BBC Sport
BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flagship analysis programmes such as Match of the Day, Test Match Special, Ski Sunday and Today at Wimbledon. Results, analysis and coverage is also added to the BBC Sport website and through the BBC Red Button interactive television service.
Company type
Department of the BBC
Media
Sport
17 February 1988
Specific services for the United Kingdom and rest of world
Barbara Slater (Director)
Television broadcasts
Radio broadcasts
Online presence
Summary of programming[edit]
Football[edit]
The BBC shares the rights to the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championship with ITV. A near equal split of group stage and knockout stage games are shown, including a semi-final and the final is shown on both networks. The BBC aired all its matches from the 2018 World Cup in 4K UHD and VR to a limited number of viewers subject to bandwidth.[6]
The BBC shows highlights of the Premier League on Match of the Day which has been hosted by Gary Lineker since 1999. Match of the Day 2 and Match of the Day 2 Extra, are presented by Mark Chapman. Alex Scott hosts Football Focus every Saturday lunchtime before Jason Mohammad presents Final Score every Saturday afternoon. Pundits for Match of the Day as well as co-commentators include Alan Shearer, Robbie Savage, Chris Sutton, Don Hutchison, Mark Lawrenson, Danny Murphy, Kevin Kilbane, Jermaine Jenas, Martin Keown, Stephen Warnock, Rio Ferdinand, Matthew Upson, Alex Scott, Faye White, Sue Smith, Lucy Ward, Chris Waddle, Cese Fabregas, Ian Wright and Tony Pulis while commentators include Guy Mowbray, Steve Wilson, Jonathan Pearce, Simon Brotherton, Steve Bower, Dave Woods, Vicki Sparks, Jacqui Oatley, Alistair Mann, Conor McNamara, Dan O'Hagan, Mark Tompkins, Martin Fisher, Gary Bloom, John Roder, Mark Scott, Chris Wise, Robyn Cowen, Tom Gayle, Steven Wyeth and Pien Muelensteen.
The BBC also broadcasts live coverage of the FA Cup and will do so until 2026.[7]
Cricket[edit]
On 30 June 2017 it was announced that live cricket would be returning to BBC TV for the first time in 21 years. The BBC regained rights to highlights of all England's home Tests, ODIs and T20Is. They also have live broadcasts of two home T20 matches per season, plus 10 matches from The Hundred. Coverage also includes England Women for whom they will broadcast one home T20 and 8 matches from The Hundred. Today At The Test, the BBC's test cricket highlights programme is presented by Isa Guha alongside commentators, Michael Vaughan, Phil Tufnell, Ebony Rainford-Brent, Mark Ramprakash and James Anderson. Jonathan Agnew and Alison Mitchell also contributed to commentary as well as, presenter, Isa Guha. Regularly, a guest co-commentator will join the team from the touring side. On 30 August 2020, the BBC broadcast the second England vs Pakistan Twenty20 International, its first live cricket broadcast for 21 years.[8]
Tennis[edit]
BBC Sport currently holds the rights to broadcast the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and the Queen's Club Championships live on its television platforms. The Wimbledon contract has been held by the BBC since 1927 and the current contract lasts until 2024 making it the longest such contract in the world. The BBC produce over 900 hours of footage that is distributed to broadcasters in 159 countries.[9] BBC Wimbledon coverage is presented by former British number one and 1976 French Open Champion Sue Barker alongside a whole host of former ex-professional players including John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, Boris Becker, Billie Jean King, Tracy Austin and Tim Henman. Matches are broadcast live on BBC One, BBC Two, the Red Button, or Online via the BBC Sport website. Highlights are also shown on the long-running Today at Wimbledon, presented by Clare Balding, who replaced John Inverdale in 2015. The same year, the programme was renamed "Wimbledon 2day", with a new lighthearted magazine format, but after only one year, the format was abandoned for 2016.[10]
Following the trial which commenced with 2018 World Cup, the BBC broadcast all Centre Court matches from the 2018 Wimbledon Championships in 4K UHD via iPlayer.
For the most recent tournament in 2021, the commentators included, Chris Bradnam, James Burridge, Andrew Castle, Matt Chilton, Andrew Cotter, Katherine Downes, Paul Hand, John Inverdale, David Law, Nick Lester, Dan Lobb, Alison Mitchell, Ronald McIntosh, Nick Mullins, Pete Odgers, Mark Petchey, Simon Reed, Sam Smith and Andy Stevenson. Co-commentators included, Tracy Austin, Marion Bartoli, Boris Becker, Pat Cash, Annabel Croft, Colin Fleming, Peter Fleming, Tim Henman, Anne Keothavong, John Lloyd, Miles Maclagan, John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, Arvind Parmar, Louise Pleming, Chanda Rubin, Liz Smylie and Mel South. Lee McKenzie, Rishi Persad, John Inverdale and Simon Mundie were the reporters. Regular tournament weather updates are provided by Carol Kirkwood.
The BBC also broadcasts two traditional Grass warm up events in the fortnight before the Wimbledon Championships. First is the AEGON Championships from Queen's Club, which takes place two weeks before Wimbledon. The BBC has covered the tournament since 1979 and has a contract in place until 2024.[11] The following week is the WTA AEGON International event from Eastbourne. Both events are primarily shown on BBC Two.
The BBC holds rights to show daily TV highlights from the Australian Open. Coverage is presented by Sue Barker with commentary from Andrew Castle and John Lloyd.
The BBC has exclusive free to air TV rights for 8 singles matches from the ATP World Tour Finals which includes the semi-final and the final. The BBC covered the event originally between 2009 and 2011, followed by an extension for 2012 and 2013. This was extended again in 2013 through to 2015. It was extended again in 2016 for another 2 years before another deal was announced in 2017 and will run until 2020,[12][13][14][15] with Sky Sports, showing one afternoon match per day including one semi-final and the final which are usually shown on BBC Two.
BBC Radio covers the four Grand Slam tournaments - the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open - on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra. For most recent Wimbledon tournament in 2021, Gigi Salmon and Tony Livesey hosted full coverage on Radio 5 Live, with expert analysis from Marion Bartoli, Pat Cash, Laura Robson, Leon Smith, Chanda Rubin, Annabel Croft, Miles Maclagan, Mark Woodforde and Jeff Tarango. The team of commentators is led by the BBC's tennis correspondent, Russell Fuller, along with Gigi Salmon, David Law, Naomi Cavaday, Jonathan Overend, Iain Carter, Alison Mitchell and Sara Orchard. For other grand slam tournaments, Russell Fuller, David Law and Gigi Salmon are the commentators. For the select few ATP Tour Masters 1000 events that BBC Radio cover, Russell Fuller is usually the sole commentator.
Rugby union[edit]
The BBC holds joint rights to the Six Nations championship in the UK with ITV Sport until 2025. The BBC will show all Scotland and Wales home matches live either on BBC One or BBC Two.[16] Coverage of these games is complemented by an interactive service on BBC Red Button and Radio commentary on all matches. The BBC held the live rights to the Autumn Internationals for the Scottish and Welsh sides as well as highlights of the English team.
Gabby Logan leads the BBC's rugby coverage. Martin Johnson, Sam Warburton, Jonathan Davies, John Barclay, Jamie Heaslip, Andy Nicol, Chris Paterson and Thomas Castaignède are the main pundits and co-commentators. The BBC's main commentator is Andrew Cotter. Sonja McLaughlan and Lee McKenzie are the reporters.
Rugby league[edit]
The BBC shows live coverage of the Challenge Cup including both semi-finals and the final, the Four Nations and the Rugby League World Cup.[17] Coverage is hosted by Mark Chapman and Tanya Arnold with commentary from Dave Woods, Jonathan Davies and Brian Noble. The BBC's Super League Show shows weekly highlights of the Super League, Magic Weekend, Super 8's and the Grand Final.[17]
Also, for the first time, the BBC will show 12 Super League live, as well as the World Club Challenge, beating Channel 4. It will show this coverage for the next three seasons.[18]
Previous coverage[edit]
Horse racing[edit]
Horse racing coverage on the BBC had declined in recent years and finished altogether at the end of 2012 when Channel 4 won the rights to the Grand National, Royal Ascot and the Epsom Derby.[29] The BBC had lost many tracks over the years such as the Cheltenham Festival and other Cheltenham meetings went to Channel 4 in 1995, meetings from Newbury moved to Channel 4 in 2002 and after 50 years Glorious Goodwood and other Goodwood meetings were lost to Channel 4 in 2007. Also, in 2007 the Irish Derby, which had been included in Grandstand and later Sunday Grandstand for decades, was only shown on At the Races.
The Grand National used to be one of the biggest attractions on Grandstand with audiences around or often in excess of 10 million for the race on a Saturday afternoon. Coverage of other events such as Royal Ascot and The Derby were also broadcast. The Derby was won back after many years in 2001, when the BBC also gained rights to The Oaks, which had only ever previously been shown by ITV and Channel 4 (until 2001, the commercial broadcasters had always held the Epsom contract, but from 1960 to 1974, in 1977 and in 1979 the BBC had shown the Derby simultaneously with ITV, because it was a protected event which could not be exclusive to either channel).
The most famous BBC TV racing broadcaster was Peter O'Sullevan, who became one of the first ever TV sports commentators in the immediate post-war years and stayed with the BBC until 1997. Julian Wilson had presented the BBC's horse racing coverage from 1966 to 1997. Clare Balding took over presenting duties following Wilson's retirement.
Cricket[edit]
Prior to 1999, the BBC had shown live cricket coverage for many decades. Coverage had been fronted by Peter West and later by Tony Lewis. Richie Benaud was a commentator for the BBC for more than 30 years. In 1999, the BBC lost coverage of England home matches to Channel 4 and subsequently, one of the major criticisms of BBC Sport was that it did not show any live cricket and this was further enhanced when the BBC did not subsequently bid for the rights to show home Test matches. Due to this the popularity of cricket in UK (primarily England) has fallen sharply since cricket left terrestrial television in 2005 since being broadcast on Sky Sports.
The BBC did broadcast highlights of the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. These were hosted by Sonali Shah, Rishi Persad and Manish Bhasin. They also had highlights of the 2006–07 Ashes Series with Manish Bhasin. The BBC took the world feed for these tournaments which all broadcasters take including Sky Sports and this comprises commentators from broadcasters all over the world, examples of which are Nasser Hussain, Michael Atherton and David Lloyd from Sky Sports as well as Mark Nicholas and Michael Vaughan from Channel 5 / Channel 9.
However, 21 years after last showing live cricket, the BBC returned to live coverage of the sport in 2020.[30]
Motorsport[edit]
The BBC covered the World Rally Championship until 2001, when Channel 4 bought the rights. WRC is now shown on ITV4. The BBC gave up the rights to the British Touring Car Championship at the end of 2001, with the rights eventually being picked up by ITV.