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SBJ Media: Fox Only Network Using Virtual NFL Fans


Tomorrow night’s NFL Kickoff game (Texans-Chiefs) will face more TV sports competition than other NFL openers -- a LeBron James playoff game on TNT, a Stanley Cup semifinal on NBCSN and the MLB stretch run. My prediction: NBC’s viewership will see double-digit increases over last year and will come close to setting a record. The NFL will impact that competition more than it will be impacted by it.

     

FOX WILL BE ONLY NETWORK UTILIZING VIRTUAL NFL FANS

  • Fox will be the only TV network to use virtual fans during its NFL coverage. The network will use fans during only one game in Week 1 -- Bears-Lions -- with hopes to use the tech more frequently as the season goes on. “We didn’t get a pre-season game on the NFL to do everything that we wanted to do and really look at it,” said Fox Sports Executive Producer, Exec VP and Head of Production & Operations Brad Zager. “Before we rolled it out everywhere, we wanted to have a game that we could focus on, and we’ll see what happens from there.”

  • NBC decided against using virtual fans for “Sunday Night Football,” saying it was too difficult -- both technically and financially -- to build virtual fans into every angle for all 25 cameras. That results in some shots showing virtual fans and some shots showing empty seats, which felt too gimmicky to “SNF” executive producer Fred Gaudelli. “This is not a shot at Fox because I think what they’ve done is tremendous, but it’s just not realistic,” he said. “It just didn’t feel right to me.”

  • CBS Executive Producer and Senior VP/Production Harold Bryant and ESPN Exec VP/Event & Studio Production Stephanie Druley also said they would not use virtual fans on NFL games this season.

 

 

SOCIAL JUSTICE TO BE COVERED DURING NFL GAMES IF CALLED FOR

  • Don’t expect the NFL TV partners to drastically change their national anthem policy despite all the attention focused on possible player protests. Each of the league's TV partners will show the anthem, as well as the singing of “Lift Every Voice & Sing,” before game telecasts this week, but only have plans to show it later in the season if it becomes newsworthy or for bigger games. “The anthem has never been part of our weekly coverage, and that isn’t changing,” said Fox Sports’ Brad Zager. All the networks said they plan to cover social justice issues during their pregame shows. The discussion will be more nuanced during game telecasts. Here’s each network’s plan.

  • Fox Sports appears to be the most proactive with its game telecasts. Zager told announcers to let the production crew know about their plans, so when they start talking about social justice issues during the game, the director will be able to come up with the right shots. “We should never talk about social justice in a way where it seems like a random comment. There needs to be thought put into what we do.” Zager is conscious that Fox Sports is there to cover the on-field action. “But there are some great stories out there that can be told about social justice and can also celebrate the stars and celebrate football,” he said, citing Falcons RB Todd Gurley as an example. “We know why people are tuning in. But if there’s the right story to be told, our announcers and our production crew will be equipped to tell it.”

  • CBS’ announcers will talk about social justice issues, but “they are not going to interject their opinion or their philosophy,” CBS Sports Chair Sean McManus said. “They’re there to cover the game. If something else happens to be part of the story, they are going to tell that story.” Jim Nantz said he plans to talk about social justice issues as they occur on the field. “We live in a visual medium. We’re in a reactionary business. We’ll be prepared for that. When we see something, we are going to tell the viewers what we see.”

  • NBC will cover social justice issues in its “Football Night in America” pregame show. Host Mike Tirico: “We’ll cover it as it’s relevant to the games. The story on Sundays are pretty simple. We get you ready for the game coming up but also try to give you everything that happened of significance in the other NFL games. So if there is a form of protest, something significant that happens, we’ll discuss it, document it. If we need to put it in perspective, so be it. But then we’ll show you the highlights of the game.”

  • ESPN’s new “Monday Night Football” booth has had a lot of meetings about what might happen during a game and how the announcers should react. “Undoubtedly something will come up that we will not be prepared for, that we will not expect, that no one could have expected, and then we will handle that to the best of our absolute ability,” new play-by-play voice Steve Levy said. “But we will be as prepared as possible for anything that comes our way on that field each and every Monday night.”

  • NFL Network’s studio show “NFL Total Access” will spend more time highlighting social justice causes this season. NFL Network senior coordinating producer Lya Vallat: “The league is making a bold move, and we have to follow suit with our programming and support it.”

 

Networks will cover the anthem in Week 1, and then only later in the season if it becomes newsworthy

  

AN NFL MEDIA HODGEPODGE

  • Tony Romo gave quite a compliment to his new colleague Charles Davis during a CBS press call yesterday. “When I was studying and trying to figure out broadcasting, I actually studied Charles Davis. You’re really, really good,” he said. “A lot of the stuff I use, once in a blue moon without you knowing, I’ve stolen from you.”

  • CBS Sports Chair Sean McManus on the call spoke of the negotiations he had with the NFL, Augusta National and the SEC that will see CBS to carry the third and final round of the golf major. The SEC moved its Alabama-LSU kickoff to 6:00pm ET on Nov. 14 and the NFL did not give CBS any early Sunday games on Nov. 15. “The word partner is thrown around a lot in this industry. But I think this really was a good example of partnership. Everybody gave a little bit at the office to accommodate this.”

  • During a production meeting last week, a Fox Sports announcer asked producer Brad Zager if he should alter his touchdown call given that no fans were in the stands. The announcer said he usually stays quiet after the call to capture the crowd’s roar. “We said that we shouldn’t change our philosophy from the way we’ve done football in the past. If there’s still a great moment of teams celebrating and it doesn’t need talking over it, don’t talk over it. Don’t overthink all the other changes that you wind up changing who you are. We want it to feel as normal as possible.”

  • Al Michaels, known for sprinkling gambling references into his NBC calls, addressed the league’s embrace of a once taboo business. “We’re all on a path to we don’t know exactly where, but I’m as curious as anybody. I don’t know what the endgame is here. I don’t know that anybody does.”

  • ESPN’s Stephanie Druley on what she learned from last year’s much-maligned "MNF" booth: “Well, first of all, everyone is a critic, right? Booger [McFarland] and Joe [Tessitore] continue to be extremely valuable to our company.”

 

SPEED READS

  • Ryan Shazier is taking his talents to The Ringer. The former Steelers linebacker, who officially announced his retirement today, will host “The Ringer NFL Show” podcast on Tuesdays throughout the NFL season. Shazier will be taking the spot vacated by Robert Mays, who recently left for The Athletic to host that site's main NFL podcast.

  • Expect the Steph Curry-produced mini golf competition show "Holey Moley" to get a third season on ABC in 2021. ABC Entertainment Senior VP/Alternative Series, Specials & Late-Night Programming Rob Mills told Deadline that he would be “shocked” if the show doesn’t return for a third season next summer. Curry may also see some extra cash from overseas deals, as Mills said the show is "is in the process of being adapted in a number of international territories."

  • Dan Hicks will be on familiar territory for his return to calling the U.S. Open next week. The longtime voice of NBC golf is a member at Winged Foot outside NYC. Hicks tells SBJ's David Rumsey: "I knew there were some conversations about doing a one-off U.S. Open at Winged Foot because of Fox's programming responsibilities, but again, it was just chit-chat that I was hearing." Check out more from Hicks on the return of NBC to the U.S. Open in the SBJ Unpacks newsletter.

 

THE LAST WORD

  • Back in my Cablefax days, Paul Kagan’s newsletters provided formidable competition. I was sorry to see that Kagan died of kidney failure last month. Tonight’s last word is from a beautiful obit written by his family:

  • "We’d hear about jobs at CBS selling radio advertising and as a securities analyst at E.F. Hutton, where their failure to listen to him about the nascent cable television industry led him to finally branch out on his own to start Paul Kagan Associates in 1969, and quickly become the 'Cable Guru' and country’s foremost expert on all things media. (His newsletters spanned several industries and were distributed on every continent; years later, he was honored for his life’s work and inducted into the Cable TV Hall of Fame.)"

 

 

 

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Something on the college beat catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to either me (msmith@sportsbusinessjournal.com) or Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it. Also contributing to this newsletter is Thomas Leary (tleary@sportsbusinessdaily.com).