In pandemic America this Halloween, some homes observed normal traditions; some were shuttered, eschewing jack-o’-lanterns; others made trick-or-treating a do-it-yourself exercise.
COVID aside, ABC/ESPN play-by-play man Dave Pasch had the best reason for ignoring the ghosts and goblins. As a sign on the front door of his Chandler, Ariz., home cautioned, “I am on television … don’t ring the doorbell. Take as MUCH CANDY AS YOU WANT!!”
Pasch was inside announcing the Notre Dame-Georgia Tech football game in Atlanta, some 1,850 miles distant. Mike Golic did the color from ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Conn. It’s a trick that became commonplace this year and one that has made “remis” — for “remote” — the most popular word in the industry, just after “pivot.”
Dave Pasch had a unique message for the kids visiting his Chandler, Ariz., house on Halloween.
During the NBA playoffs, Pasch broadcast games 20 rows above courtside in the bubble at Disney World within a Plexiglas booth, in an empty arena. “That was weird enough,” said Pasch, whose first home remi was this September. “It’s a whole new level of weird when, at halftime, you walk into your own kitchen and make yourself a sandwich.”
It’s another reality of the pandemic that sounds like an oxymoron: off-site play-by-play. NBC sportscaster Mike Tirico has usually been on site for college football this fall. However, he called some NHL qualifying-round games from NBC’s Stamford, Conn., studios and did more than 40 episodes of NBCSN’s “LunchTalk Live” show from his home office in Ann Arbor, Mich. “Those [remote] games were at least twice as hard and half as enjoyable,” he said. “You’d rather have live sports, of course, but calling games off a couple of monitors takes you out of your basic rhythms. Even what we do on-site now is very different because of [COVID] restriction. A lot of what usually gets on the air is because of our terrific crew camaraderie and a lot of that disappeared.”
YES Network’s longtime play-by-play man Michael Kay broadcast New York Yankees games this season from an empty Yankee Stadium. Away games were especially odd, with Kay calling them from a darkened stadium and only a stage manager for company in his booth.
“We got used to it, if you can, but it was still very dystopian,” he said. “Baseball is the one sport where you have to see beyond what the camera is following, for away games, so you put away the hope of perfection.”
Even when the Yankees were on the road, Michael Kay was in the YES Network booth in the Bronx to call games.yes network
It’s not just broadcast talent working remotely. Mark Pokedoff has been traveling the country operating network replay machines at games for two decades. This season, he’s running those same machines from his suburban Philadelphia home on Sundays for CBS’s NFL telecasts. “Production-wise it’s been pretty seamless, so I could see this as something that lasts,” he said.
Longtime ESPN producer Scott Matthews said he’s used to producing live events from studio, rather than a truck, even with the requisite social distancing.
“We all found out what it was like not to have live sports for months, so I feel like it’s whatever model works,” he said. “Still, a Zoom call is just not the same as hanging around a batting practice cage with [ESPN talent and former MLB pitcher] Rick Sutcliffe.”
The question begged by all this remoteness is whether the on-site sports announcer is becoming an anachronism. “As college conferences continue to do their own networks, you can understand that happening more,” said Tirico.
As Kay surmised: “People that look at the bottom line are going to say, ‘It was just as good, so why travel?’ Of course, I don’t necessarily agree, but that’s a big question to be answered when we come out of all this. I just hope it won’t all be a business decision.”
COMINGS & GOINGS: Ali Trager joins ISlide, the Boston-based marketer of licensed sports footwear and apparel, as a key accounts associate after graduating from Syracuse University with a sports management degree earlier this year. … Matt Grandis, a member of the 2018 class of SBJ’s Forty Under 40, is now the chief commercial officer at CSM Sport & Entertainment, overseeing both domestic and offshore sales. He had been with CSM since 2016, most recently as executive vice president, properties. … Barry McMullin joins Ben Sturner’s Leverage Agency as sales head after six years at WWE, most recently as senior vice president, global sales and partnerships. McMullin has also held sales positions with Wasserman, the PBR, and the NBA. … Robert Alfieri moves to The Montag Group as coordinator in TMG’s consulting group, based in New York City. He was previously with CAA.
Terry Lefton can be reached at tlefton@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
