Seven likely to commentate AFL off-site
Seven borrows from its own Olympic idea to keep broadcasting team safe.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under Coronavirus, News
When AFL games resume Seven’s commentary team will call the game off-site as a safety precaution.
Channel Seven’s Melbourne boss Lewis Martin and Head of Sport has told The Age games would be directed and commentated on from Seven’s Melbourne studio, in what was a nod to occupational health and safety.
A smaller number of Seven’s team, such as boundary riders, will work at the ground live.
“You’ll have someone local but the broad commentary and direction is in a remote location … that’s more about the COVID environment,” he said.
“I’m looking to minimise head count on location.”
Seven has similarly commentated Rio Olympic events from a Melbourne studio.
Seven also has been trialling the crowd noise FX but the network is trialling a number of different approaches.
For Seven, the insertion of sound effects is thought to make less of a difference to the viewers when games are tight.
Venues, a fixture and return date are yet to be determined.
“We’ve got multiple scenarios and it’s in the hands of the authorities and the AFL,” said Martin.
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7 Responses
Off tube commentary more common than you think – and generally commentators in the ground will be working off a screen anyway.
Fox has called the preseason remotely for the last 2 years and I don’t think many have noticed. Fox has also produced almost all non-Vic games remotely since mid-2018, again without any viewer angst. Both broadcasters are well placed to televise an AFL season entirely from their Melbourne bases.
NBL did commentary from a remote location all season why can’t all sports, won’t it be great not to have so many on field reporters asking inane questions , now if they could remove the pre game analysis..that would be even better..so boring.
They called some Rio olympic sports ‘off the tube’ in Sydney. Its just a cheaper way of putting sport to air, no flights or accommodation for the cast and crew that work from the Sydney or Melbourne Hubs.
I’m in two minds about the fake sound effects. I would have totally refused them before, but I found the crowdless games earlier to be difficult when a goal or behind is scored. I didn’t realise how much the brain relies on crowd reaction to know what has been scored. I don’t know the answer, but that is the time that the viewer needs some audible cue.
… if they start adding “fake” elements like “crowd noise FX”, does that mean they have to change the classification from “sport” to “drama” or maybe “comedy”?
I’m pretty sure they already do it. At times on the news they’ve shown GWS at a home game without a body in sight, then suddenly it sounds like a full Great Southern Stand on GF day.