That out-of-the-box (and booth) thinking made its debut last week for Thursday night\u2019s preseason matchup between the New York Jets and Washington Redskins. Tessitore and Witten were located in a new broadcast booth, McFarland was 10 ft. up on the cart, and Salters was on the sidelines.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/IMG_5275.jpg\")
<\/a>From left: SVP, Event and Studio Production, Stephanie Druley and on-air talent Joe Tessitore, Lisa Salters, Jason Witten, and Booger McFarland reflect on the preseason debut of Monday Night Football.<\/p><\/div>\n
McFarland\u2019s vantage point provides another layer to ESPN\u2019s broadcast by allowing him to see the action from a unique angle for an analyst. In addition, the cart can travel from end zone to end zone and follow the progression of every series, positioning him next to the line of scrimmage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis dynamic of having the field-level, hovering analyst is already showing us new dynamics that I think we\u2019re going to be really pleased with,\u201d says Tessitore.<\/p>\n
The technology involved is simple yet complex, given that it will be zipping up and down the sideline. A monitor on the platform is divided into a quad split, allowing McFarland to see the televised broadcast; feeds of individual cameras, such as SkyCam; stats and team lineups; and a feed of Tessitore and Witten in the booth (they can also see him via monitor).<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring our rehearsals [in Bristol, Dallas, and New York],\u201d says Jay Rothman<\/strong>, VP, production\/MNF<\/em> producer, ESPN, \u201cwe actually put Booger in a separate room with cameras shooting him and cameras shooting Joe and Witten, feeding them to each other and [allowing them to see] each other at all times. To avoid clunkiness and to keep the dialogue smooth, Booger controls the opening and closing of his own mic.\u201d<\/p>\n McFarland believes that the new rig will create a new form of storytelling around an NFL game and enhance the broadcast as a whole: \u201cIf I\u2019m at home watching a basketball game or soccer game, it\u2019s more entertaining and more attractive when you have a conversation going on. That\u2019s ultimately the atmosphere that we\u2019re going to try and create.\u201d<\/p>\n The Booger Mobile, currently a 10-ft. platform mounted on the same sideline cart as the game camera, is tried out by producer Jay Rothman (left) and analyst Booger McFarland. Photo: Los Angeles Times<\/p><\/div>\n As the season rolls along, the cart will have to adjust and adapt to the different environments in individual stadiums. On Thursday night, McFarland was mounted on the same cart as the cart camera covering the game, but the team will also experiment with his having his own cart.<\/p>\n \u201cI was confident that [our setup] would pass the test with the NFL, and it did [in our debut],\u201d Rothman reports. \u201cWe also have the ability in those stadiums where there are low game cameras to simply put Booger on the far side of the field.\u201d<\/p>\n NEP\u2019s EN1 production fleet will once again be at the center of ESPN\u2019s production efforts, providing a home for Rothman and the rest of the production team to deliver for NFL fans.<\/p>\n Before the team begins the regular-season schedule in Oakland on Sept. 10, the team ponders the path that lies ahead.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be able to play for a franchise like the Dallas Cowboys for 15 years and then have the opportunity to transition into the best job in America,\u201d says Witten, \u201cI\u2019m very fortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n Salters provides context to those sentiments: \u201cThese guys have earned the right to start the next chapter of Monday Night Football<\/em> history.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s all about new perspectives for ESPN\u2019s 2018 Monday Night Football season. A new broadcast crew comprising play-by-play announcer Joe Tessitore and two analysts, Jason Witten and Booger McFarland, will […]\n More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":145481,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[9248,33],"tags":[131,1578,15412],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145479"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145479"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145488,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145479\/revisions\/145488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>