Despite the NFL kickoff on Thursday night, some viewers flocked to the FS1 telecast to see Jeff Driskel’s Louisiana Tech Bulldogs compete with Brandon Doughty’s Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Anyone tuning into the broadcast noticed a slight twist in the production – three analysts calling the game from Fox Sports’ satellite studio 2,000 miles west in Los Angeles.
And despite sending former USC running back Petros Papadakis to L.T. Smith Stadium, FS1 didn’t necessarily flourish in their Louisiana Tech/Western Kentucky coverage, according to some disgruntled fans.
If you call a game in Bowling Green, Ky., from Los Angeles, it sounds like you're calling a game in Bowling Green, Ky., from Los Angeles.
— Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) September 11, 2015
But maybe I'll switch to Pats-Steelers because this is just pitiful. For all the complaining we do about ESPN, at least they make an effort.
— Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) September 11, 2015
https://twitter.com/cblunt58/status/642128899447607297
First things first..doing play by play from the studio is awful FS1..come on
— Sean Fox (@fox4sportstalk) September 11, 2015
A report by the Miami Herald caught up with a Fox Sports’s V.P. of Remote Operations, Brad Zager, and reminded those effected by the change was out of mere experimentation and further in-studio trials are scheduled to take place:
“It’s an experiment. Can we do a college game and have the viewer not lose anything by having the announcers and camera in studio? It’s an opportunity to see if it’s something that works.”
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