ONE World Sports, America’s Network for Global Sports, announced today that it will produce and televise the historic June 2 soccer match between the New York Cosmos and the Cuba National Team. The telecast begins at 5 p.m. Eastern time live from Havana, Cuba with the kickoff scheduled for 5:12 p.m. ET.
“As the broadcast home of the Cosmos -- who remain the most iconic U.S. pro soccer brand worldwide -- and the network focused on bringing global sports to American fans, ONE World Sports is an ideal platform to showcase this historic match,” said Alexander “Sandy” Brown, ONE World Sports president and CEO.
This is the first live sports production involving a U.S. team to originate out of Cuba since the 2008 U.S. vs. Cuba FIFA World Cup qualifier and it is also the first one to be produced in high definition.
In a first-of-its-kind arrangement, ONE World Sports will partner with Havana-based RTV Comercial for the mobile production facilities, logistics support, crew and transmission.
“When President Obama recently announced steps toward full diplomacy with Cuba, his goal was ‘to create more opportunities for the American and Cuban people and begin a new chapter among the nations of the Americas,’” said Joel Feld, ONE World Sports executive vice president, programming and production. “By televising this game and partnering with the great people from RTV Comercial and Televisión Cubana, ONE World Sports will write the first chapter on sports.”
JP Dellacamera and former Cosmos goalkeeper and current ONE World Sports commentator Shep Messing will call the game from ONE World Sports’ Stamford, CT, broadcast center, with ONE World Sports announcer Ed Cohen reporting live on-site from Havana.
As part of the production, the network is also sending producers and technical crew to cover the game and capture the sights and sounds of Havana for the television network and its digital platforms.
The Cosmos and the Cuba national team first announced plans for the June event in March. The Cosmos will be the first U.S. professional soccer franchise to play in Cuba since the Chicago Sting visited in 1978, and the first U.S. professional sports team to visit there since the Baltimore Orioles played the Cuban national baseball team in an exhibition game in Havana in 1999.
The Cuba national team is affiliated with the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), the continental governing body for association football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean, and one of the six confederations of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the international governing body of association football and of the quadrennial World Cup tournament. The team won the 2012 Caribbean Cup and was a quarterfinalist in the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial regional championship.
In the New York City area, ONE World Sports is available on: Verizon FiOS, channel 309; RCN, channel 571; Cablevision’s Optimum TV, channel 1159; and DISH Network, channel 9794. ONE World Sports is also available on mobile devices via a Watch ONE World Sports app.
