Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Fox Sports will test infrared camera showing players' body temperatures during NFC title game: Report

Have you ever wondered just how frozen a frost-breathing football player was during a cold weather game while you were curled up on your toasty couch?

Well, now you'll know — Predator-style

Fox Sports has a few surprises lined for next month's cold weather Super Bowl telecast at MetLife Stadium, and the network plans to test them out during the San Francisco 49ers-Seattle Seahawks game at CenturyLink Field this Sunday.

The  network will use this weekend's NFC title game in Seattle to test an infrared camera that will show how players' body temperatures change throughout the game. The thermal-imaging shows a person's body heat with different colors — just how the movie extra-terrestrial saw his prey.



"I don't know what story that tells, but it might make for some pretty cool pictures," Eric Shanks, Fox Sports chief operating officer and executive producer, told the Television Critics Association on Monday.

He said another unspecified device will show how wind affects a quarterback or kicker.



Shanks said the network will also have more high-tech 4K cameras than ever before to zoom in for what he called "that definitive angle."



The network is touting the Feb. 2 game as "the coldest and boldest Super Bowl ever" in its advertising. Shanks said the pre-game timing will be altered slightly because of the temperature so people aren't on the field standing around too long waiting for the players to come out.

"We have spent a lot of time with the league going over contingency plans not unlike what we do for this weekend in Seattle," Shanks said, noting three NFL games on Fox this season were delayed because of weather.

"It's not like football isn't played in the cold. We were just in Green Bay," he added. "The NFL shouldn't be apologizing for a cold-weather Super Bowl. If this goes off well, I think we should give another Super Bowl to a cold-weather city. How great would it be to have a Super Bowl in Green Bay?"

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