bbc industry media genre sport founded 1988 olympics and separate division of the bbc in 2000 headquarters mediacityuk salford greater manchester united kingdom area served specific services for the united kingdom and rest of world key people jak turnbull director services television broadcasts radio broadcasts online presence owner bbc website www.bbc.co.uk sport bbc sport is a department of the bbc north division providing national sports coverage for bbc television radio and online . the bbc holds the television and radio uk broadcasting rights to several sports broadcasting the sport live or alongside flagship analysis programmes such as match of the day test match special ski sunday today at wimbledon and previously grandstand . results analysis and coverage is also added to the bbc sport website 1 and through the bbc red button interactive television service . contents 1 history 2 summary of sports programming 2.1 football 2.2 tennis 2.3 rugby union 2.4 rugby league 2.5 olympics 2.6 commonwealth games 2.7 athletics 2.8 golf 2.9 snooker 2.10 darts 2.11 american football 2.12 other sports 2.13 worldwide rights 2.14 radio sports rights 3 previous coverage 3.1 horse racing 3.2 cricket 3.3 motorsport 3.4 formula one 3.5 motorcycling 3.6 paralympic games 3.7 darts 4 list of sporting rights held 4.1 football 4.1.1 television 4.1.2 radio 4.2 american football 4.2.1 television 4.2.2 radio 4.3 rugby union 4.3.1 television 4.3.2 radio 4.4 cricket 4.4.1 radio 4.5 tennis 4.5.1 television 4.5.2 radio 4.6 golf 4.6.1 television 4.6.2 radio 4.7 ice hockey 4.7.1 radio 4.8 motor sport 4.8.1 television 4.9 radio 4.10 boxing 4.10.1 radio 4.11 multi disciplines events 4.11.1 television 4.12 radio 4.13 athletics 4.13.1 television 4.13.2 radio 4.14 rugby league 4.14.1 television 4.14.2 radio 4.15 snooker 4.15.1 television 4.16 radio 4.17 horse racing 4.17.1 radio 4.18 equestrianism 4.18.1 television 4.19 darts 4.19.1 television 4.20 rowing 4.20.1 television 4.20.2 radio 4.21 cycling 4.21.1 television 4.21.2 radio 4.22 swimming 4.22.1 television 4.23 gymnastics 4.23.1 television 4.24 field hockey 4.24.1 television 4.25 winter sports 4.25.1 television 4.26 sailing 4.26.1 television 4.27 gaa 4.27.1 television 4.27.2 radio 4.28 shinty 4.28.1 television 4.29 bowls 4.29.1 television 5 bbc sport online 5.1 sports forum 6 interactive services 7 awards 8 see also 9 references 10 external links history edit the bbc has broadcast sport for several decades under individual programme names and coverage titles . grandstand was one of the more notable sport programmes broadcasting sport since the programmes launch in 1958 . the bbc first began to brand sport coverage as bbc sport in 1988 for the 1988 summer olympics in seoul by introducing the programme with a short animation of a globe circumnavigated by four coloured rings . 2 this practice continued throughout the next two decades . upon the launch of the bbc news website in 1997 sport was included in the bbc s online presence for the first time . in may 2007 the bbc trust approved plans for several bbc departments including bbc sport to be moved to a new development in salford . 3 the new development at mediacityuk marks a major decentralisation of bbc departments from london and a key investment in the north of england where bbc spending in the region had previously been low . the department moved into quay house mediacityuk gradually in late 2011 and early 2012 with the first sports bulletins being broadcast from the new bbc sport centre on 5 march 2012 . 4 summary of sports programming edit football edit the bbc shares the rights to the fifa world cup with itv . a near equal split of group stage and knockout stage games are shown including a semi final and the final is shown on both networks . the bbc shows highlights of the premier league on match of the day which has been hosted by gary lineker since 1999 . match of the day 2 and match of the day 2 extra are presented by mark chapman . dan walker hosts football focus every saturday lunchtime before jason mohammad presents final score every saturday afternoon . pundits for match of the day include alan shearer danny murphy jermaine jenas martin keown and ian wright while commentators include guy mowbray steve wilson jonathan pearce simon brotherton steve bower john motson and alistair mann . the bbc also broadcasts live coverage of the fa cup and will do so until 2018 . 5 tennis edit bbc sport currently holds the rights to broadcast the wimbledon tennis championships and the queen s club championships live on its television platforms . the wimbledon contract has been held by the bbc since 1937 and the current contract lasts until 2017 making it the longest such contract in the world . the bbc produce over 900 hours of footage that is distributed to broadcasters in 159 different countries . 6 bbc wimbledon coverage is presented by former british number one and 1976 french open champion sue barker . matches are broadcast live on bbc one bbc two the red button or online via the bbc sport website . highlights are also shown on the long running today at wimbledon presented by clare balding who replaced john inverdale in 2015 . the same year the programme was renamed wimbledon 2day with a new lighthearted magazine format but after only one year the format has been abandoned for 2016 . 7 commentators include barry davies john mcenroe boris becker john lloyd andy roddick martina navratilova david mercer nick mullins jonathan overend anne keothavong virginia wade sam smith tracy austin tim henman andrew castle lindsay davenport pat cash john inverdale chris bradnam jamie baker dan lobb guy mccrea mark petchey simon reed matt chilton peter fleming elizabeth smylie jo durie louise pleming andrew cotter ronald mcintosh and alison mitchell . regular tournament weather updates are provided by carol kirkwood . the bbc also broadcasts two traditional grass warm up events in the fortnight before the wimbledon championships . first is the aegon championships from queen s club which takes place two weeks before wimbledon . coverage is led by sue barker with commentary by andrew castle andrew cotter john lloyd & peter fleming . the following week is the wta aegon international event from eastbourne . in 2015 coverage was introduced by john inverdale and lee mckenzie with commentary from andrew cotter sam smith chris bradnam & annabel croft . both events are primarily shown on bbc two . the bbc also shares broadcasting coverage of the atp world tour finals with sky sports showing one afternoon match per day including one semi final and the final which are usually shown on bbc two . the bbc has a joint deal with eurosport to show all of britain s davis cup matches for three years to 2017 with coverage predominately broadcast on bbc two and the red button . rugby union edit the bbc holds joint rights to the six nations championship in the uk with itv sport until 2021 . the bbc will show all france scotland and wales home matches live either on bbc one or bbc two . 8 coverage of these games is complemented by an interactive service on bbc red button and radio commentary on all matches . the bbc hold the live rights to the autumn internationals for the scottish and welsh sides as well as highlights of the english team . john inverdale leads the bbc s rugby coverage . gabby logan and jason mohammad also present some of the rugby coverage . jeremy guscott jonathan davies keith wood andy nicol martyn williams and chris paterson are the main pundits . the bbc s main commentators are eddie butler and andrew cotter who commentate alongside brian moore and phillip matthews . occasionally some of the pundits may fill in as co commentator . rugby league edit the bbc shows live coverage of the challenge cup including both semi finals and the final the four nations and the rugby league world cup . 9 coverage is hosted by mark chapman and tanya arnold with commentary from dave woods jonathan davies and brian noble . the bbc s super league show shows weekly highlights of the super league magic weekend super 8 s and the grand final . 9 olympics edit the bbc one and bbc three 2012 summer olympics studios at the olympic park the bbc holds the exclusive terrestrial rights to show summer olympic games and winter olympic games and has shown live coverage of every summer olympics since 1960 . for the 2012 olympics in london the bbc had three stations showing live coverage of the games . bbc one showed main coverage bbc three with special extended coverage and bbc two would broadcast coverage when bbc one was broadcasting news bulletins . the bbc s current rights deal lasts through the 2020 summer olympics . beginning at the 2018 winter olympics the bbc will enter into sub licensing agreements with discovery communications the pan european rightsholder of the olympics for 2018 through 2024 . discovery will sub license exclusive pay television rights to the games from the bbc in 2018 and 2020 and will then in turn sub license terrestrial rights to the games to the bbc in 2022 and 2024 . the deal is intended to maintain the bbc s tradition of olympic broadcasting although the bbc s coverage will be reduced as a result ; the bbc and discovery have had a historic relationship in regards to co production of factual and nature programming . 10 commonwealth games edit the bbc showed the 2014 commonwealth games with more coverage than ever before . coverage was similar to their coverage of the 2012 london olympics . live coverage was shown from 9.00 am to 10.30 pm on bbc one with coverage switching to bbc two during news bulletins 1.00 pm to 1.45 pm 6.00 pm to 7.00 pm and 10.00 pm to 10.30 pm . bbc three broadcast alternative coverage from 9.00 am to 10.00 pm . . athletics edit the bbc covers events such as the commonwealth games the european athletics championships domestic british athletics and mass participation events such as the london marathon and the great north run . the bbc have the rights to show coverage of each diamond league meeting on the red button with the two british rounds and final two meetings live on bbc two and selected meetings on bbc three . in july 2013 the bbc announced that they had extended their deal to broadcast british athletic events such as the british championships world or european championship trials and the upcoming anniversary games through to 2020 . 11 the bbc lost the rights to the 2011 and 2013 world championships to channel 4 . however in november 2011 it was announced that the bbc has obtained the tv radio and online rights to the 2015 and 2017 iaaf world athletics events 12 it was also announced channel 4 decided to hand the rights to the 2013 championships to the bbc . this was down to channel 4 saying they wanted to focus on paralympic sports . the bbc athletics presenting team consists of gabby logan colin jackson steve cram jonathan edwards denise lewis paul dickenson brendan foster andrew cotter michael johnson paula radcliffe and steve backley . golf edit the bbc holds joint rights to live coverage of one of the four men s major golf championships the us masters covering saturday and sunday s play live and broadcasting highlights of thursday and friday s play . sky sports shows all four days of the masters live . until 2015 the bbc s coverage of the open championships was extensive with coverage broadcast live and uninterrupted on bbc two between 9am and 8pm on thursday and friday and on bbc one on saturday and sunday . from 2016 sky sports will have exclusive uk rights to the open with the bbc showing a 2 hour highlights programme every night instead of live coverage . 13 the bbc