The biggest soccer match in Spain is coming to broadcast TV in the United States.
El Clásico, the rivalry match between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, is different, whether it serves as a de facto title match or simply is for bragging rights. This year, it will be getting a new type of coverage.
In addition to airing on ABC for the first time, the Clásico also will have an hour-long pre-match show that Manny de la Fe, vice president, production for ESPN Global Event & Studio Production, hopes will give fans a sense of the feeling around Camp Nou ahead of the showdown.
"Coming off of a World Cup year, I think there's a sense now that stars play outside of this country. People saw what a (Kylian) Mbappe can do, people saw what Lamine Yamal, though he didn't have a great tournament, what he can do. He's a star. People saw Jude Bellingham, so I think it's the prime time to be able to have an El Clasico on ABC to reach a broader audience across the country and show them what these two teams put on."
What they put on is typically a show that decides the La Liga title race. Just twice in the last two decades has a team other than Barcelona or Real Madrid won the title.
That, plus both clubs' efforts to become global brands with fans throughout the Americas, Africa and Asia in addition to in their home country, has led to a mach that the players on the field know is one being watched by millions.
"It all builds up to what normally is an amazing game, and the more people watch it around the world, it's fantastic. The more people watch it in the USA, the more people will appreciate it," said Steve McManaman, who played for Real Madrid between 1999-2003. "This is like a Champions League final for us in Europe. PSG don't meet an equivalent, Bayern Munich don't meet an equivalent, whereas Barca and Real Madrid over the last couple of years meet each other twice a year and sometimes three or four times a year.
"It's an incredible match and a lot of the time it decides where the title is going to be won or lost. An incredibly important game, even at such an early point of the season, like the middle to the end of October."
De la Fe is balancing introducing El Clásico to the ABC viewer who may happen upon the coverage while channel surfing with the hardcore fan dissecting how Real Madrid will replace the suspended Vini Jr. or wondering if Raphinha is the long-term answer at central forward for Barcelona.
The production team's goal is to give something for everyone with the knowledge that both types of fans will be tuning in Sunday.
"We're going to be just as hardcore as we are week-in and week-out, but there will be stuff for that fan that this is maybe the first time they're going to be watching El Clásico," De la Fe said. "So you'll definitely have historic pieces in and around what this matchup means."
Those hardcores will be aware of both teams going through a few bobbles ahead of Sunday's showdown, Barcelona falling during the week for the first time this season in a UEFA Champions League trip to reigning champion Paris Saint-Germain while Real Madrid sit third, already six points off Barcelona, after two defeats in the first nine La Liga matches of the
Yet, ex-Barcelona winger Luis Garcia cautioned against reading too much into the early results this season.
"Macca and and I, we had the opportunity to be in the dressing room the week before that game, during that week, previous weeks, actually, because it's one of those special games that you mark on the calendar straight away when you see the fixtures. It's really special for all the players" Garcia said. "It doesn't matter how you arrive.
"Year in and year out, if Real Madrid arrives well? That doesn't mean they're going to win it. That Barcelona has had an amazing start? This is a completely different game and I'm really happy that a lot more people are going to watch it."
That is the idea for ESPN, which also has put matches like last week's Real Madrid win over Sevilla on ABC, looking to convert casual fans into lovers of La Liga, fans who understand the weight the players feel on their shoulders from their communities, from across the country and through the entire world.
"If Real Madrid and Barcelona are barren for one year it's bad enough. If it's two years it's awful and if it's three years? If they go another year without without um without winning anything it's it would just be cataclysmic in Madrid," McManaman said. "Unfortunately, Barcelona look as good as they've been in a long, long, long time. So there's a huge amount of pressure on Real Madrid this year. They have to be successful. They have to finish above Barcelona. Otherwise, it's a failed experiment bringing a Mourinho in. That's his only job, is to finish above Barcelona."
Not that the players on the other side will be feeling less pressure, with Barcelona hosting a game it wants to win to continue its domination of its rival.
"When the week of El Clásico arrives, the atmosphere around you, the surrounding of the people. Friends are calling you, first of all, to ask for tickets. You don't realize that you have so many friends until these kind of games arrive!" Garcia said. "People on the streets, when you go for a walk and you are going for dinner, everyone is letting you know that this game is arriving."
It will be here Sunday, more accessible than ever in the U.S. for fans to take in the rivalry game and, the broadcasters hope, understand what makes it the biggest match in Spain.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why ESPN is broadcasting El Clásico, soccer's biggest club rivalry, on ABC