If you could pick one man who is the best example of how globalized soccer has become, it would be John Dykes.
Don’t know his name? That’s okay because most soccer fans in his own country of England don’t either. But if you live in the United States, you’ll know him as the voice of Goal Rush, the new but popular RedZone-like broadcast that airs on NBC Sports App on Saturdays from 10am to Noon ET.
Dykes isn’t a household name in England, but he’s extremely well known in Asia, Africa and everywhere else around the world where the Premier League Productions airs outside of England.
He’s so we’ll known that he often gets stopped in airports as travelers recognize him and want to share their passion about the Premier League or one of its teams.
For the majority of Premier League coverage worldwide, Dykes is the face of the Premier League. He’s the presenter of the weekend coverage where he often leads a team of well known analysts such as Alan Shearer, Michael Owen, Phil Neville, Andy Townsend, Robbie Savage and many others.
When he’s not presenting Premier League coverage, he’s often conducting one-on-one interviews with stars. The most recent interview was face-to-face with Michael Carrick.
Dykes, who is an unassuming but jovial presenter, has been a hit in India, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Nigeria and all over the world. He’s worked for ESPN Star Sport in Asia as well as Super Sport in Africa. “I am what I am because of the Premier League,” said Dykes in an exclusive interview with World Soccer Talk.
The Englishman, who continues to do a lot of TV work in both Asia and Europe, explained that many broadcasters around the world just beam out the programming from Premier League Productions, while others — such as NBC Sports in the United States — cherrypick the shows such as Goal Rush and the Fantasy Premier League show as well as exclusive interviews from Premier League Productions.
Speaking of Goal Rush, Dykes said that the Premier League Productions ran a couple of trial episodes last season, but that this season is the first time the broadcaster is doing the NFL RedZone-like show every Saturday. In the past, Premier League Productions also did Goal Rush on the final day of the season when all of the matches were kicking off at the same time.
While Dykes is a relative unknown in the United Kingdom among the public, he’s well known within the industry in the UK and worldwide as a presenter, commentator, interviewer and broadcaster.
John Dykes returns to the NBC Sports App this weekend for the Goal Rush broadcast on Saturday from 10am to Noon ET featuring Swansea City vs. Manchester City.
