Men in Blazers: America's Soccer Stars

January 15, 2015 at 2:01 PM UTC

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This article is part of the January 19, 2015 issue of businessweek.

The set for the Men in Blazers show measures 11 feet by 11 feet. A decent-size hot tub would fill it. The men in blazers themselves, Michael Davies and Roger Bennett, sit shoulder-to-shoulder on stools and talk to a camera 4 feet away. Their subject is English Premier League soccer, which, to them, is the world’s most elaborate and macho drama. They discuss players’ haircuts and goal celebrations, managers’ wardrobes and fans’ gestures—all with abundant pop culture and literary references.

“Do you know Happy Gilmore?” Bennett asks, sitting in a Manhattan office as the two finish writing the show one Monday in early December. “The Bob Barker fight scene?” Bennett, 44 and from Liverpool, is wearing a tweed blazer from Freemans Sporting Club. Davies, 48 and from South London, sports a navy jacket. Their show’s title is not a metaphor. “There’s three things in this world that you need,” Bennett often says, quoting Robin Williams in The Fisher King. “Respect for all kinds of life, a nice bowel movement on a regular basis, and a navy blazer.”