The Manhattan skyline is looming, a breeze is blowing, and the horns of New York’s famous yellow taxis blare in the background. It is so sizzlingly hot that Roy Keane is bearing a pair of tanned legs. This is a World Cup television studio at its finest, except it belongs to ITV. The BBC will be staying at home.
Gary Lineker has dismissed his old employers’ set-up as a “green box in Salford”. “It’s not a green box in Salford,” retorts Alex Kay-Jelski, the BBC’s director of sport. “It’s a beautiful, state-of-the-art studio.
“The actual product that people are getting at home, I don’t really think it’s that different. If these people were sitting somewhere else, would your viewing be massively changed?”
The BBC will be sending journalists and commentators to live matches across the US, Mexico and Canada – but the main studio, once fronted by Lineker and still featuring the likes of Alan Shearer, Alex Scott, Micah Richards and Wayne Rooney, sits in MediaCity on the outskirts of Manchester.
Behind the sofas, there is no green screen but a virtual reality backdrop of whichever of the 16 host cities is holding the match. If there is rain, wind or sun, it won’t be real – it will be added at the press of a button.
The electronic “tactics board” – where pundits will circle players and analyse in-game footage -has been built into the floor.
The behind-the-scenes set-up is hugely impressive; dozens upon dozens of screens will be used by producers to clip up moments from the games, usually suggested by the pundits themselves. There are no edicts from Fifa or otherwise on what can and can’t be shown – allowing for any warts-and-all debates around empty seats or ticket pricing.
During the World Cup’s three-minute water breaks, there may be cuts to other BBC content, but no adverts. Another point of difference from ITV. The most obvious contrast between them is that the BBC is taxpayer-funded – ITV have announced a 30 per cent rise in revenue compared to Euro 2024, making this the most lucrative tournament they have ever shown.
That means that for the BBC there have had to be “difficult decisions”.
“I don’t think the answer from a financially sustainable point of view, is to go: ‘Everyone can go.’ I don’t think that is a very clever way to spend licence fee money,” says Kay-Jelski.
“The budget isn’t infinite, and we have to make sensible and difficult decisions sometimes. I don’t even see this one as a difficult decision. I think it’s really, really sensible. If I was standing here saying, everything is going to be done from a studio in Dallas, you would rightly be saying to me, how can you justify that expense?”
By cutting back, the BBC estimates its carbon emissions have dropped by 19 per cent. That, despite this being the biggest World Cup in history across three countries, 48 teams and 104 matches. With other tournaments set to follow suit, it could be the model for the future.
The other competition comes from a saturated podcast market. After leaving the BBC last year, Lineker is taking his Rest is Football to Netflix in a £14m deal. Kay-Jelski says they are “relaxed” about the fact Richards and Shearer, two of their most popular pundits, will be splitting their time between the two.
Gabby Logan will become the first woman to present the final on UK television, also fronting the BBC’s first live game between Canada and Bosnia-Herzegovina alongside Olivier Giroud, Rooney and Richards. After winning a BAFTA for her Women’s Euro 2025 coverage, the BBC regard her as a “national treasure”.
For the other games it will be a rotating cast of Logan, Mark Chapman and Kelly Cates, the same trio who take turns on Match of the Day. ITV and the BBC typically end up doing battle for the big England games – the final, as usual, will be given to both broadcasters.
Fans have also criticised both channels for failing to provide a highlights show rounding up each day – but it’s the remote working in Salford that has prompted the biggest debate. Lineker has already unveiled his own New York studio – but for his old bosses, football will be staying home.
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