One of us here at Magneto really loves soccer – to the point where she’ll wake up at 5 a.m. to watch a live English game on a Saturday.

Luckily this English Premier League season, instead of fighting with her cable company about Fox Soccer or struggling to find a stream online, NBC and NBC Sports Network have acquired U.S. rights to all matches, requiring a mere pre-dawn trip to the sofa, instead of the pub when it opens at 7.

Though only one weekend into the season, NBC has done an excellent job of promoting a sport that only 4 percent of American adults follow.

On announcement, both channels began airing commercials highlighting the passion of Premier League fans, touting the line “Forget Downton Abbey. The real English drama is coming on August 17.”

NBC quickly realized that most Americans know next to nothing about soccer. To prime potential fans, it ran full television shows dedicated to educating people on the English teams, their history and a few noteworthy players. A feature on the NBC Sports website offers quizzes and facts to help visitors choose a team.

The NBC Sports Twitter feed and Facebook account highlights the major aspects of each match, however Premier League is still going head-to-head with the coming NFL season…and unfortunately, NFL is prime time, while by default, soccer is early morning to air live from England. However, this move by NBC is all in good time with the World Cup right around the corner in 2014 –  widely regarded as the world’s most watched sporting event. NBC has the potential to earn recognition on even a wider international scale.

Right before the season began, NBC enlisted the help of SNL’s Jason Sudeikis to pose as a clueless American football coach in London for Tottenham Hotspur. The video capitalizes on the differences between soccer and football as we know it in a laugh-out-loud, ridiculous way that Sudeikis nails. NBC will have to continue generating authentic content to appeal to the existing fan base, which will hopefully start bringing more viewers to the English soccer scene.

The overall result? The largest Premier League opening weekend in American history with 3.4 million viewers (up 52% over last season’s debut on Fox Soccer and ESPN), praise for NBC and a very pleased Magneto account coordinator.

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