When Does Serie A Start? 2019-20 Season Dates, TV Schedule, Live Stream and Odds

After enjoying a longer summer break than its counterparts, Serie A makes a welcome return this weekend.

As has been the case for the best part of a decade, Juventus is again the team to beat. La Vecchia Signora has won eight titles in a row and is the bookmakers' favorite to extend that run.

It has not been an easy summer for Juventus, who bid goodbye to Massimiliano Allegri after five extremely successful seasons that delivered a combined 11 trophies.

Allegri has been replaced by Maurizio Sarri, who returns to Italy after one season in the Premier League with Chelsea. Sarri left London after winning the Europa League, but he never quite settled in England and Chelsea appeared reluctant to buy into his brand of soccer.

That is one of the main reasons that make Sarri's return to Italy so intriguing. The 60-year-old likes his teams to play a high-tempo pressing game with a big emphasis on attacking, while Allegri adopted an altogether more conservative approach.

The main challenge for Sarri will be to get his new side to adopt his new philosophy.

Sarriball, as the style has become known, thrilled fans during Sarri spell at Napoli, when the team narrowly missed out on the title to Juventus.

The defending champions have left no stone unturned in a bid to give Sarri the best chance of success. Juventus has spent $84 million on Ajax prodigy Matthijs de Ligt and signed Adrien Rabiot and Aaron Ramsey on free transfers from Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal, respectively.

Despite the new arrivals, the main attraction remains Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese scored 28 goals in 43 games in all competitions in his first season in Italy, but failed to deliver the Champions League trophy the club has been obsessively chasing since 1996.

Aside from Juventus, Inter Milan is also ushering a new era, with Antonio Conte replacing Luciano Spalletti.

The former Juventus and Italy coach has spent $170 million on players, with Romelu Lukaku's arrival from Manchester United being the pick of the signings so far.

One of Lukaku's former teammates could still join him in Milan this summer, with Inter negotiating a loan deal for Manchester United forward Alexis Sanchez.

Napoli hasn't spent as much as its rivals but has bolstered its squad with the arrivals of defender Kostas Manolas from Roma and Mexican winger Hirving Lozano from PSV Eindhoven.

Here's everything you need to know ahead of the upcoming season.

When does Serie And start?

The 118th season of Serie A gets underway on Saturday, August 24, when eight-time defending champions Juventus travel to Parma.

Fiorentina takes on Napoli in the second game on Saturday, with seven games scheduled for Sunday.

Big-spending Inter Milan round up the first weekend of action when it hosts newly promoted Lecce on Monday.

TV coverage

ESPN will broadcast at least one live match per week, on ESPN and ESPN2, with selected games also available on ESPN Deportes.

Live stream

A live stream will be available via ESPN+, which will carry an average of nine live matches per week.

Live streams for selected games will also be available in Italian on RAI Italia via fuboTV and via DirecTV on RAI International.

Matchday 1 TV schedule (All times ET)

Saturday, August 24

• Parma vs Juventus—12 p.m., ESPN+, RAI Italia America
• Fiorentina vs Napoli—2:45 p.m., ESPN+, RAI Italia America

Sunday, August 25

• Udinese vs AC Milan—12 p.m., ESPN+
• Cagliari vs Brescia—2:45 p.m., ESPN+
• Roma vs Genoa—2:45 p.m., ESPN, ESPN Deportes
• Sampdoria vs Lazio—2:45 p.m., ESPN+
• SPAL vs Atalanta—2:45 p.m., ESPN+
• Torino vs Sassuolo—2:45 p.m., ESPN+
• Verona vs Bologna—2:45 p.m., ESPN+

Monday, August 26

• Inter Milan vs Lecce—2:45 p.m., ESPN+

Odds

The bookmakers expect Juventus to win a ninth title in a row. According to Oddschecker, the Old Lady is a 21/50 (-240 in moneyline terms) to retain the scudetto, followed by Napoli at 19/5 and Inter Milan at 6/1.