NFL Preseason 2014

[LoadStar 364]

 

The first pic is from KFMB's current graphics package. The rest are from previous NFL on CBS graphics packs.

 

Rather, they're in-house graphics designed to look vaguely similar to a previous NFL on CBS graphics pack. They're definitely not using the actual graphics CBS used.

 

If a stations is going to do in-house, I don't get why they attempt (badly) to masquerade as network graphics. Just do something original. At least then they won't look like a bad copycat.

[A3N 1002]

 

Rather, they're in-house graphics designed to look vaguely similar to a previous NFL on CBS graphics pack. They're definitely not using the actual graphics CBS used.

 

If a stations is going to do in-house, I don't get why they attempt (badly) to masquerade as network graphics. Just do something original. At least then they won't look like a bad copycat.

 

The scorebug and L3's are not in-house graphics. If that was the case, then they would have gone with a complete in-house look instead of this mishmash of graphics. The sponsor graphics and open are done in-house. The rest of the graphics are elements from previous CBS/NFL graphics (in the 2nd pic, the graphic is very fuzzy, not designed for HD). Not sure why KFMB did not go with a complete and newer CBS/NFL graphics or do a full in-house look, seeing as they feed the pre-season games to KCBS, KLAS, KSWT, KGPE, KBAK and KGMB.

[Weeters 1916]

The Packers are once again using their vaguely bootlegged NBC-ish graphics (likely NBC graphics template translated over to Journal's Renderon system, my guess):

 

NBC provides them with the graphics and files to run on a Chyron system. My guess is that if anything looks different, it's just NBC "dumbing down" the package to run on the lower-end systems that are floating around out there on the various production trailers that travel the country. Not everyone gets the good stuff they have on the trucks that do Sunday Night Football and the Superbowl!

 

The fullscreen transitions, player graphics, and other Packers TV Network-specific graphics are all done in-house at WTMJ, though.

[cbs2newengland 72]

KPIX and WCBS using the networks graphics? Couldn't there be a way to convert their news graphics into something for local sports? There's some potential (at least in my mind.)

[sanewsguy 511]

 

KPIX and WCBS using the networks graphics? Couldn't there be a way to convert their news graphics into something for local sports? There's some potential (at least in my mind.)

 

Why would they? It's just something they do for three weeks out of the year. There's not really any point...

 

I saw the Texans yesterday on KSAT (their home station is KTRK). They seem to use their own custom package with some elements of a Hothaus package I linked to last year still lurking. Also, the Texans use Doc Morgan as their VO for promos and the like. I thought he retired. I didn't know he was still doing voice work...

 

I hate the Cowgirls so somebody else will have to tell you what they use...

 

(I also can't stand Mickey Spangola who the Cowboys use for everything across all media)

[cbs2newengland 72]

 

Why would they? It's just something they do for three weeks out of the year. There's not really any point...

 

To be honest, NFL is the only sport that isn't aired on a local station/network for regular season. MLB/MLS/NBA/NHL do. And technically the network's sports division is not the distribution, nor are they the content creator. WCBS, et al are. I think there should be a focus of branding on the local level. Not that anybody cares who does it - it's only when you got potential moronic commentators that are "CBS" when in fact they are really CBS2, CBS 5, etc. with clueless people bitching on social media and erroneously referring to the wrong property.

[rkolsen 1684]

To be honest, NFL is the only sport that isn't aired on a local station/network for regular season. MLB/MLS/NBA/NHL do. And technically the network's sports division is not the distribution, nor are they the content creator. WCBS, et al are. I think there should be a focus of branding on the local level. Not that anybody cares who does it - it's only when you got potential moronic commentators that are "CBS" when in fact they are really CBS2, CBS 5, etc. with clueless people bitching on social media and erroneously referring to the wrong property.

I think the games are licensed out and produced by the teams - at least that's how the Redskins and Ravens games are handled. A producer explained that the teams use the graphics provided by the networks for their primary rights holder in the local games in this case WRC and WBAL, respectively in addition to dual carriage on Comcast SportsNet MidAtlantic and Comcast SportsNetwork MidAtlantic Plus. I do believe that if the additional rights holders (like WJLA and WHTM) wanted to implement their own graphics the teams will provide a clean feed and the interface through the scoreboard system so the timing is accurate.

 

Here locally the Orioles games on broadcast TV take the MASN graphics and I think it's the same for Nationals games.

[ColumbusNewsFan 217]

Something I'm noticing this year. Alot of teams mainly those who have Gannett stations running the game and some CBS Stations that are doing the games , are using the respective network look, mainly NBC and CBS look (Not counting CBS 8 in SD and did with the Chargers. It should be burned just to put it out of it's misery.)

 

Overall, I see why to do it but it loses some of that local team touch even though it's a better product overall.

[bhratbrat 437]

WKYC

WJXT

WKRN

CW Atlanta

WCCB

WFLD

KARE

KNXV

[ehatt493 33]

Not glad to see the Cardinals are still using that absolute abomination of a graphics package. Bears feed looks like something from Madden and the Panthers feed looks like those old Raycom graphics I hated, but they look much better.

[Viper550 291]

Didn't look like anything was new for Thursday Monday Night Football on a quick glance; last year ESPN experimented with having additional red lights on the scorebar to denote challenges remaining. I'm surprised they removed it...

 

Meanwhile, looks like NFL on Fox got a new logo too; it actually looks reminiscent of a certain other type of football.

[rkolsen 1684]

Here's an interesting conundrum the Redskins have a game versus the Redskins on August 23. WBFF just stated their sister station WNUV would be airing the game however WBAL is the Ravens "official" broadcaster they air all preseason games. But the Ravens say that WBAL is also set to schedule that game. Is their no exclusivity for preseason games or is their something else airing on NBC to roll it over to the CW.

[24994J 5577]

 

Meanwhile, looks like NFL on Fox got a new logo too; it actually looks reminiscent of a certain other type of football.

 

Hmm...

 

[rkolsen 1684]

Here's an interesting conundrum the Redskins have a game versus the Redskins on August 23. WBFF just stated their sister station WNUV would be airing the game however WBAL is the Ravens "official" broadcaster they air all preseason games. But the Ravens say that WBAL is also set to schedule that game. Is their no exclusivity for preseason games or is their something else airing on NBC to roll it over to the CW.

I conversed with WBAL's Executive Sports Producer Chris Dachille on twitter and asked him why the CW is carrying the Ravens/Redskins game he explained that WNUV bought the Redskins broadcast rights. So WNUV can say they carried the Ravens game even though it will be Redskin centric.

 

I do wonder if the same camera will live on the same screen at the same time the only difference should be graphics (although the Redskins and Ravens use the NBC sports package) and commentary. But it could be a good way to compare the HD picture quality between the two stations.

[ns8401 941]

WKYC

WJXT

WKRN

CW Atlanta

WCCB

WFLD

KARE

KNXV

WXYZ uses the same graphics as WKYC except there's an NFL logo in the center not a station logo.

[Viper550 291]

This season, it feels like everyone is trying to one-up eachother in the on-field advertising department with those intrusive, sponsored Red Zones. But this one takes the cake, plus gives us a look at the Saints' new graphics: It's still a "pod" like old MNF, but in the corner.

 

 

Apparently Slap Ya Mama is a brand of Cajun spices.

[rkolsen 1684]

This season, it feels like everyone is trying to one-up eachother in the on-field advertising department with those intrusive, sponsored Red Zones. But this one takes the cake, plus gives us a look at the Saints' new graphics: It's still a "pod" like old MNF, but in the corner.

 

 

Apparently Slap Ya Mama is a brand of Cajun spices.

I understand that the almighty dollar rules all but I'm surprised that no one in standards and practices thought this was acceptable to put on air.

[Viper550 291]

Also, unusually, it seems like the Seahawks games have been giving Fox's old NFL scoreboard its last hurrah (though given that this is KCPQ's second year as official station of the team, I'm somewhat unsurprised), but with the same custom L3s/everything else as last year. Over the past few seasons, they had been using the Root Sports scoreboard.

 

This is not the first time they've used Fox graphics for Seahawks preseason games, given that they've used FSN's old pillbox and metal graphics in the past

[ehatt493 33]

Bengals score banner. Also nobody told them that Jets logo fell out of regular use in 2001.

[rkolsen 1684]

This season, it feels like everyone is trying to one-up eachother in the on-field advertising department with those intrusive, sponsored Red Zones. But this one takes the cake, plus gives us a look at the Saints' new graphics: It's still a "pod" like old MNF, but in the corner.

 

 

Apparently Slap Ya Mama is a brand of Cajun spices.

Clearly the Ravens went in the complete opposite direction to denote the red zone with a McCormick spice bottle.

 

 

This week they changed the NBC peacock to the Ravens Productions logo but WBAL still has that odd widget type logo that rotates between a helmet and their broadcast team logo finally showing their standard logo. That ticker only was on screen for 30 seconds.

 

Sorry about the size I uploaded the full size image but it was resized.

[Leavellebrett 85]

Heinz Ketchup has sponsored the Steelers Red Zone, I know, at least since 2001 when they moved to Heinz Field. They sometimes make the red zone Heinz Red. It really depends on the day.

[Viper550 291]

From what I've seen on Instagram:

 

Bucaneers actually got new graphics this year, but you got a new team flagship this year too, WFLA. It's red and white with a sword motif, and yet another MNF '06 style scoreboard. Also it seems like that they missed a spot or are using one of their college football production trucks, because I saw a "coming out of break" scoreboard from the Steelers game that had a CBS Sports Network logo on it (whoops).

[ehatt493 33]

Buccaneers preseason graphics (screenshot from Tim Burke of Deadspin/30fps)

[ColumbusNewsFan 217]

 

Buccaneers preseason graphics (screenshot from Tim Burke of Deadspin/30fps)

 

Link is not working.

[Thundershock MN 169]

I think the games are licensed out and produced by the teams - at least that's how the Redskins and Ravens games are handled. A producer explained that the teams use the graphics provided by the networks for their primary rights holder in the local games in this case WRC and WBAL, respectively in addition to dual carriage on Comcast SportsNet MidAtlantic and Comcast SportsNetwork MidAtlantic Plus. I do believe that if the additional rights holders (like WJLA and WHTM) wanted to implement their own graphics the teams will provide a clean feed and the interface through the scoreboard system so the timing is accurate.

 

Here locally the Orioles games on broadcast TV take the MASN graphics and I think it's the same for Nationals games.

Here's an interesting conundrum the Redskins have a game versus the Redskins on August 23. WBFF just stated their sister station WNUV would be airing the game however WBAL is the Ravens "official" broadcaster they air all preseason games. But the Ravens say that WBAL is also set to schedule that game. Is their no exclusivity for preseason games or is their something else airing on NBC to roll it over to the CW.

I conversed with WBAL's Executive Sports Producer Chris Dachille on twitter and asked him why the CW is carrying the Ravens/Redskins game he explained that WNUV bought the Redskins broadcast rights. So WNUV can say they carried the Ravens game even though it will be Redskin centric.

 

I do wonder if the same camera will live on the same screen at the same time the only difference should be graphics (although the Redskins and Ravens use the NBC sports package) and commentary. But it could be a good way to compare the HD picture quality between the two stations.

Yes, except for the CBS, FOX, NBC & ESPN telecasts, the rights to the preseason games are held by the teams themselves. The CBS, FOX, NBC & ESPN preseason games are exclusive national telecasts. So, outside of those aforementioned exclusive national games the individual teams hold the rights to the remainder of their preaseason games. They are responsible for production & distribution. Teams produce the games "in-house" either solely, in partnership with a local station, RSN, production company or outsource the production altogether. They then license the games in a "syndication-like" fashion. Some teams like license the games to only a few entities others will have several affiliates. For Example, The Vikings have several affiliates including stations in Omaha (KETV) and Tulsa (KTUL) this year. And, KFVE "affiliates" with a several teams picking up a ton of preseason games. OTOH, The Saints rely almost exclusively on CST for distribution with few OTA affiliates.

 

Also, The live NFLN preseason games are non-inclusive national telecasts...meaning if the game is available locally on a station or RSN in market, NFLN will be blacked-out. And, The NFL Preseason Live online service operates the same way...if the game is available locally on a station or RSN in market you will be blacked-out.

 

So, In theory if a team wanted to they could string together a bunch of affiliates and obtain national (or, close to it) coverage if they wanted to. Though, most teams are fine simply covering just their "primary" and/or "secondary" markets. I also believe their is a "gentlemen's agreement" that teams don't enter each others primary markets. Their are only three examples of teams doing that. The Redskins in Charlotte and Baltimore. And, the Ravens in Washington. Although, Washington and Baltimore markets have the unique distinction of being "secondary" markets for the opposite team explaining their encroachment on each other. The NFL's radio rights are very similar in nature to the preseason allowing teams to sell "out-of-market" rights.

 

FYI- For those interested there is an entire thread over at the506 forums that currently has screengrabs of I believe every teams preseason graphics except the Bills. I didn't feel like jacking 30+ screengrabs...so, I figured I'd just provide a link, hopefully that's cool.