Premier League re-start: BBC Sport to show live games for the first time

The BBC will broadcast Bournemouth v Crystal Palace and Norwich v Everton as the first two of its four free-to-air Premier League games. It is the first time since the Premier League’s inception in 1992 that games will have been shown live by the BBC.

The Premier League will resume on 17 June after a 100-day hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic. The fixture list, including kick-off times, for the first 32 matches after the restart has been announced.

The FA Cup quarter-final details have also been announced, with games taking place over the weekend of 27-28 June. Norwich v Manchester United and Newcastle United v Manchester City will be live on the BBC.

All remaining 92 Premier League games will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, BT Sport, BBC Sport or Amazon Prime.

The BBC will show Bournemouth v Crystal Palace on 20 June at 19:45 BST, followed by Norwich v Everton on 24 June at 18:00, and then two matches yet to be confirmed.

As well as the four live games, there will be additional Match of the Day highlights programmes.

The first match back will see Aston Villa face Sheffield United on 17 June, before Manchester City host Arsenal later the same evening. Sky Sports will make 25 of the remaining top-flight matches free to air, including the Merseyside derby at 19:00 on 21 June. Amazon Prime’s four matches will also be broadcast for free.

The last time a live, top-flight league football match was broadcast on the BBC was during the 1987-88 season.

BBC Radio 5 Live and Talksport will also provide live radio commentaries for all the remaining matches, while BT Sport will show the first Saturday 15:00 Premier League match to be broadcast live in the UK when Brighton take on Arsenal on 20 June.

The venues for Everton and Manchester City’s scheduled home games against Liverpool are still to be decided, but Manchester United’s home fixture against Sheffield United – one of six police were said to be concerned about – will be played at Old Trafford.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said: “We are pleased to provide fans with further updates on the provisional restart of the Premier League season. We know it won’t be the same without our loyal supporters in stadiums but, together with our broadcast partners, we are able to ensure fans can watch or listen to each match live from home.

“It is important that as many people as possible can access our games, so we are extremely happy that more than a third of our remaining fixtures will be televised free to air here in the UK.”

To learn more about how broadcasters are covering the re-start of football leagues around Europe, register for SVG Europe’s Football Summit 2020. The live-streamed conference will feature Sky Sports, BT Sport, Sky Germany, Sportcast and Ekstraklasa Live Park. To find out more visit: Football Summit 2020