Long before drones and drone selfies and high-speed drone racing, there was SkyCam. You know SkyCam: It’s that cable-suspended camera system that shoots mesmerizing mid-air tracking shots during the Super Bowl and college bowl games, providing floating in-game vantage points since the mid-1980s.
Even in an age where drones seem cheaper, more versatile, and far less of an installation hassle, SkyCam lives on. And today, it's getting an upgrade. There’s a new version of the system dubbed “Wildcat,” and you’ll be able to see the first in-game footage shot with it during tonight’s Major League Soccer (MLS) All-Star Game on Fox Sports 1.
About two years in development, the new SkyCam system has a new "open architecture" that lets broadcast crews mount different types of cameras. The user interface and control system for "pilots" has been rebuilt to make it easier to operate. It's also lighter, which helps it reach speeds of up to 25mph while it’s zipping around above the playing field. The previous generation topped out at around 15mph. “We can actually go faster than 25mph, but we want to make sure what we’re doing is reasonable,” says SkyCam CTO Stephen Wharton.
The new system also supports things like syncing up with pyrotechnics shows to offer dramatic fly-throughs of on-field fireworks, as well as support for virtual graphics such as first-down markers. It was also been built with modularity in mind. Because the future of broadcast is very much in flux---4K, 8K, and VR are right on the horizon---the Wildcat system can accommodate more types of cameras. SkyCam also says the new rig shoots even smoother video, thanks to a new four-axis stabilization system built into the motorized camera spar.
While the company is considering auto-pilot technology for the rig (intelligent tracking that can follow the ball or certain players), maneuvering it during a game is still a manual process. For now, at least, there’s no perfect replacement for a human pilot.
“It’s about telling the story of the game,” says SkyCam President and CEO Endre Buxton. “You want to see how a play develops. Our pilots are highly skilled, and they know what will develop based on the formation and the situation in a game.”
Video isn’t the only big draw for SkyCam’s close-to-the-action systems. Whenever it’s used for a football broadcast, the technology is also assisting capture on field audio. “We’re the closest microphone to all the action,” says Buxton. “Every game, we’re running shotgun microphones over the field. Sometimes we’re only eight feet from the quarterback.”
According to Buxton, around 25 percent of televised NFL football games now feature SkyCam footage and audio. While most stadiums use temporarily installations of the system (SkyCam says it can set up the cable-guided camera rig in two days), there are a few permanent installations. A few hockey arenas have SkyCam systems for keeps, as does AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, near SkyCam’s headquarters in Fort Worth.
But if drones are now plentiful and have more freedom of movement, why not replace SkyCam with them altogether? According to SkyCam CTO Wharton, it’s because drones are loud, which would screw up the in-game audio capture, and it's also due to safety. A drone can move so freely, there’s a greater risk of one flying too low, accidentally taking a detour into the stands, or getting pelted with items thrown by rowdy fans. And of course, there are also regulations that prevent in-game drone usage.
“There have been requests that have been denied by the FAA,” says Wharton. “They’ll use them for pre-game beauty shots, but not over a crowd. You might have a 20-pound payload with the camera system, and we’re not sure a drone can handle that. And we also have a straight fiber-optic path with our truck to ensure picture quality delivery. With a drone, there are potential issues with that.”
There’s also the risk of a drone’s battery dying out mid-game and falling onto a player’s head, although a similar scenario actually played out when the SkyCam fell onto the field during the 2011 Insight Bowl. SkyCam says that something like that won’t happen again.
“We had a part failure,” says Wharton. “It was a fastener that failed; the line did not break. We replaced that fastener system and now have a redundant system for our linkage. There’s an additional line now that will hold the camera up if anything fails.”
Tonight’s MLS All-Star Game is the new system’s debut, but it will see plenty of action after that. According to SkyCam, the updated system will be used in Super Bowl 50 next February, as well as regular-season NFL, NHL, and college-football games on CBS, FOX, NBC, and ESPN.
