From the frustration of dealing with both FOX and Turner’s disappointing coverage of the UEFA Champions League in the past, watching CBS Sports continues to be a breath of fresh air. Not only for soccer diehards like myself but for a new generation of futbolistas who devour the broadcasts of UCL Today and The Golazo Show on Paramount+.

Behind the scenes, an incredible amount of work goes into the productions (check out this team photo for The Golazo Show as an example, and that’s only one of CBS’ two main shows). At the center of it is the visionary team led by CBS Sports Sr. Creative Director & VP of Production Pete Radovich who spoke exclusively with World Soccer Talk to discuss the evolution of the coverage. Radovich is also the Coordinating Producer of CBS Sports’ UEFA Champions League coverage.

Here’s my full-length interview with Radovich where he opens up about several revealing topics including:

What some of the biggest soccer clubs in the world have offered CBS Sports,
How studio analysts like Kate Scott, Jamie Carragher, Thierry Henry, and Micah Richards compare to the competition,
Where the inspiration for UCL Today comes from, and
The only frustrating thing for Radovich about how CBS Sports’ coverage is perceived.

Our interview with Pete Radovich from CBS Sports:

Christopher Harris: I want to catch up with you about the evolution of the UCL Today show. How much of it has been a master plan and how much of it has been serendipity in terms of talent being available at the right time to pull this whole thing off?

Pete Radovich: “Evolving is something any good show will do, and I think evolving requires having an open mind and constantly trying things and testing things, and knowing that along the way, some things work, some things won’t.

“Someone recently told me if you watched the last season of Sopranos, for example, and then after it’s done, go watch the first episode or the first season, it’s two different shows. Like literally right? It’s different shows, people sound different, the shots look different, and it’s a lot brighter. The first season evolved to what it was. And you go back to look at it’s like ‘Oh my God.’

“I think if we went it back, similarly went back and looked at our first show for a season. We probably couldn’t believe how different we are. So evolving, 100 percent. Proud of that. We will continue to evolve.

“Evolving means that we’re getting better. In my mind evolving means that we’re constantly pushing ourselves. I’ve said this from day one, year one, we’re never going to go in cruise control. We’re not going to copy and paste, so we’re not going to be the same thing over and over again. We’re never gonna, at least try not to beat a dead horse. We did a little bit with table time. We learned and then we moved on from that.

“So, we have some fun, but the evolution is something I’m proud of, and was that by design from day one. We knew that we’d never done this before. I had never worked in the sport before although I know it. We never worked together before. Chemistry takes time, and figuring out what your niche, style, and vibe are, takes time.

“And I think now after four or five seasons, we know who we are, and we know what we are. This is a real good place to be because we’re on a very strong foundation. And this is where we can really now go next level. So that’s now the biggest challenge.”

The social media effect

Harris: In the history of soccer on television worldwide, I can’t think of any other show that’s had the global boom that this show has. The only one I can think of is Match of the Day, but it’s very English. It’s very British. Outside of the UK, most Americans don’t know what it is.

As far as the social media part of it, was that in place from day one? Were you like, ‘Hey, let’s think about social media’? Also, were you thinking from day one about how to distribute all these clips on social media to help it grow that way?

Radovich: “Quite literally day one. We hired Rush [Sawhney], our social media director — who’s still with us — before the first season started. And it was day one. ‘Hey, you’re in a production meeting, you’re in a control room, you’re sitting in a row right behind me because during the show, I want us to have eye contact. I want us to be able to communicate.’ So, 100 percent from day one that was in the plan.

“It was something that was really important for a number of reasons. One, at that point, it was the future. Right now, it’s the present. If you’re not social, you’re not relevant. But two, we knew we needed to make noise because a lot of times we’re behind a paywall, and if you’re not inside the tent, how do we reach you? The only way for us to reach you outside is through social, so we needed to make content that was going to cut through. That people thought was interesting and entertaining and intriguing, and somehow get it to people so they can get a taste of it so that they come to the tent. The old days [to reach people] was a press release and put out a commercial.

“Now, the way to reach — everyone, yourself included, the media — fans, viewers. This is the way to reach every generation.

“You can’t say that social media is just a young audience. Everyone’s on social media. Every generation. So yeah that was that was very much by design.”

Approaches from the biggest soccer clubs in the world

Harris: As far as the boom in popularity on TV as well as the success of social media, and the two things working hand in hand, has that helped you in other ways? Whether it’s having conversations with other leagues, or potentially new rights possibilities in the future where now all of a sudden they’re looking at you as not just a TV production company, but also as content creators? Also, in terms of taking the Champions League from what it was to where it is today. Are those other conversations going on that are going to help you with future opportunities on the rights side?

Radovich: “It’s already helped us. I don’t want to speak out of school and I don’t want to give numbers, but I know that we’ve been in situations where we’ve done deals with leagues probably for less money than others because they just wanted to be with us.

“I know I can speak specifically about clubs. Year one when we would knock on doors, send emails out for interviews, they were ignored because ‘It’s CBS America. Who cares?’ Now clubs are knocking down our door. I mean, big clubs. We’ve had clubs offer to pay for our studio to come to their Champions League games pitch-side because otherwise we wouldn’t have gone there, which I would never do because it’s a conflict of interest. But the fact that clubs are willing to actually pay for our production costs for us to come on-site to their stadiums — big clubs — is insane to me. Like, I never saw this coming.

“So, from how much it’s helped us in terms of access with players? Incredible. Jude Bellingham’s of the world coming on and talking to CBS already knowing us. Pep Guardiola. Haaland. All of these megastars coming on our show. Maldini telling us, ‘I love your show.’ Zlatan. Just megastars in Europe, global icons, coming on our show, aware of exactly who we are and what we do.

“What we do doesn’t work without buy-in from the talent. What they do is so rare and so special that they’re willing to be vulnerable on television. That is not an easy thing to do. It is not easy to go on live TV and never know when someone’s going to take a shot at you. Try to, in a good-natured way, embarrass you. To be able to laugh at yourself. To be able to take a joke. All of that requires a real sense of security and chemistry. It’s one thing when someone gives you sh** of somebody you don’t like, you’re gonna take it a certain way. The only way that works is if they all like each other. They do, so they can do that.

“The other thing is that everyone’s sensitive to some degree. So to be able for them to put that aside and be able to put themselves out there is amazing. I think we try to put them in a position to succeed. But at the end of the day, without the buy-in from Kate [Scott], Thierry [Henry], Jamie [Carragher], Micah [Richards], even Peter [Schmeichel] on the road, these are Champions League winners and World Cup winners, Premier League winners. Hall of Famers that are just willing to take you know jokes and shots at their own expense. You don’t really see that a lot outside of maybe Inside The NBA and a couple of other places, it’s rare.”

Beware of copycats

Harris: Do you think there’ll be some copycats, though? Looking at the formula that’s worked so well, some of these other TV production companies thinking, ‘Hey, we need to up our game.’

Radovich: “I encourage it. I’m not speaking out of school, I know Jamie and Micah and others have come to us and said they’ve been in production meetings at other broadcast networks, and they’ve said, what can we do to be more like CBS? That’s fact. They’ve said that on the record in interviews.

“I welcome it. I love competition and I hope for the best, especially in America. I don’t look at any of the other networks that do this sport in America’s competition. I root for everyone because I want this sport to succeed here and the better that NBC, ESPN, FOX and everyone is that’s doing this sport, the better for all of us.

“It’s not for everyone. Everyone’s going to develop their own style. This is not for every producer. This is not for every talent, but I think if nothing else if we’re opening a door to some people just having a little bit more fun and maybe taking some more chances even, that’s kind of cool.

“I don’t really worry about what other people are doing. If they want to, I welcome it. Like I said, to me, this is fun. We’re not saving lives. This is like we’re all stealing money working in this sport. It’s a pleasure to be doing this. And like I said, for me, if anyone else is trying to do what we do, I encourage it because we didn’t invent this. I’ve been very open about Inside The NBA. It’s been an inspiration for us. So without them, I don’t know that we would be able to do this. Everyone, every entertainment, just draws inspiration from somewhere and we certainly did that.”

Bigger than the games?

Harris: Do you feel on some days that the show is bigger than the games? You’re hoping that the goals go in, but sometimes for the viewer on a slow day, UCL Today is more entertaining to watch.

Radovich: “I think for the casuals, yes. Thankfully, I’m in love with the new format. I think it’s been a really really smart change. I think it’s helped us. It got us away from those dog days of matchday five and six where there was very little at stake. I think on those days, back in the day, yeah. I think there was really not much to watch. Games that mean something but not really.

“I think your point about ‘bigger than the games,’ Thierry would be the first one to say, ‘The star of our shows are the games.’ Our commentators on those games. Game coverage that we take from the world feed that UEFA does but we supplement at times with our own guys like Clive Tyldesley. We don’t mess with the Integrity of the game ever because that’s the most important thing.

“I would never be in a position and say what we do is bigger or more important. If people enjoy it on some days more than the games, that I can understand because there are days when games are bad. And if that makes the day a little bit easier and makes the afternoon of watching Paramount+ a little easier, then fantastic. But we’ll never ever, ever put ourselves ahead of the games. That is the number one priority in everything we do.”

World-class commentators

Harris: Speaking of commentators including Clive Tyldesley, Chris Wittyngham, and many others, that too has evolved too from the beginning of CBS’ Champions League coverage to to where we are today. Can you talk about that a little bit?

Radovich: “Clive’s been there from day one. To his credit, he reached out to me. When he heard that we got the contract, he emailed me directly. We were going to go with full world feed at the time just because we had six weeks to get on the air with a studio. The last thing I needed to worry about was the game [commentaries] when we’re provided world feed. Solid world-feed commentating. So having Clive from day one has been great.

“Peter Drury was fantastic. Having that one-two punch was fantastic for years, but you know, I think Witty gives us an authentic American voice that clearly knows the game. Clearly, he’s excited about the game. To me, you don’t listen to him and think ‘Oh, it’s an American commentator.’ You just think this is a guy that knows the game and the teams and knows the storylines and rises to the occasion when it’s a big moment.

“You know, having Ray Hudson. I remember, back in the day, listening to him doing Messi games. I never thought in a million years we’d be working together.

“Rob Green, I’m very proud of, and it’s often overlooked for obvious reasons, but I’m very, very proud of what we’ve done on the game side, with our commentators. I put them up against anyone, anywhere, Not just in the States. Any country.

“So, I’m glad you asked about that honestly because I do feel that sometimes gets overshadowed because of all the studio stuff. But we made very little changes on that front, to be honest. Peter [Drury] left because he took an exclusive deal [in England] which I was happy for him. Great for him. Obviously it didn’t help us but, you know, whatever, we moved on, but I’m glad that you asked about it because I wish [the commentators] got a little bit more attention or a lot more because it’s deserved.”

Addressing an important perception

Harris: Anything you want to bring up that we haven’t mentioned that you think is important to share?

Radovich: “The one thing that I will bring up because it’s going to be a point of emphasis moving forward. It’s a tough needle to thread because I think a lot of attention is put on the fun stuff that we do because we’re geo-blocked when we do analysis. [Editor’s note: The tactical game analysis that UCL Today broadcasts can’t be seen outside the United States on social media or television because CBS only has the rights to show it in the U.S.]

“I put our analysis up against anybody, especially in the States. [You look at the career and resumes of] Thierry and Jamie. Second most-played games in Liverpool history. Played in a World Cup. Champions League winner.

“Even Micah. We always joke about it partly because of injuries but he played on a Premier League team that won [the title].

“I put our guy’s analysis and breakdown of highlights pre- and post-game against literally anyone. Not just in the States, but in the world.

“I think the people that enjoy us on social, it’s the number one priority of mine is to make clear to people that this show has got a lot more depth. It’s really something that probably irks me and Thierry more than anyone, the two of us have talked about it, but there’s a way to do it. We’re addressing it but I think that if there’s a frustration. that’s the only one because for anyone who says we don’t do analysis… eighty to ninety percent of our show is highlights, analysis, and previews. The fun stuff is a fraction.”

How the analysis compares

Harris: I like watching especially when it’s the big screen and you have Thierry (or any of the talent) in front of it because that’s a different angle we’re not used to traditionally. For me, having watched the game my entire life, it’s like watching a coaching clinic, which I love because I’m learning new things.

Radovich: “I implore anyone. Look down the rosters of any network, American or abroad, and I would put our guys against anyone for analysis.”

Coverage of the UEFA Champions League continues on CBS Sports and Paramount+. See the Champions League TV schedule for full details.