NBC's "Sunday Night Football" is introducing 360-degree replays that will finally allow fans to second-guess referees, "Matrix"-style.
Beginning with the game from Dallas on Sept. 8, the network will have 24 cameras in each end-zone to allow spinning camerawork inspired by the Keanu Reeves saga. NBC coordinated the cameras with Cowboys Stadium.
The new replays are just one way "Sunday Night Football," television's highest-rated and most-watched show, is trying to appeal to the broadest audience possible.
"We're trying to be a show that really appeals to everybody," analyst Cris Collinsworth said during a Television Critics Association panel on Saturday. ""We're trying to [show] human beings behind the facemasks."
The show will also begin sending a "Sunday Night Football" bus to each game city before the games, and to local high school games on Friday nights.
NBC Sports Group Chairman Mark Lazarus was asked about Bob Costas' commentary on gun control last season after Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend and himself. Though gun-rights advocates objected to Costas addressing the issue during "Sunday Night Football," the NFL didn't, Lazarus said. He said NBC "never got one phone call" from the league.
"We cover the events editorially the way we think they shold be covered," he said.
More to come…
