Live Sports: Pre-Season Football, MLS, Russian Premier League, Brazilian Serie A, Friday Night Fights, MLB & AFL
The final of the JP Morgan Asset Management Premiership Rugby 7s is live on ESPN this Friday, kicking off a weekend of live sport. The 7s final will feature holders Saracens, London Irish, newly promoted London Welsh, Sale Sharks, Gloucester, and hosts Bath competing for glory and a morale boost ahead of the new Aviva Premiership Rugby season.
A host of pre-season football friendlies this weekend on ESPN is headlined by Manchester City v Wolfsburg on Saturday evening. Roberto Mancini’s men will come in to the game on a high having already beaten Arsenal 2-0 in a warm-up game. The Liga Total Cup, featuring four top Bundesliga sides, kicks off on ESPN on Saturday as Hamburg face reigning champions Borussia Dortmund, while their main rivals Bayern Munich face Werder Bremen, with the two winners playing in the final on Sunday. There are two more live games on Sunday night, as AC Milan face Brazilian side Cruzeiro, before David Beckham’s LA Galaxy visit Seattle Sounders in the MLS.
On Saturday night ESPN brings viewers live and exclusive UFC action as Shogun Rua takes on Brandon Vera, with the winner set to receive a title shot against current light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. There’s more hard-hitting action in the form of Aussie Rules football – four live games from the AFL kick off on Friday morning when Hawthorn welcome Geelong Cats, before a double bill on Saturday morning and Adelaide v Essendon on Sunday.
A total of seven MLB games will be live on ESPN America across the weekend, including three games between Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds, and the Seattle Mariners’ visit to New York to take on the American League-leading Yankees on Saturday night.
With the start of the 2012/13 football season now just weeks away, ESPN Classic will air the first series of Legends of the Barclays Premier League back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday, paying tribute to the footballing artists who have graced England’s top flight, such as Le Tissier, Zola and Cantona.
