting with this year鈥檚 championship in Russia and hired mostly American commentators to differentiate itself from the mostly British voices employed in 2010 and 2014 by ESPN, which broadcast the last six tournaments.
Telemundo, part of Comcasts Corp.鈥檚 NBCUniversal Inc., took over U.S. Spanish-language rights from Univision, where Cantor called World Cups in 1990, 鈥�94 and 鈥�98 before switching networks.
鈥淚t鈥檚 disingenuous for us or anybody to say that it doesn鈥檛 matter that the U.S. isn鈥檛 there,鈥� said Fox analyst Alexi Lalas, who worked three World Cups for ESPN before switching in December 2014. 鈥淗aving said that, as the biggest party in the world, I think it鈥檚 going to overtake some people, and I think people are going to be introduced to teams that maybe they wouldn鈥檛, to players they wouldn鈥檛 and they鈥檙e going to exposed to stories that maybe they wouldn鈥檛.鈥�
Fox is planning more than 320 hours of broadcast television and over 1,000 hours including digital, according to David Neal, the network鈥檚 World Cup executive producer. After the U.S. was eliminated in qualifying last October, Fox decided to base four of its six announce teams at its Los Angeles studios, where they will call matches off monitors. John Strong and Stuart Holden will call games from stadiums in Russia, as will JP Dellacamera and Tony Meola.
Eight of Fox鈥檚 12 match commentators are American, including Aly Wagner as the first female game analyst for a men鈥檚 World Cup on U.S. television.
鈥淔or us it鈥檚 a celebration of the growth of the game in the United States,鈥� Neal said. 鈥淵ou want American voices, I think, because that鈥檚 what鈥檚 familiar to Americans and their ears.鈥�
Telemundo, using the marketing power of many NBCUniversal networks, wants to attract viewers with a different sound: Cantor鈥檚 cantabile con brio. His calls of Carli Lloyd鈥檚 54-yard goal in the 2015 Women鈥檚 World Cup final and of Landon Donovan鈥檚 stoppage-tie score that advanced the U.S. in 2010 are indelible.
NBC aired a 10-second ad of Cantor shouting 鈥淕oal!鈥� during the Super Bowl that was seen by 102 million English-language viewers and 13 million Hispanics. He called a goal by Minnesota鈥檚 Eric Staal during an NHL telecast of NBC, and Arlo White did a Cantor impersonation during the final weekend of NBC鈥檚 Premier League coverage in May.
Cantor hopes he attracts 鈥減eople that didn鈥檛 like soccer before, wasn鈥檛 that enthusiastic about soccer because they thought it was a boring, low-scoring game.鈥�
鈥淎ll of a sudden because they hear somebody calling game a different way than they鈥檙e used to, they get hooked,鈥� he said.
Now 55, Cantor attended his first World Cup at home in Argentina in 1978, watching all of the host鈥檚 matches and viewing the final from the last row of the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires. He admired Jose Maria Munoz鈥檚 broadcasts growing up, and Chick Hearn鈥檚 after moving to the U.S. in 1979. After working for a pair of magazines at the 1986 tournament in Mexico, Cantor called three World Cups for Univision starting in 1990.
After switching to Telemundo in 2000, he called four World Cups for the Futbol de Primera radio network, of which he has an ownership stake.
鈥淗e鈥檚 the most authentic,鈥� Telemundo Deportes President Ray Warren said. 鈥淥ne of the things we hear a lot and say a lot is that it鈥檚 better in Spanish, es mas mejor en espanol, and so I think what鈥檚 happened with everything that鈥檚 gone on is there might be more people willing to try to discover, that because there is no real magnetism to the English-language coverage.鈥�
Bill Bergofin, the senior vice-president of brand and content development at Telemundo Deportes, said coverage will be promoted on 鈥淭oday,鈥� 鈥漀BC Nightly News,鈥� 鈥滾ate Night with Seth Meyers,鈥� 鈥滿orning Joe鈥� and even Syfy 鈥� outlets Univision never had available.
鈥淚鈥檇 do the same thing if I was them,鈥� Neal said. 鈥淚 really think at the end of any analysis, it鈥檚 good for us if Telemundo does well. And frankly it鈥檚 good for them if we do well. It not only raises the profile of the sport in the United States, but I think it will ultimately draws viewers to both of us.鈥�
Germany鈥檚 win over Argentina in the 2014 final was watched by 17.3 million viewers on ABC and 9.2 million on Univision, and the 64 matches on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 averaged 4.5 million viewers, up from 3.3 million in 2010.
This year鈥檚 tournament in Russia has far earlier kickoff times on U.S. television that the 2014 tournament in Brazil, starting at 6 a.m. Eastern.
Four years ago, ESPN televised matches starting at noon Eastern.
