The Footage the NFL Won't Show You

The Wall Street Journal ^ | NOVEMBER 4, 2011 | REED ALBERGOTTI

[MinorityRepublican]

Every play during an NFL game is filmed from multiple angles in high definition. There are cameras hovering over the field, cameras lashed to the goalposts and cameras pointed at the coaches, who have to cover their mouths to call plays.

But for all the footage available, and despite the $4 billion or so the NFL makes every year by selling its broadcast rights, there's some footage the league keeps hidden.

If you ask the league to see the footage that was taken from on high to show the entire field and what all 22 players did on every play, the response will be emphatic. "NO ONE gets that," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy wrote in an email. This footage, added fellow league spokesman Greg Aiello, "is regarded at this point as proprietary NFL coaching information."

For decades, NFL TV broadcasts have relied most heavily on one view: the shot from a sideline camera that follows the progress of the ball. Anyone who wants to analyze the game, however, prefers to see the pulled-back camera angle known as the "All 22."

While this shot makes the players look like stick figures, it allows students of the game to see things that are invisible to TV watchers: like what routes the receivers ran, how the defense aligned itself and who made blocks past the line of scrimmage.

[j_tull]

Seems like a whiff on revenue stream. Pay Per View or subscription for coaches tape? Why not?

[CSI007]

NFL games are rigged.

[spankalib]

I saw *you*!
Back in Sept., I went down to a HS game, St. Thomas vs. De La Salle. It was televised; ESPN. Yep. *You* definitely called the shots...we picked up on the routine pretty early on...
We called him “The Boss Guy”...

to Paul, I’m sure there’s some degree of NFL ‘approval’, but it’s the networks that hire the directors. I don’t think they have football backgrounds...radio/television ‘majors’ most likely?

Anyhoo, the way the camera shots are called - what we DO see - kinda sux, imo...really takes away a “real” part of the game. (and when you think about it, the NoFunLeague could use all the help they can get...it’s already been morphed into grass-basketball *hilites* via rule-changes, and has gone far FAR from the quintessential TEAM sport it always was - I’ll save that rant for another day though!)
Cheers!

[Inyo-Mono]

A comment from my brother who is a NFL cameraman:

“The ‘All 22’ shot is also used during the game for Telestrator Replays with the announcers diagramming a play.

Most Cameramen hate the ‘all 22’ because it is a boring camera to run and is considered a Rookie or beginners Camera.”

[spankalib]

Cool! I understand the all 22 would be boring for the fan, while valuable for the coaches, NP there...

I’m talking about the frequent ‘get in his face’ shots. Sometimes, they are close enough to violate that feeling of psychological space...you know, like; “Get out of his face!”

This often happens after a big play...I suppose they’re trying to catch the emotional reaction on the face, I get that.
It’s just that in doing so, they miss other vital parts of the action.

[absolootezer0]

with all the advertisements on the field, the all-22 shot would cost revenue. when you get paid for everytime you show a logo, close-up shots become important, and footage of the actual game less so.