ESPN Deportes' Euro 2016 TV coverage preview

From June 10 to July 10, ESPN Deportes is the Spanish-language home for the Euro 2016 tournament.

Forty six of the matches will be shown live on US television, with the others being shown on tape-delay (see the complete schedule here). Plus the games will be available live across streaming platforms such as WatchESPN and Sling TV.

This week, I interviewed ESPN Deportes Coordinating Producer Chuck Simmons to find out more details about the network’s coverage plans.

“This time we will have announcers at almost half the games, 24 out of the 51, so that’s very exciting for us,” said Simmons.

Simmons and his team have been working closely with the English-language ESPN production team, so in addition to sharing of graphics and animation, the teams will be sharing studio space in Paris.

SEE MORE: Schedule of Euro 2016 games on US TV and streaming

“The location that’s primarily being used for English-Language down by the River Senne, we will have access to that location as well,” said Simmons. “We have a single camera talent location, which is dedicated to ESPN Deportes. We will have talent there that speaks Spanish that ESPN Deportes talent can ask about their views about the tournament. So, that’s Santiago Solari and Roberto Martinez, mainly.

“The River Senne location is the primary host location. For the Spanish-side, we’re also leveraging a world-class facility we have in Bristol. We’ve taken over one of the studios. It’s going to look fantastic. It’s a studio we don’t normally use, so we’ll be using it for the whole month. In keeping with that, we’re bringing a lot of production resources to Bristol, even talent from other locations, and making this the base for ESPN Deportes’ coverage.

“For the final, we will be using a separate host set location from the Senne. We’ll have a terrace location across from the Stade de France. We’re increasing our resources within the country as the tournament goes on, and by the end we’ll have a lot of talent in country and production staff based near the Stade de France.”

When asked about the differences in coverage between ESPN and ESPN Deportes other than the language, Simmons keyed in on the one big differentiator.

“There’s more content that you can get on the Spanish side on TV,” Simmons said. “For example, after the last game of the day ends, we’re going to have a 2 hour show with Jorge Ramos.”

Fernando Palomo, the leading Spanish-language voice of European soccer and host of Fuera de Juego, ESPN Deportes’ top-rated soccer studio program, leads the ESPN Deportes team. Other play-by-play commentators include versatile ESPN play-by-play voice Ricardo Ortiz; Omar Orlando Salazar, Emilio Fernando Alonso and Jorge Ramos. The ESPN Deportes team for UEFA Euro 2016 represents the best collection of seasoned soccer voices on Spanish-language television in the U.S.

SEE MORE: Preview of ESPN’s Euro 2016 English-language TV coverage

Spanish-language match analysts are Tato Noriega, Argentina World Cup champion Mario Kempes, Roberto Gomez Junco, Ricardo Mayorga and Hernan Pereyra.

Palomo and Noriega will be in France during the tournament and will call 16 matches, including the opening match and the final. Ricardo Ortiz and Mario Kempes will be on-site in France to call two quarterfinals and one semifinal in France.

Plus, ESPN Deportes plans to add one more surprise to the coverage. They’re finalizing the details to bring on World Cup winner Mauro Camoranesi as a studio analyst in Bristol, CT.

Whether you prefer speaking or listening to English or Spanish, both ESPN and ESPN Deportes have you covered for Euro 2016.