The stage is set. On February 2nd, 2014, the Seattle Seahawks will take on the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII, at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. This is projected to be the coldest Super Bowl ever (the current coldest Super Bowl was during Super Bowl VI played at Tulane Stadium in 1972 where the temperature was 39 degrees), with temperatures expected to be in the low to mid 30s with a good chance of snow showers. The NFL has reassured all fans, players, teams, executives, and so on, that they do have plans in place if game time needs to be moved due to inclement weather.
In order to allow fans at home to feel more immersed in the Super Bowl, and to provide a way to truly understand the temperatures the players will be dealing with during the Super Bowl, FOX Sports is going to be using infrared cameras that can show how each player’s body temperature is changing throughout the game. With all of the hype that this game is receiving, FOX Sports’ choice to use infrared cameras during the game makes perfect sense, because as a fan, you want to feel like you’re at the game even when you’re not. These new infrared cameras will give fans the opportunity to get a glimpse at how the temperatures are affecting the game and the players themselves.
Most games played in cold temperatures involve some injuries due to the hard turf, some fumbles due to not being able to hold onto the rock hard ball when it’s snapped, some botched kicks if the game is being played in the snow, some dropped passes due to that rock hard football being thrown into a players gut while his hands are freezing cold, and of course, a lot of players taking time on the sideline to breathe in clean oxygen since most of these games are played with very thin air outside.
When all of these miscues happen, most fans don’t know whether to blame the players, the weather, or plain bad luck, but with FOX’s new cameras, fans may be able to make a more educated guess if they see that the player who just made the miscue has a very low body temperature and should be put on the sideline to warm up and recover.
In addition, if coaches can get access to these camera angles, it would provide them with a better ability to manage the game by knowing when to sub out certain players to keep them warm and their body temperature regulated, therefore giving them the best chance to win the game.
While these cameras do really just “make for some pretty cool pictures” FOX Sports COO and executive producer Eric Shanks said, the real value isn’t in what the camera literally does. The true value is that it enhances the fan experience of watching the Super Bowl. All fans wish they could go to the Super Bowl every year, and with ticket prices starting at $1500, that obviously isn’t possible. So having these new cameras provides a greater and more unique in-home experience for all the fans not at the Super Bowl.
FOX made plans to test out these cameras during the NFC Championship Game, which featured the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers. Now, this game carried some storylines of its own, including a fantastic game-ending knockdown-to-interception play by none other than Richard Sherman himself that sent Seattle to its second Super Bowl ever. And although FOX Sports hasn’t released fully public results of the camera testing this weekend, one can assume that any problems, if any, that were had during the game will be fixed come February 2nd. FOX has used these cameras before, including in this past year’s World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals, which allowed them to spotlight the heat generated in contact between the ball and the bat.
In addition to using these infrared cameras, FOX will also be bringing devices that allow them to show the impact of the wind on the quarterbacks and kickers throughout the game, and they will also be using more high-tech 4K cameras than ever before to get “that definite angle.”
Overall, these infrared cameras and the other devices will present fans with an even more diverse and distinctive in-home experience, and will definitely increase the allowance of cold weather Super Bowls in the future since the fans will be so intrigued by this new technology. That’s really what the Super Bowl is all about for the network anyways, the experience for the fans. Well, that and the commercials.