As the Premier League kicks off this weekend and some of the world's biggest clubs do battle, before a ball has even been kicked a new war will be getting underway.
It's the battle of the Saturday morning TV sports shows. While Sky Sports and BT Sport have been engaged in a fierce fight for live TV sports rights over the past year, the two arch-rivals are now going head-to-head again.
While the contest for those juicy television rights for the Premier League and Champions League run into billions of pounds, Sky and BT can breathe easy that this battle won't be as costly.
But you can bet it'll be just as competitive. In the Sky Sports' corner the mainstay and popular Saturday favourite Soccer AM which has now been on the go since the mid-1990s.
But breaking out of BT Sport's corner is Match Day Live with Fletch & Sav which pairs lively pundit Robbie Savage with BT commentator Darren Fletcher.
Both will fill the two hours before the broadcasters' Saturday lunchtime live games - like last season the Championship will follow Sky's Soccer AM while Fletch & Sav will lead into BT's lunchtime Premier League game.
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| Sneak preview - the Fletch and Sav sofa will be at a different Premier League ground each week. Photo: Robbie Savage/Twitter |
BT tired to take on Sky last season by drafting in the man who used to host Soccer AM Tim Lovejoy. From BT's snazzy Olympic Park studios, Lovejoy hosted BT Sports Panel (or BTSP) but the show never really took off ratings-wise and has been moved to a midweek slot.
This season, BT are hitting the road - Fletcher and Savage will set up their sofas each week at the Premier League ground where BT's live match is coming from. They will be hoping that a big name and sometimes controversial voice in Savage will lure viewers to them.
But they face a big task to win this Saturday morning bun fight. Soccer AM is a big name in itself. Returning for the latest season again will be Max Rushden and Helen Chamberlain, calmly cajoling a popular cast of characters such as Rocket, Tubes and Franky Fryer through an often chaotic couple of hours.
And this season, the Soccer AM gang have even got a whole football club on side. A new sponsorship deal has seen Conference South club Basingstoke Town change their ground's name to The Soccer AM Stadium.
Let battle commence!
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| Basingstoke Town have changed their ground name to the Soccer AM Stadium this season! Photo: Sky Sports. |
> Soccer AM, Sky Sports 1 and Sky 1 (Saturdays 10am)
> Match Day Live with Fletch & Sav, BT Sport 1 (Saturdays 10am)