There have been rule changes and player changes and even uniform changes, if you count those 75th anniversary togs they’re going to wear. But the biggest change in the National Football League this season is in its new NFC television contract.
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After 38 years, CBS is out. After agreeing to a $1.58 billion deal, Fox Broadcasting is in. And even before the first regular-season kickoff, Fox has generated more than its share of heat.
During the early Fox preseason telecasts, the Dolby Surround audio technology was mixed too loudly. And, horror of horrors, something called the “Fox Box” was employed. The “Fox Box” is an electronic interface that takes information directly from the stadium scoreboard to the Fox control room, where character generators use the information for an on-screen display in the upper left-hand corner.
Not surprisingly, the “Fox Box” bears striking similarities to the time/score graphic used in World Cup broadcasts-since Fox Sports President David Hill first used that gimmick for soccer telecasts in Europe.
It’s all part of Fox’s “Same Game, New Attitude” promotion campaign. Hill says the new attitude is “not so much in the way the game’s covered but more the way the game’s promoted. The amount of promotion we’ve been doing for the game is different from anything you’ve seen before.”
In addition, Fox plans two prime-time preseason specials, something CBS never did. “That’s taking a new attitude toward the game,” says Hill.
Another difference, adds executive producer Ed Goren, is “we have been able to focus on football.” Goren, a former coordinating producer at CBS, says he “left Dallas on the Monday after the (NFC) championship game, arrived at the Fox office in New York on Tuesday and haven’t stopped thinking, talking, working on football for the past several months. It’s been a tremendous luxury. It’s been very exciting.”
Fox had a seminar for its football crews-from announcers to statisticians-the week of July 11, “probably a month earlier than we ever did it at CBS,” says Goren. “We spent a full 4 1/2 days going through everything, breaking off into small groups and bringing in coaches on two-ways. We’ve really been able to focus in on one thing-football.”
Adds John Madden, one of the several former CBS people now at Fox, “Having the same group of technicians together all year, that’s new.”
While Fox has hired a bunch of young play-by-play men-like Thom Brennaman, Kevin Harlan, Ken Albert and Joe Buck-the No. 1 team remains old-timers Madden and Pat Summerall, who are starting their 14th season together.
“I don’t have any plans to approach the game any differently,” says Summerall. “I’ve been comfortable with what we’ve done. Outside of more preparation from the material that’s furnished to us and more access to the players and coaches, I don’t think we’ll approach it any differently.”
“Our job is to cover the game as it’s being played,” says Madden. “You have to change as the game changes. You can’t cover the game the same way you covered it five years ago because they’re not playing the same game.”
To that end, Hill hired almost the entire Madden-Summerall support team intact from CBS, from Goren and producer Bob Stenner to the technicians in the truck and the statistician in the booth.
“I’m sure Barry Switzer doesn’t go into Dallas, where he’s got Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith, and start changing the way they do things,” says Goren. “If you’ve got the best in the business, the smart move is to let them do their thing. There is the sense we do have a team in place from the get-go, from our first preseason game through the (NFC) championship.”
Another factor is the equipment. Fox is sparing no expense for cameras, microphones and graphics generators. And not just for the No. 1 team.
“The equipment Pat and John and their production team had for the (NFC) championship game in Dallas is basically the same equipment they had for their first preseason game at Fox,” says Goren. “So there’s definitely a step up in equipment. With the game changing, it gives us the ability to do a better job in showing the viewer what is happening on the field. Every game will have a better equipment complement than was the norm at CBS and NBC.”
For Summerall and Madden, that means 12 cameras and eight tape machines, including two super-slo-mo machines. For No. 2 announcers Dick Stockton and Matt Millen, 8 cameras and 6 tape machines, including one super-slo-mo. For the others, six cameras and four tape machines, including one super-slo-mo.
“Never before did games outside your lead game have a super-slo-mo,” says Goren. “If it went to a second game, that was a big deal. In past years, the smaller games were covered with as few as four cameras and two tape machines.”
And then there’s the pregame show, which Fox will extend to an hour, beginning at 11 a.m. Chicago time, and originate from its Hollywood studios. The cast for the hourlong program: Terry Bradshaw, James Brown, Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson and former WLS-Ch. 7 reporter Lonnie Lardner. Part of Lardner’s role will be to welcome celebrities who might stop by for a chat.
“It’s just a wild idea Ed had back in February,” says Hill, “which we liked. In the pregame show set, we’ll have an area for celebrities.”
Which has not been the case with the noise over the audio level of the telecasts, where sometimes Summerall and Madden, who are being well-paid for their comments, are drowned out by the crowd. That’s something Fox will rectify, promises Goren.
“This was a David Hill thing,” says audio mixer Bob Seiderman, another former CBS employee, of the improved sound quality. “He brought it from Europe. Everything we wanted to do (at CBS), we can do now.”
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“This is part of the commitment,” says Goren.
Adds Hill: “The additional microphones and the (Dolby Surround) give the impression we’re getting closer and closer to our aim, in an audio effect, to take the viewer closer to the sideline.”
Fox, generating much sound and fury for its NFL telecasts, wants it to signify something, too.