When dense fog in New England blocked made the standard camera angles unusable for this year’s Falcons-Patriots game, NBC switched to SkyCam as the primary camera angle. Some fans considered that an improvement.
Now fans will see a full game with the SkyCam angle: NBC announced today that next Thursday’s Steelers-Titans game will be shown primarily with the SkyCam -- or SkyCams, plural, as NBC will have two of them above the field.
“We are excited to present a game with the majority of live-action coverage coming from SkyCam,” said executive producer Fred Gaudelli. “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.”
The league and the networks will surely monitor feedback from fans closely, and if it’s a hit, we may see more live action from the sky.