MLS: NASCAR paves way for league return
Don Garber vows that the technology that successfully delivered NASCAR will kickstart MLS upon its return. The league will get creative, just as NASCAR already has.
Major League Soccer won’t really be soccer without connecting with supporters, MLS Commissioner Don Garber recently observed. So he carefully studied the May 17 NASCAR event at Darlington Raceway. In that broadcast of a race in a nearly empty stadium, 6 million fans tuned in and made it a success.
This Fox Sports telecast of The Real Heroes 400 won by Kevin Harvick periodically rotated through spirited Zoom watch parties. Speaking at the Leaders Direct conference last week, Garber said NASCAR incorporated the Zoom parties effectively and this inspired what MLS will look like once the pitch gets active:
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"“I’ve seen images of virtual fans and digital fans that have been done in watch parties. I thought NASCAR did a great job with a Zoom watch party. I think you’ll expect that when we get back to play, we’ll do similar things. I don’t think you can artificially replicate the environment in a stadium when you’re playing without fans. I think we’ve got to focus in on the game on the field. … When we do get back, you’ll see some creative and, not unprecedented but innovative, technologies in those broadcasts without fans.”"
His answer is to focus on the game on the field, of course, and he has called on his league to get creative and employ innovative technologies for the initial broadcasts. That goes far beyond Zoom watch parties. NASCAR took the same approach.
NASCAR approximated the fans’ eyes using high-speed drones. Garber also saw this. Fox Sports only expanded the use of aerial production drones for NASCAR events last year. The first experiments started just over three years ago. The crew relies heavily upon the Freefly Systems ALTA 8 drone, with five-axis stabilization. The basic units sell for just under $18,000 and can carry a 20-pound payload.
They’ve also used a DJI Inspire 2. The basic unit sells for just over $3,200. It accelerates from 0-50 mph in just five seconds and has a maximum speed of 58 mph. It’s the world’s first filmmaking drone integrating high-definition video transmission, 360-degree rotating gimbal, and a 4K camera.
The aim is to provide dynamic views not possible with conventional camera positions. The drone cameras use a Fujinon 20-120mm lens with a crop-factor letting it reach 40-240mm. Getting MLS to the people is Garber’s mission and he’s previously said of the televised look of the games that everything’s on the table:
"“I’d say yes, everything’s on the table, and it should be, it’s one of the benefits of having time to take a step back and perhaps think about life going forward that might be a little different — and in positive ways. We’ll get back to playing and we’ll get back to having our fans and we’ll get back to MLS having the momentum that it had leading into its 25th season. But maybe we’ll be producing games differently.”"
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Thanks to NASCAR, then, the homework has already been done and the assignment is more than acceptable. MLS will get creative when it returns to play, and it might just about make watching a game without fans enjoyable.