This weekend, NBC and the NBC Sports Network will do something we've never seen before in soccer broadcasting in the United States. As part of MLS's first-ever Rivalry Week, they're going to present a full day of MLS action, starting at 9:30 am PT and running until about 7:30 pm PT.
That's 10 full hours of goals, saves, tackles, and chants. Settle in. We're going to be here a while.
The centerpiece, in case you haven't read on NBC play-by-play man Arlo White's Twitter handle, is "The Breakaway," an innovative Red Zone-style show in the middle of the day that will see White and his partner in crime, Kyle Martino, checking in on all the action around the league as it happens in real time.
They'll be doing this, mind you, after calling the NY-DC grudge match, in the opening match of what NBC is calling "Rivalry Day." After the final whistle at Red Bull Arena, they'll race up to the NBC Sports studios in Connecticut.
We thought you'd be interested to see how the full Saturday schedule will work. Check it out:
And as if that's not enough, there are still two rivalry matches taking place on Sunday, including the "Battle for Texas" between the FC Dallas and the Houston Dynamo (10 am PT, ESPN2, live chat on MLSsoccer.com) and the first SuperClasico of the season between the LA Galaxy and Chivas USA (2 pm PT, UniMas).