Being able to swear and operating out of Times Square are just some of the benefits Gary Lineker is advancing after switching from the BBC to Netflix for this summer’s World Cup.
The former BBC Match of the Day host will soon launch Netflix UK’s first ever daily show, a version of his podcast for the streamer that will go out every morning (UK time) of the World Cup taking place in North America.
Speaking at a Netflix event alongside UK content chief Anne Mensah today, Lineker identified some of the benefits of relocating from his BBC broadcasting home of 25 years, which he exited under a cloud after sharing an Instagram video that contained an antisemitic trope.
“I was originally going to be doing the BBC this summer but that didn’t transpire,” he said. “I would have been in [BBC HQ] Salford in the green box and now I’m going to be in New York City overlooking Times Square with lots of great guests and a worldwide audience.”
Another plus of making his show for a streamer is a more relaxed attitude to swearing. Lineker harked back to the Euros soccer tournament two years ago when he landed himself in trouble after complaining that the England team were playing “s**t.”
“If I’d have said England played ‘really poorly’ it wouldn’t have made the headline, but I only [swore] because I care,” said Lineker. “You have to tell it as it is and we will continue to do that.”
Produced by his Goalhanger Films outfit, Lineker’s The Rest is Football is already a hit podcast in which the former England soccer star talks with co-hosts Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.
The Rest is Football comes as Netflix pushes deeper into international sports and Mensah hailed the “authenticity” of Lineker’s pod several times during today’s event. Notably, she compared it to a show that couldn’t be more tonally different, Adolescence, one of her biggest hits in the role.
“I’m a drama person and it’s what connects what you’re doing and the authenticity of your group of three with what we do with Adolescence,” said Mensah. “It’s that idea that you can make programming out of the UK that speaks to the world, but it does so with our voice.”
Lineker said Mensah’s team therefore understood “we don’t want to lose the authenticity of our podcast.” He said the pod will “retain its intimacy” during the World Cup. It will also have two roving reporters following the England team, broadcasting pieces outside of the main studio.
Lineker and Mensah were speaking as Netflix unveiled sports docs on Rafael Nadal, Jamie Vardy, Vinnie Jones and José Mourinho during the event in London.
