NFL Football Yardage Estimations Based on Camera Angle

Sports Innovation Journal, 2021, 2, 1–18 https://doi.org/10.18060/24247 © Benjamin J. Lynn, Roxane Coche, and Ashleigh Messick X’s and O’s, Angles and Games: NFL Football Yardage Estimations Based on Camera Angle Benjamin J. Lynn, Roxane Coche, and Ashleigh Messick In 2017, NFL viewers complained when NBC Sports used the “Madden” camera for live play-by-play coverage of two Thursday Night Football games. Their comments indicated that they had a difficult time estimating yardage from the new perspective. Those games were just two recent examples of viewers complaining about changes in the visual presentation of live sports broadcasts—a phenomenon that has been happening with the Madden camera for more than a decade. The sports broadcasters’ inability to adjust its production technique for live football coverage, despite repeated attempts, provides important insights about the nature of mass communication. As sports broadcasters continue to look for new production techniques in a constantly evolving media landscape, these findings could help guide their production practices. Using game footage from four NFL broadcasts, the present study tested for differences in yardage estimations made from the traditional game camera (i.e., a stationary camera perpendicular to the field) and the Madden camera (i.e., a moving camera on wires positioned over the field). Participants N( = 473) were randomly assigned to watch 11 plays from either the traditional game camera angle or the Madden camera angle. No significant differences were found in estimates of yardage gains based on camera angle. The high variance in the findings suggests that distance estimations are complex visual processes that may require specialized training to improve accuracy. Keywords: broadcasting, football, NFL, Madden, sports, visual perception Benjamin J. Lynn is a doctoral student in the Department of Telecommunication at the University of Florida. His research interests include live remote sports broadcasts, mediated visual communication, and esports. Email: [email protected] Roxane Coche, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Telecommunication and asso- ciate director of Sports Journalism and Communication at the University of Florida. Her research interests focus on sports media practices and social issues in the sports media industry. Email: [email protected] Ashleigh Messick is a graduate of the College of Journalism and Communications at the Universi- ty of Florida. She currently attends Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law as a Juris Doctor candidate. Her research interests include social media practices and trends, as well as intellectual property law. Email: [email protected] SIJ 2 Lynn, Coche, Messick Introduction In late 2017, NBC Sports produced two NFL Thursday Night Football (TNF) games using its four-point aerial camera system as the live play-by-play camera (Figure 1; Cooper, 2017), going against the tradition of using one of the three cameras positioned perpendicular to the field for that purpose. The initial feedback on social media and from sports journalists (Malyon, 2017; Ruiz, 2017) was positive, motivating the network to make a production change and use this camera—known as the “Madden” camera (Malyon, 2017) because the angle was first introduced in the Madden NFL video game (hereafter Madden)—for the entirety of two TNF X’Sgames. AND O’S,Then, ANGLES the positive AND GAMESfeedback was replaced with mixed reviews (Adamski, 27 2017; Andrews, 2017; Gaines, 2017; Seifert, 2017) and social media users were FigureFigure 1. 1.The The Madden Madden camera camera is is positioned positioned behind behind the the offense offense and and over over the the field field while while the the traditionaltraditional game game camera camera is positioned is positioned perpendicular perpendicular to the to thefield field of play of playand offand theoff field. the field. deeply divided. Some loved the new look while others hated it (Andrews, 2017). From the feedback, some viewers had difficulty estimating yardage gains from the Madden camera, which could explain some viewers’ indignation. NBC executive producer Fred Gaudelli, one of those behind the decision to use the Madden camera, acknowledged that estimating how far the ball went was difficult for viewers (Deitsch, 2018). Evidence indicates that sports broadcasters, like Fred Gaudelli, are not conducting empirical research to understand why their production changes create negative reactions in fans. For example, the NFL’s decision to use artificial crowd noise during its broadcasts was based on its own impressions of the content, not research (Bose, 2020). When asked how the network determines if new technologies are a meaningful part of its broadcast, longtime FOX Sports director Artie Kempner stated that they use a “how and wow” approach to evaluating technological changes. He admitted his network does not have a specific way of determining if changes have a positive impact on the production. However, “like pornography […] I know it when I see it,” he replied when asked how new technologies are evaluated for effectiveness SIJ SIJ 2 ▪ 2021 3 (Kempner, 2021). The broadcasters are clearly using what we might call a “common sense” approach to production practices: making production decisions based on their own feelings about the content—and, admittedly, personal and professional experience—but not empirical research. And that is despite the fact that sports have generally moved to analytic-based management models (Ricky, 2019). Therefore, there is a pressing need for empirical research to help guide future sports production practices. For scholars, this type of research can also lead to mass communication theory development, as these types of production phenomena raise questions about the underlying theoretical causes. As entertainment programming, sports serve an important social role (Ser- azio, 2019) and they fulfill their role via in-person spectating and mediated sports broadcasts. Indeed, sport and media, including broadcast, are so intrinsically interdependent (Greer et al., 2009) that change in either industry is likely to af- fect the other, and both have a significant impact on the American economy and society (e.g., Au, 2017; Goldman & Hedlund, 2020). During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, mediated sports broadcasts were often the only connection between sports fans and the events, as spectators were either not allowed into the venues, or allowed in very limited numbers. That same year, Coche and Lynn (2020) called for more practical research in sports broadcasting. They argued it “should be conducted as soon as possible” (p. 492) because the lockdown-caused decrease in production quality in early 2020 lowered audiences’ expectations, which gives broadcasters “a free pass” (p. 489) to change the traditional workflow in live sports productions. This argument can be extended to other deep-rooted con- ventions and techniques, such as camera angles during live games. This study is a response to Coche and Lynn’s (2020) call. With sports broadcasting going through “drastic changes” (p. 492), studying the effects of new camera angles on viewers’ ability to understand what they are watching could directly guide the development of new production practices in the post-COVID sports broadcast world. The sports lockdown in 2020 reminded people how important sport is in American society (Coche & Lynn, 2020; Goldman & Hedlund, 2020). When NBC Sports used the Skycam, executive producer Sam Flood announced the network was planning on increasing the use of the angle over time (Deitsch, 2018), but that has not happened in practice—presumably because of negative social media reactions to the use of the novel angle. However, because the industry is rapidly adopting new technology (Coche & Lynn, 2020; Davies, 2020; Werteen, 2020), conducting research on production techniques used only temporarily, like the Skycam angle for play-by-play coverage, can help broadcasters as they lead the way to adapt their practices for the viewers. It also informs future research about audience members’ complaints when a novel production approach is introduced. At times, the viewer experience can be a two-way negotiation between SIJ 4 Lynn, Coche, Messick production personnel and the viewers; research exploring the outcomes of at- tempted production changes, and underlying causes for failed change, can inform future production decisions. Literature Review Previous scholars have called sport broadcasts “artificial creations” that, by nature, “result from a variety of production decisions aimed at increasing their entertainment value” (Cummins et al., 2019, p. 113). The visual element of these broadcasts is of particular importance (Greer et al., 2009). When watching football, some rely on yardage lines painted on the field to estimate how much yardage was gained. The lines certainly provide a robust linear perspective (Kubovy, 1986). The Madden camera adds several unique visual depth cues to that, including (1) line convergence, which provides viewers with a sense of depth through the distant merging of the painted lines and the field itself (Figure 1); (2) perspective geometry, which communicates to the viewer which player on the screen is farther from them; and (3) size constancy (Gibb et al., 2010), which allows viewers to determine the distance from one object to another (the farther the object, the smaller it appears). These visual cues imply the Madden camera is more accurate than the traditional

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