Ultimate on television

On the way home from training last night (it was a "Nigel Trip") I got to thinking (among other things) about the possibility of ultimate being on television. And so I asked myself the question - "With an unlimited budget, how would you present ultimate on TV?"

Cameras
I'd start out with the standard sports angles of one-zoomed-in-one-zoomed-out at the halfway line that you see with pretty much every sport. You would have to have the cameras up pretty high to make sure the view wouldn't be obstructed by sideline players - maybe enforce a 3 metre clearance zone on the sidelines for players, and another 2 metres further back for spectators. That way the cameras would only need to be 5-6 metres up without being too far away.

One camera placed behind the endzone Ultivillage-style for your replays and NAB Analyser segments, plus a roaming camera on the sidelines for the close up "war zone" action. Maybe also have a roaming boom mike to pick up conversations between players for foul calls and whatnot. I also think a crane camera behind one endzone would be awesome to catch different views of scores and endzone D's.


Commentators
A team of three would be great - first off a play by play person, who wouldn't necessarily have to be an ultimate player. I think a PBP role wouldn't vary too much between different sports. I think football (aka soccer) benefits greatly from just having one commentator, but ultimate would need that extra explanation of why something happened, rather than just how. So you'd have a current or former player - preferably with Dingo/Aurora appearances plus coaching gigs on their resume to give that credibility - in a 'special comments' role. Third would be a sideline commentator - their job being to relay what's happening on the field to the other two/people at home, such as foul calls.

Sponsors
It seems televised sport these days would be nothing without sponsors. With a break between goals being around 45-60 seconds, and a typical game having around 30 goals, that's plenty of time for a score, replay, ad then back to the action. Timeouts and half times are also obvious spots, without being intrusive on the game. Then of course sideline signage...and perhaps painted endzones?

Other flashy bits
A great aspect of Channel 7's rugby union coverage are the little "Toohey's New Rules" pop-ups that explain what has just been called. Ultimate doesn't have the luxury of an umpire giving hand signals, so instead the sideline commentator could simply say "Contact on the throw, so the disc goes back to Player X" and we have a popup saying "Uncontested foul. Stall count resets to 0."

I've seen posts on RSD on this topic saying that there would need to be some sort of stall count display for the people at home to follow but I disagree. In basketball there are a few rules relating to time allowed - no more than 3 seconds in the key, no holding for longer than 5 seconds once done dribbling, and getting out of the backcourt in 10 seconds. We don't need a clock counting that - we just know that the ref is counting those seconds in his head and will call a violation if time is up. All the audience would need to know is that the player has 10 seconds to get rid of it.



OK, so what makes ultimate so different from any other sport on telly? There's a few differences I can think of...

• Female commentators - there is absolutely no reason why you couldn't have a female PBP, special comments or sideline commentator. They are rarely seen outside predominantly female sports (eg: netball, women's tennis) so a simple gesture of having a female PBP or anchor for, say, a NUFL event, would be seen as quite innovative.
• Unique camera angles - this is why I'd love to see a crane camera in the endzone. Imagine a shot following the disc's path as it comes down to a laying out receiver, or a sweeping shot around a pack going up for the disc. Not many other sports have the luxury of a large scoring area where they can film from almost any angle.
• Talking to players during the game - no other sport has the access to talk to players during breaks in play. Picture this - while the disc is getting retrieved out of bounds from a wayward throw, the sideline commentator quickly grabs a comment from the captain as to whether their zone or man D is working best, and what opposition player they're keeping their eyes on. Now try picturing a similar scenario in AFL or rugby league. Not likely, is it?

Now the only experience I have in television production is being on Deal Or No Deal once (guessed $200k, it was $1k. Shattered) so I'm certain there's potential innovations I'm just not thinking of. It'll be worthwhile to pursue one day down the track, but I think we've got a bit to go before we have a presentable product in Australia.