Fox Sports’ coverage of the ongoing World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays has gotten several new technological features. A next-gen Ump Cam, pitch tracker, and augmented reality graphics are working alongside a suite of aerial production drones piloted by Beverly Hills Aerials to bring viewers more information during each game.
Augmented reality graphics are being used to help tell the story of the game, without breaking from live coverage or distracting from the ongoing action, explains Fox.
“A lot of what we do is we try as much to stay on live shots as possible, so while the Statcast technology can put you in a completely 3D environment, we like to overlay the graphics over video,” Zac Fields, Fox Sports SVP/graphic tech & innovation, tells Sports Business Journal. “We feel that that is a little more seamless, a little more organic to the game.”
Downtime during the game is covered by aerial drone shots, complimented by graphic overlays providing real-time statistics for viewers. The MLB allows drones during the postseason, as long as players are not on the field. A new addition to this year’s World Series coverage is an upgraded Ump Cam, which gives viewers clear real-time shots of incoming pitches, along with a graphical tracker to help viewers see each pitch from the umpire’s perspective.
“We’ve seen some amazing shots from the Ump Cam the entire run—watching the tilt of the umpire’s head following a homerun ball,” Brad Cheney, VP of field operations and engineering at Fox Sports, says in an interview with TV Tech. “Now, we’re seeing pitch tracking on it that actually gives the viewer another detailed point of view of how difficult it is to hit some of those pitches.”
The tied-up World Series continues this Friday, October 31, on Fox Sports.
