Premier League’s USA preseason tour features Manchester United

As the most-watched sporting league in the world grows in popularity in the United States, the 2025 Premier League Summer Series brings four teams to America for three doubleheaders at some of the country’s most iconic venues.

Manchester United, Everton, West Ham United and AFC Bournemouth will feature in this year’s showcase, the rare opportunity for American fans to see their favorite clubs in person.

‘I’ve always said the American sports fan has the bandwidth to support another team. Across the world, people don’t,’ said Tim Howard, a 13-year Premier League veteran and former USMNT goalkeeper. ‘We’re just brought up that way.’

And for the players, it’s a reminder of just how global the Premier League has become.

‘It’s great to get out and see fans far and wide,’ Everton defender James Tarkowski told USA TODAY Sports. ‘We get to experience it at home and around England, but to see how far this club travels globally – it’s an amazing experience.’

The first of three match days (July 26) is at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, home of the NFL’s New York Giants and Jets, and the site of the 2026 World Cup final. Next summer, the stadium will join the Rose Bowl (1994) as the only venues in the world to host a Super Bowl and World Cup final.

Chicago’s Soldier Field will host games on July 30 before the final day of the series at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Aug. 3. The latter will host eight total matches in the 2026 World Cup with three in the knockout stage, including one of the semifinals.

‘Stadiums in America are something I’ve seen on the tele, obviously American football and MLS. … It’s a great opportunity personally – but also as a club – to get out there and experience that,’ Tarkowski told USA TODAY Sports.

Howard, who played for Manchester United (2003-2006) and Everton (2006-2016) and is now an analyst for NBC Sports, said his teammates always loved playing games in America. But the longtime Premier League goalkeeper also recalled preseason U.S. trips where they would be ‘playing in front of (10,000) or 15,000 people.’ He calls those ‘building blocks’ to get to where the league is now in America.

NBC Sports has held the league’s TV rights for more than a decade and Howard credits that continuity with helping to build ‘awareness, knowledge and understanding’ of the league and its 38-game season that runs from August to May.

‘You build generational storylines,’ Howard told USA TODAY Sports. ‘People want to see teams and players and villains and heroes.’

The 2025 Summer Series begins less than two weeks after the FIFA Club World Cup wraps up in America, a reinvented tournament featuring a $1 billion prize pool and 32 teams from across the globe, including four-time defending Premier League champion Manchester City.

That, of course, is the appetizer for the 2026 World Cup, which the U.S. is hosting alongside Mexico and Canada.

‘There’s so much soccer to be consumed. That’s by design,’ Howard said. ‘You look at what FIFA and the governing bodies have done, realizing that America is primed and ready to support that much soccer.

‘I don’t know if I ever envisioned the day – maybe I dreamt it – where we would have so much soccer over the course of a couple years in our own backyard.’

2025 Premier League Summer Series schedule

NBC Sports will broadcast every game, one on NBC each weekend match day and all six streaming on Peacock.

Saturday, July 26 at MetLife Stadium, New Jersey

Everton vs. AFC Bournemouth (4 p.m. ET)
Manchester United vs. West Ham United (7 p.m. ET)

Wednesday, July 30 at Soldier Field, Chicago

West Ham United vs. Everton (5:30 p.m. CT)
Manchester United vs. Bournemouth (8:30 p.m. CT)

Sunday, Aug. 3 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta

Bournemouth vs. West Ham United (2 p.m. ET)
Manchester United vs. Everton (5 p.m. ET)

How to buy Premier League Summer Series tickets

Fans can register for Premier League Summer series tickets now in order to gain access to a pre-sale on March 13. General ticket sales will begin on March 14.

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