Clive Tyldesley has wasted no time finding work outside of ITV, recently announcing that he is set to join the CBS Sports team providing commentary for the Champions League going forward. The iconic commentator was one of the voices of football in the United Kingdom, working with ITV on covering matches for almost three decades.
Having joined the broadcast station in 1998, he worked as their lead commentator for 22 years but was demoted to their second, behind Sam Matterface in 2020. From there, he remained with the company for a further four years but recently left, with the Euro 2024 match between Germany and Denmark being his final game in commentary with ITV.
Fortunately for the 69-year-old, he won’t be out of work for very long, as he recently revealed on his podcast that he had been offered an incredible opportunity to join the CBS Sports team.
Tyldesley Will Join CBS on a Four-Year Deal
While ITV clearly don’t see much value in Tyldesley anymore, CBS Sports certainly do and the commentator recently revealed that he would be joining the American company on a four-year deal to provide commentary during the Champions League matches from this point onwards.
Speaking about the move on his podcast, he revealed that he had offered his services to a number of different broadcasters, but had been passed up on multiple occasions. The faith shown to him by CBS Sports, though, encourages him to make sure he gives it his all for the company in the future.
“All I can do is keep reviewing my own standards, keep making myself available. If someone like CBS – who have given me a four-year contract to cover the Champions League for the USA – show that sort of confidence in me then I can only assure you I will repay that faith by working bloody hard and trying to be as good as I can be.
“When Martin [Tyler] was moved aside by Sky, they knew of my position, they decided to take on Peter Drury and I totally respect how popular he is, probably more popular than I am. But Peter then left Premier League Productions in order to take on that role and another one in the USA. I made Premier League Productions aware of my availability for the last four or five years. They’ve got a dozen or so commentators contracted, they think they are all better than I am.”
CBS clearly rate him, though, and he’s joining a solid team who have quickly become one of the most popular around due to their incredible coverage of Europe’s top club competition.
The CBS Sports Coverage Is a Fan Favourite
Their Champions League coverage is extremely popular
While in the United Kingdom, TNT is the main broadcast team covering the Champions League, that task falls to CBS Sports in the United States, and they have quickly become one of the most popular teams as a result. Videos of their coverage regularly go viral on social media, with fans eating it up.
With names like Micah Richards, Thierry Henry and Jamie Carragher all working as pundits for CBS Sports, and Kate Abdo doing an excellent job as host, they’ve got a winning formula with their coverage and Tyldesley is joining a very good team and one which he will almost certainly thrive with.