Last weekend Fox Sports planned to use one producer and one director to handle two games, including one from Nationals Park.getty images
Victor Gonzalez, who started with Fox Sports back in 1994, has traveled to just about every big event the network has put on. A production editor, Gonzalez is the person responsible for creating the “bumps” Fox uses to go to breaks — the replays that run with high-energy music just before the commercials start.
“That was a position that we thought needed to be on-site,” said Eric Shanks, Fox Sports CEO and executive producer. “He gets all of the high-end, film-like footage that’s shot in real time sent to him on memory cards or wirelessly.”
With the pandemic causing networks to send fewer producers to events, Gonzalez has edited those bumps remotely. He worked Fox’s past two NASCAR races from his house. For the NFL this season, Fox has him scheduled to work two Sunday games on occasion.
“This is a great example of using our best resources in more places,” said Brad Zager, Fox Sports executive vice president and head of production and operations. “He’s not traveling from Thursday to Sunday; we can put him on a Saturday college football game. Having that flexibility of not having to travel those guys around — and the fact that he can do it from his home — allows us to use that resource more than we’ve ever had in the past.”
By all accounts, the pandemic has accelerated the trend for networks to invest in more remote productions. It will allow the networks’ best producers and directors — the A team — to work more games.
Take last weekend, for example, when Fox opened its MLB season with three games. Pete Macheska produced and Mitch Riggin directed two of the games — one from Wrigley Field and one from Nationals Park.
“That allows us to put a lot of our best resources on multiple games throughout a day,” Zager said.
Shanks said the move also will help give younger producers more hands-on training.
“We would never have sent a young producer out to do a shadow with Pete,” he said. “Maybe we’ll even let aspiring producers sit in the chair for a couple of innings while Pete is there. We can do that over and over and over again. The training for the industry has a lot of promise.”
Fox Sports producers have been getting reps over the past several weeks with NASCAR and MLS. Now it’s taking those remote production changes to baseball, with an eye toward the NFL as well.
“We’ve been learning for years — the World Cup and other events,” Zager said. “Our goal is really for the viewer. The broadcast should feel as normal as possible while behind-the-scenes nothing is normal.”
John Ourand can be reached at jourand@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @Ourand_SBJ and read his twice-weekly newsletter.
