Channel 7 to incorporate crowd noises into TV broadcasts when AFL returns

Channel 7 has vowed to make viewers feel part of its AFL broadcast when football returns and plans to incorporate crowd noises during games. Will it work?

BT, Bruce and Hamish, – Channel 7 commentary team. Left to Right Hamish McLachlan Bruce McAvaney & Brian Taylor Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Channel 7 commentators will call this year’s rebooted AFL season from a hi-tech remote bunker rather than from the ground venues in order to adhere to strict COVID-19 protocols.

It comes as the network’s Melbourne managing director Lewis Martin said the station was logistically “ready to go” as soon as the medical experts and the government provide the AFL with the green light to resume the 2020 season.

That is likely to happen in mid-June.

“The guys (callers) will be calling from a very hi-tech centre with multiple angles and statistics and with probably more facilities (than at the ground),” Martin told the Herald Sun.

“Obviously, we would always prefer to be there (at the ground), but in this environment, it is not meant to be.

“We don’t think the audience will notice too much of a difference.”

Channel 7 will call AFL matches from a remote bunker this season.

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Martin said Channel 7 had learnt plenty from the experience of calling matches without crowds in Round 1.

“We are looking at some different things to make the viewers feel a part of the broadcast and a part of the game,” he said.

“We are going to make sure we bring some flavour to it, without overdoing it.”

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Brian Taylor’s post-match segment ‘Roaming Brian’ will be no more until strict social distancing rules are lifted.

Martin confirmed the network was looking to incorporate crowd noise recordings to the broadcast, but stressed it wouldn’t be overbearing.

He also said the network had been looking at ways to bring the fans closer to the game, while at the same time working within stringent health protocols.

“There is no doubt that through adversity comes ingenuity and innovation,” he said. “Through this time we have been looking at certain things.

“There will be innovations that we will discover only as a result of these challenging times which might one day become mainstays of the broadcast.”