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The BBC has ended its work-from-home World Cup by broadcasting coverage of England’s semi-final clash with Argentina live from Atlanta.
The broadcaster has faced criticism for covering the majority of the tournament from Salford, while rivals ITV have been based in a breathtaking studio overlooking the Manhattan skyline.
But the corporation has now finally broadcast from the host country as Mark Chapman, and pundits Joe Hart, Wayne Rooney and Micah Richards, brought coverage of the semi-final from inside the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Viewers were given the first glimpse of the BBC’s studio when Chapman, Hart, Rooney and Richards previewed the game on BBC News’ build-up. Full coverage then began with an hour until kick-off.
The BBC had considered sending pundits and presenters from the quarter-final stage but decided against covering England’s win over Norway from Miami for TV, although Chapman did host BBC Radio 5 Live’s coverage of the last-eight clash from the host city.
They have now sent Kelly Cates and Gabby Logan, alongside pundits Rooney, Richards and Hart, to the US to cover the semi-finals and final for BBC TV and BBC Radio 5 Live.
Mark Chapman and pundits Wayne Rooney, Joe Hart and Micah Richards presented from inside the stadium in Atlanta
It means they will spend less than a week in the country at the licence-payers’ expense before returning home.
Having spent the first four weeks of the tournament in Manchester, it was considered rational for the BBC not to increase their presence in the States until the semi-final stage.
That is because the corporation held the live rights for just one of the quarter-finals – Spain against Belgium last Friday – while ITV will aired the remaining three, including England’s clash with Norway.
The BBC’s director of sport, Alex Kay-Jelski, defended the corporation’s plans ahead of the tournament, claiming covering the tournament from thousands of miles away would save ‘millions’ of licence-payers’ money.
‘To have what would probably be an extra couple of hundred people out there – and that’s before you build a studio – you’re talking millions,’ he said.
‘If I was standing here saying everything is going to be done from a studio in Dallas, you would rightly be saying to me, “how can you justify that expense?”.
The BBC controversially presented their World Cup coverage from their Salford base up until the semi-finals
‘I don’t think the answer from a financial sustainable point of view is to say everyone can go. I don’t think that is a very clever way of me to spend licence fee money.’
Logan is set to anchor the BBC’s coverage of Sunday’s final, which will also be shown on ITV.
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