Image courtesy FSC
Over the past couple years, Fox and ESPN upped the quantity and quality of soccer match broadcasts to profit from the improved US product and interest in the game.
I spoke with Scottish-born Dermot McQuarrie, Assistant General Manager, Senior Vice-President, Production & Programming of Fox Sports International to better understand what the network sees in American soccer, how they produce the product, and how the sport needs to grow to become more marketable.
McQuarrie has 40 years of experience in broadcasting, starting as a reporter and news anchor and branching out to create his own production company and sports and movie channels in Europe and the Middle East. He joined Fox 12 years ago as the executive producer of Fox Sports Americas and negotiated deals in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and elsewhere, now purchases sports rights and schedules programming in the USA and Latin America, and oversees production and programming of Fox Soccer Channel (FSC).
In 2009, FSC televised 101 live and delayed MLS (37), WPS (24), and CONCACAF Champions League (40) matches. For the 37 MLS match telecasts in 2009, FSC averaged 56,000 viewers and 0.1 coverage rating, up from 30,000 viewers and a 0.1 rating over the final four matches of 2008 [FSC wasn’t rated until October 2008]. The current Fox contract with MLS ends after next season and over that period McQuarrie will negotiate another three-year contract, which includes the key benefits of covering MLS in Fox Football Fone-In, Fox Soccer Report, Fox Soccer Match Day, and Super Sunday Plus.
McQuarrie loves the game and is enthusiastic by nature, so our conversation bounced from technical production to the importance of integrating and playing against international competition and attracting multi-cultural fans, the difference between the men's and women’s game, the importance of soccer specific stadiums and public transportation, and the increasing quality of the US Men’s National Team in the World Cup.
Part one of two.
LE: What coverage of American soccer does Fox provide now and how have you recently improved the product?
McQuarrie: We cover US men, US women, we then have a weekly game of Major League Soccer, a weekly game of Women’s Professional Soccer, a weekly game of United Soccer League. On MLS we have a three-hour broadcast with a half-hour pregame and half-hour postgame from site. We developed it over the last two seasons to give it more prominence.
I wanted people to get to know the players better. This was proven when the Premier League in England started putting the names of players on the jersey. By putting their names on the shirts, people watching the EPL started to become much more knowledgeable about players.
So I thought, we’ve got names on shirts, but who are these guys? So we interview them pregame, halftime, postgame, and we do a sit-down interview with one of them so the viewer can start to empathize with the players. We find that it’s working.
LE: Explain the technical job of covering an MLS game. There's a lot of fast work here.
McQuarrie: Soccer matches are covered essentially with three cameras. You have two cameras up high and one camera in the middle. So you’re using Camera 1, which is the wide shot covering the play, you have a slightly tighter high shot, Camera 2, the tight follow, and you have Camera 3 sitting down on the half way line which gets the even tighter shots. Any other cameras are used for replay. We use the 18-yard cameras to look for offside. Cameras behind the goals are used for replays. We also have handheld cameras – two of those running up and down the line which are used during throw-ins, cutaways of the benches, and we have cameras on the hosts in the booth, and cameras on the desk if we have the desk and Todd Grisham at the stadium.
You can put more and more cameras on, but it’s not just about taking 25 cameras there and going cut, cut, cut, cut. People would say, wait, I’m not watching the game here. There’s a certain style that’s used throughout the world, which is the same style as we use. We take the trucks there, the satellite truck, the commentators, the sideline reporter, graphics director, producer, videotape engineers, videotape replay people, production staff – they’re all on site for MLS, WPS, USL, and college.
Some are my own staff and some are subcontracted. We contract a production company called Cultural Videos and they are highly experienced soccer producers who travel. The producer, the director, the chief engineer and the person who is head of videotape, those travel round the country. I also supply one of my producers and an assistant producer who’s doing the editorial side of things. Then locally, we hire the cameramen, the audio guys, any lighting guys.
We bring nine cameras to our MLS games here. Plus we have one camera in the booth, we have one camera with the sideline reporter, and we have one on the desk, so we have 12 cameras.
LE: How about WPS?
McQuarrie: We bring seven to a WPS game. Let’s get one thing straight, ESPN doesn’t film any of it. None. The only national game is by Fox Soccer Channel. We are committed to WPS and we are the only exclusive national broadcaster. We put our resources into supporting WPS.
There was a thought originally that this was just going to be a bunch of girls running about the field. Watch it more closely, certainly on the games that we show. These girls don’t take prisoners. When they go up for a ball for a header you’ll see a clash of heads, you’ll see them really working hard, there’s some very good players in WPS. I thought the standard of soccer from WPS was very high.
LE: That’s true, but the women’s game is a little different than the men’s. The women have more passing sequences and strategic development whereas the men’s game is faster and there are more physical challenges. Without sensationalizing it, should the women’s game be shot any differently to highlight the technical game?
McQuarrie: Yes, the women pass the ball more often. Here’s the problem. People look at this usually in hindsight, so after you’ve seen something happen you think, ‘Why couldn’t they show that? They should have a close-up on that player more often.'
Somebody once said to me, ‘You should have a close-up on the player and then run some stats underneath,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, good, and when the ball goes in the back of the net at the other end, what good will that do? Great, while we were telling the story of Abby the ball went in the back of the net.’ I’m sorry, there’s one way to cover football and that’s the way we cover it. We could always enhance our programs, but it’s about covering the field of play.
One of the things we did suggest to one of the coaches was that the pitch was very dry and said if you watered it the ball would go a bit faster and they watered it the next week.
I think that everybody deserves the coverage. The thing about FSC is we cover soccer from the very youngest to highest levels and all levels in between. Yes, there’s a difference between the Premier League and WPS and MLS, but it’s still 11 people playing against 11 people and I tell you, the women and the MLS teams and USL and college, they don’t go out there just to shake hands and let’s have a few beers after. They’re out there to win.
[The women] have got to be given a great deal of credit and the owners of the WPS teams have got to be given a great deal of credit and hopefully more people this season will turn up. It’s got international players in it, good ex-college players, national team stars in it.
LE: Across the board, what's the relative importance of shooting the field of play, the immediate play, the fouls, the player close-ups, the crowd?
McQuarrie: The most important thing is what is going on in the field of play. We take close-ups of reactions of players if they scored a goal, if they’re injured and they’re down on the field, but the play itself is absolutely the most important thing. It’s not about, ‘let’s dress it up, let’s cut away to the crowd’ when we don’t need to cut away to the crowd. You cut away to the crowd when the crowd is responding to something.
LE: What do your cameras do when three-quarters of the stands are empty or covered by tarps?
McQuarrie: You try and avoid it a bit. You can’t avoid a goal kick though, you have to follow the ball. If there are not a lot of people, we try and include the ones that are there and make it look as good as possible.
LE: What are your instructions to the cameras regarding fouls and action on the bench?
McQuarrie: Fouls, you show a replay. If the person stays down, if he’s been injured, you’ll show a different angle, as many angles as we’ve got it from. One of the instructions we give our producers and directors is the first replay is the most important replay because you may not get a chance to show a second one. If someone is offside, we show it with the 18 yard camera, but we can rocket backwards and forwards if it’s controversial.
LE: So, how do you handle commotion on the bench and in the technical area?
McQuarrie: We have a sideline reporter who’s there and our commentators can see it as well. The sideline reporter will say Preki is going mad down here, so one of the hand-held cameras, which are running the line, he’ll turn around and shoot a shot of Preki and then we cut to it and say Preki’s not happy with what’s going on.
Maybe a manager is yelling at the fourth official. We can see that via the sideline reporter and the sideline producer and somebody will talk to the truck because the truck is looking at the main field of play, concentrating on cutting the cameras for the main game.
Let’s say there’s been a very bad tackle and the coach is on his feet screaming and yelling at the fourth official that the guy should be sent off. Now the person is writhing about in the middle of the field. We’ll show a replay and then cut to the coach yelling at the fourth official. There’s no play going on, on the field, so we’re okay to show a replay. The physios come out, they treat them. We show more replays, we show this and that and eventually the play gets restarted. But if it’s just coach up there yelling, we’ve got to decide if it’s better to show the coach yelling or the play. Where is the play at the moment? If the play is at the center of the field, then you can go and take a shot of the coach, but if the players are near the goalmouth, you’re not going to go and take a shot of the coach, are you?
End of Part One.
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