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CBS Unveils TV, Streaming Schedule for End of Champions League, Europa League

CBS has taken over from Turner to broadcast UEFA's club competitions, starting with the resumption of the two continental tournaments.

Avi Creditor

When the Champions League and Europa League resume next month, they will have a new English broadcast home in the USA, and the plans for those matches have been unveiled.

CBS is taking the baton from Turner for the remainder of this season's Champions League and Europa League and for the next four editions, and it announced Wednesday that two of the four round-of-16 games and the final for the Champions League will be aired on CBS Sports Network, while the rest of the revamped competition and the entirety of the Europa League's resumption will air on streaming service CBS All Access.

CBS says in the Champions League round of 16, when there are two sets of simultaneous matches, CBS Sports Network could switch to a more competitive game should events necessitate it. All three matches on CBS Sports Network will have a 90-minute pregame show. 

Studio talent will feature host Kate Abdo, Roberto Martinez, Jamie Carragher, Ruud Gullit, Alex Scott, Peter Schmeichel and Micah Richards, while the match commentators will be Clive Tyldesley and Peter Drury.

CBS was not due to start airing UEFA club competitions until the summer of 2021, but Turner opted out of its rights deal early, and CBS added another season and change to its arrangement earlier this month. The short runway and already-set broadcast schedule resulted in limited available TV windows.

“Due to the short turnaround and with the CBS Television Network already having previous commitments at the same time of the tournament final on Sunday, August 23, ViacomCBS will present the final across multiple platforms on both CBS Sports Network and CBS All Access,” CBS said in a statement.

CBS is offering free trials for new subscribers through mid-August, meaning that viewers can watch the remainder of the Champions League and Europa League for free via the streaming app. Viewers can also watch the competitions on TV in Spanish via Univision and its networks.

Starting in the 2020-2021 season and throughout its deal that runs to 2023-2024, CBS claims it "will feature the most UEFA matches ever on U.S. broadcast television." The 2020-2021 Champions League final will air on CBS's over-the-air network in May 2021.

CBS just completed its run airing the NWSL Challenge Cup, which resulted in record viewership numbers for the league on two occasions–the only two games aired on broadcast TV during the tournament. The opener averaged 572,000 viewers, while last Sunday's final averaged 653,000. The rest of the tournament was aired on All Access.

The Champions League and Europa League had their schedule and formatting significantly altered by the coronavirus pandemic, with UEFA ensuring domestic seasons were completed before finishing the continental competitions. Both left off in the round of 16, with the Champions League getting halfway through and leaving four second-leg matches to be played, while the Europa League has all six second legs to be played. Two Europa League last-16 series, Inter Milan-Getafe and Sevilla-Roma, weren't able to have their first legs be played as scheduled and will instead be single-legged ties. 

The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will all be single matches–quarterfinals and semifinals are typically two-legged affairs–played in a single country. The Champions League matches will be played at a pair of stadiums in Lisbon, Portugal, while the Europa League ones will be played across four venues in Germany. 

The English broadcast schedule for the remainder of the Champions League and Europa League tournaments is as follows (all times Eastern; aggregate score denoted in parentheses if applicable):

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

(PSG, Atalanta, Atletico Madrid and RB Leipzig have already qualified for the quarterfinals)

Round of 16

Friday, August 7 

3 p.m. - Manchester City (2) vs. Real Madrid (1) - CBS Sports Network, CBS All Access

3 p.m. - Juventus (0) vs. Lyon (1) - CBS All Access

Saturday, August 8 

3 p.m. - Barcelona (1) vs. Napoli (1) - CBS Sports Network, CBS All Access

3 p.m. - Bayern Munich (3) vs. Chelsea (0) - CBS All Access

Quarterfinals

Wednesday, August 12

3 p.m. - TBD - CBS All Access

Thursday, August 13

3 p.m. - TBD - CBS All Access

Friday, August 14

3 p.m. - TBD - CBS All Access

Saturday, August 15

3 p.m. - TBD - CBS All Access

Semifinals

Tuesday, August 18

3 p.m. - TBD - CBS All Access

Wednesday, August 19

3 p.m. - TBD - CBS All Access

Final

Sunday, August 23

3 p.m. - TBD - CBS Sports Network, CBS All Access

EUROPA LEAGUE

Round of 16

Wednesday, August 5

12:55 p.m. - Shakhtar Donetsk (2) vs. Wolfsburg (1) - CBS All Access

12:55 p.m. - Copenhagen (0) vs. Istanbul Basaksehir (1) - CBS All Access

3 p.m. - Manchester United (5) vs. LASK (0) - CBS All Access

3 p.m. - Inter Milan vs. Getafe - CBS All Access

Thursday, August 6

12:55 p.m. - Sevilla vs. Roma - CBS All Access

12:55 p.m. - Bayer Leverkusen (3) vs. Rangers (1) - CBS All Access

3 p.m. - Wolves (1) vs. Olympiakos (1) - CBS All Access

3 p.m. - Basel (3) vs. Eintracht Frankfurt (0) - CBS All Access

Quarterfinals

Monday, August 10

3 p.m. - TBD - CBS All Access

3 p.m. - TBD - CBS All Access

Tuesday, August 11

3 p.m. - TBD - CBS All Access

3 p.m. - TBD - CBS All Access

Semifinals

Sunday, August 16

3 p.m. - TBD - CBS All Access

Monday, August 17

3 p.m. - TBD - CBS All Access

Final

Friday, August 21

3 p.m. - TBD - CBS All Access

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Avi Creditor
AVI CREDITOR

Avi Creditor is a senior editor and has covered soccer for more than a decade. He’s also a scrappy left back. 

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