SkyCam view camera angle for Steelers vs. Titans on Thursday changes the game

Tadd Haislop

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SkyCam view camera angle for Steelers vs. Titans on Thursday changes the game image

NBC's decision to use the SkyCam view as the primary camera angle for Thursday night's Steelers-Titans game came as a bit of a surprise.

The network last week announced it would present "the majority" of play-by-play coverage during Steelers vs. Titans via SkyCam, giving its audience a video game-like viewing experience. Yes, EA Sports' "Madden" video game series has become that influential.

NBC's experiment with SkyCam as the primary broadcast viewing angle is a direct result of the positive feedback the network received during and after it was forced to use the angle in Week 7, when thick New England fog rendered the customary sideline view useless in the second half of the Patriots' win over the Falcons. Given the viewing public's reaction, Sporting News wondered whether NBC would consider using SkyCam as the primary angle for future games, even those not affected by weather conditions.

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The answer at the time: Probably not.

"We've long talked about using SkyCam more in the live play-by-play coverage of the game," NBC producer Fred Gaudelli told SN. "However, what has stopped us is some of the system's limitations.

"For one, the ball is always moving away from the camera. Two, there are some geographical limitations to its fly zone and, three, the system is operated by two people: pilot Cody Taylor, who is in charge of where and how the camera flies, and operator Ed Martino, who is operating the pan, tilt and zoom of any robotic camera. Those obstacles keep us from using it as a main and constant viewing angle."

NBC apparently reconsidered those downsides. Its statement last week touted the idea of SkyCam being the primary viewing angle as innovative.

"We are excited to present a game with the majority of live-action coverage coming from SkyCam," Gaudelli said. “After pivoting out of necessity to SkyCam in the New England fog, we’ve been aggressively planning and testing with the intent of utilizing the system for a full game.

"Younger generations of NFL fans have grown accustomed to watching football from this angle through their love of video games. This telecast will have a look and feel akin to that experience. We'll still have our full complement of cameras and will revert to traditional coverage when situations dictate, but the primary viewing experience of the game will come from the SkyCam angle.

"'Thursday Night Football' has always been about technical innovation and new technologies, and this production will fit perfectly with that."

NBC did not indicate whether it would use SkyCam as the primary viewing angle for the three "Thursday Night Football" games — Redskins at Cowboys, Saints at Falcons and Broncos at Colts — remaining on its broadcast schedule over the next three weeks. Nor did it specify whether the angle would be used primarily for the network's broadcasts of "Sunday Night Football."

Alluding to the aformentioned depth issue with SkyCam, Gaudelli explained why certain plays Thursday night would be shown from the traditional, sideline view.

"Third downs, we're going to show it from the conventional camera because that’s the most important down in football,” Gaudelli said, via Pro Football Talk. "Once we're inside the red zone we're going to show it from the conventional camera. We want to try to be smart about it and not just say, 'Here's SkyCam come hell or high water.' It's, 'Here's SkyCam in the most advantageous places.'"

SkyCam has been around since the 1980s but didn't become a common tool for TV networks until the turn of the 21st century. NBC was the first network to employ the remote-controlled, computer-assisted, cable-suspended camera regularly while broadcasting the XFL in 2001.

Per SkyCam's website, the Skycam system is virtually a flying Steadicam: "Its unique design makes the SkyCam the only stabilized camera system in the world that can unobtrusively fly anywhere in a defined three-dimensional space, right in the middle of a sporting event."

How it works, also per SkyCam's site: "Skyview interprets the operator's joystick commands into positional coordinates, tracks the location of the SkyCam, and synchronizes the movement of each reel setting the Skycam in motion. Each of the four suspension lines goes over a precision pulley and is attached to a computer-controlled spooling mechanism. This spooling system, known as the reel, is at the heart of what makes Skycam fly. The four reels work in tandem to create flight. Each reel is controlled by its own computer, which delivers instructions over the fiber optic computer network from central control. These instructions are executed while safety and response information are sent back to central control on a real-time basis. These components are linked together through a highly sophisticated fiber optic network."

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For viewers, the biggest advantage of the camera angle SkyCam provides is the ability to see the entire field, including the development of plays at the line of scrimmage, offensive players running downfield and defenders dropping into coverage. The viewer essentially sees what the quarterback sees. The disadvantage, as Gaudelli noted, is depth. A deep pass would send the ball far away from the camera, though it's able to zoom.

"I think it's a worthy attempt," said Gaudelli, via ESPN. "Because, look, football essentially has been covered the same way from the first day it was covered. Yes, we've added cameras. We've added technology. We've added all those things. But the game itself has been covered a certain way, and I think this is a chance to slightly break away from that and give people a different production to evaluate and see if they like it or not."

So NBC's experiment Thursday night could be the beginning of a massive change in the way TV networks cover live sports, football in particular. After all, a generation that has grown accustomed to and appreciative of the camera angle via video games is the generation networks want to target.

Much has been made of the NFL's sagging TV ratings, a trend that has continued in 2017. It would be wild if a simple tweak like a new camera angle became the method of rejuvenation.

Tadd Haislop

Tadd Haislop is the Associate NFL Editor at SportingNews.com.