By Ben Nicholson
March 4 – En route to becoming a leading world soccer league, the MLS is innovating by placing microphones on coaches during nationally televised TV games so that viewers can hear the words coming from the horse’s mouth.
Fox’s Lead Producer, Shaw Brown, hopes to incorporate the clips during moments, for example, when the “ball goes out” of play and there is a “good ten seconds to roll something in.”
Brown assured, “These are things that enhance the game, but for me they will never get in the way of the game. I won’t let them.”
US sport is culturally inclined to bridging the gap between sports personalities and fans. In the NBA coaches are outfitted with microphones, as are referees in the NFL.
This practice is unfamiliar though to the traditional fans of football, and perhaps unnerving to the passionate manager who previously has had little concern about watching his manner of communication.
Fortunately, the broadcast network will not relay the sound live. Rather, the communications will be vetted by the broadcaster and an MLS representative, to ensure the words will not affect the sensibilities of the viewing audience, and then relayed during opportune moments throughout the game.
This is similar to the practice used in the NBA, and ostensibly little bother in the opinion of Jesse Marsch, Head Coach of the New York Red Bulls, who said: “Maybe you know in the beginning, but then the game gets going and then you’re not too worried about it.”
Jim Curtin, the Head Coach of the Philadelphia Union, expressed his belief that it will change the sideline behavior of coaches: “Any coach that’s going to be mic’ed up, there’s no way to say exactly what you would if you weren’t mic’ed up. That’s a fact. Even when you watch these NBA huddles [in timeouts] and the different things that are said, you can almost tell right away that the coach is speaking like he has a microphone on, and is watching what he says.”
Beyond the likely expletives that will be captured, the bugged coach might be bugged by the prospect of having strategy and tactics exposed for public consumption. Though Marsch mentioned this was a viable concern, he expressed that its benefits outweigh the costs:
“There was some talk among the coaches’ group that it may expose some of the tactics or strategy in what you’re doing, but I don’t think there are too many secrets. There are some personalities that are coaches in this league, and there are some interesting things being done with different teams, and the more insight that I think the fans can get into the complexities of what’s happening on the field, I think the more interesting it gets and the more compelling it gets.”
In Marsch’s view, the access to the coach’s insight could increase interest in the on-pitch play, impliedly by educating the viewers as to what is happening, be it the coach’s interpretation of the game or the coach’s ostensible plan for the players as indicated through the instructions ordered.
It is also worth mentioning that the danger of revealing tactical insight may be abated if the MLS representative has some authorised amount of discretion to filter out such information.
Moreover, it is unlikely that sensitive information would be barked out across the field in the course of the game anyway, for the alert ears on the opponent’s bench discourage that form of activity.
Where the issue arises with greater force is in the whisperings between coaches and players. It remains to be seen whether fans will be privy to these interactions.
There definitely will be some access to locker room interactions. Brown stated that cameras will be in the locker rooms of their televised games to “be a fly on the wall for a little bit.”
Is Curtin concerned? Not really. He stated, “There are still special parts of the locker room that you do kind of question outside access too, but at the same time, there has to be a bit of a give-take.”
Apparently compelling Curtin’s acceptance is his desire for the league to be forward thinking. He said: “Anything that grows the game, I’m on board for. Is it a little wild when you first hear they’re going to have a microphone on you inside the locker room before the game? Yeah, that does sound crazy. There’s going to be microphones at the fourth official’s table. So it’s different. But I think as coaches, you need to be innovative and open to change.”
He continued, “It’s a good thing. I think it’s good for the game, it’s an innovative thing, and again, we’re trying to market and sell our league as one of the top leagues. That moves it in that direction.
“I think any access for fans that are new to a game – anything that’s said to a fourth official, that’s said to a player that’s going into a game, that’s said in a locker room environment – first and foremost it’s cool for them to see it, because it’s something that they have maybe never had before. And then the nuance and the messaging that they hear, things that maybe make sense, the directions, can help them learn. Which is positive, and again, we’re at a time when we’re trying to grow our game.”
Encouraging his open mindedness is the activities of competitor sports in the U.S. He said: “You look across the leagues now – the NBA, the NFL – you see Peyton Manning doing an interview 10 seconds before the Super Bowl kicks off. It’s something that’s coming. If they can do it in those leagues that have the billion-dollar TV contracts, I think we need to at least open our minds and be accepting of, maybe, new ideas in what were previously deemed sacred places.”
ESPN Soccer Producer, Chris Alexopoulos, even suggested it was a necessary move for the MLS: “It was a lot of people looking at what other leagues are doing, and saying that this league has a unique opportunity to attempt to do more than any other league in terms of access. Out of necessity, and because of the personalities of the players and the coaches. All players, coaches, broadcast partners and MLS – I think everyone understands that we have to do as much as we possibly can to get special content out to promote the league, because we’re all invested in it equally.”
So that the viewer can put words to faces, additional cameras will be added, trained on the coaches for the entirety of the broadcast. This feature will debut this weekend as the 2016 MLS season kicks off.
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