Fox to ditch Wrigley's center-field camera angle after complaints
Much to the dismay of viewers, Fox used a higher center-field camera angle at Wrigley Field during its FS1 broadcast of the National League Championship Series between the San Francisco Giants and the hometown Chicago Cubs.
Viewers can now rejoice, though, as - due to complaints - the network will ditch the less-popular angle and go back to its old, lower, off-center camera position, according to the Chicago Tribune's Phil Rosenthal.
is there a chance Fox doesn't have the rights to this game and they're actually pirating a security camera feed from across the street?
— Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) October 8, 2016
Is this main FOX camera angle Wrigley shot with a drone? #NLDS
— Uncredentialed (@uncredentialed) October 8, 2016
I've always wanted to watch a game from the rooftop across the street from Wrigley and thanks to Fox's camera angle now I can!
— Sean Keane (@seankeane) October 8, 2016
“We listened to what was going on,” Mike Davies, Fox Sports’ senior vice president of field and technical operations, said before Tuesday's game in San Francisco. “We decided we’re just going to move it back. … The tradeoffs weren’t worth it.“
Davies said Fox was trying to produce a straight-on camera angle of home plate - common around MLB to minimized blockage by players - and the angle in center wasn't the only one the network embraced. The position was tested during the Cubs' regular-season finale before Fox decided to spend money on building the platform.
Not to mention, Wrigley's age (it's 102) isn't conducive to television, as the Cubs didn't broadcast on television until 70 years ago. That was the spring after the team's last World Series run. Sometimes there isn't enough space to work with, and the network has to experiment.
“Look,” Davies said, “baseball is very formulaic and when you add additional cameras, you’re adding them to ensure you don’t miss those important plays and to bring in additional elements.”
With five cameras added for the NLDS over the regular-season telecasts of nine, the challenge is real. For the NLCS and the World Series, Fox uses more than 25 cameras. For now, the high center-field one won't be returning.
“People didn’t like it, so we go back. That’s fine,” Davies said. “People just weren’t used to seeing that camera angle from Wrigley. We thought it was good but we’ll change it.”