Fox Sports is leaning into the auto racing setting for the MLB Speedway Classic and will have cameras mounted on several motorized four-wheelers. Among the 40 cameras in use for the broadcast will be a pair affixed to the bullpen cars driving in relief pitchers to the mound, and the same rover that featured at the Indy 500 will speed around the track.
Director Matt Gangl indicated that the rover -- officially known as the RC Car Camera -- will be used to capture footage of a pregame players parade around the track, for pregame introductions and possibly for in-game reporter hits and fan shots during the pregame concert.
“Rover Cam offers perspective of what it’s like to be on the track at Bristol Motor Speedway, coming into the ends and experiencing the visual of the third-steepest banked NASCAR track at 30 degrees,” Gangl told SBJ, noting that it’ll provide “unique angles and perspectives of an MLB game set in the infield of a racetrack with 85,000-plus fans.”
“We hope to capture fun interactions with players on the field before the game: Walking to the field for the first time, hanging out along the baseline during batting practice,” he added. “Players are like big ‘kids’ and like to have fun with what looks like an oversized ‘toy.’”
Bullpen cars, meanwhile, are a relic of baseball’s past that briefly resurfaced a half-dozen years ago. HOFers from each club -- Johnny Bench from the Reds, Chipper Jones from the Braves -- will ride them before the game, and pitchers have the option to do so later.
“This is a nostalgia item,” Gangl said. “Harkens back to an era where the bullpen car was how a reliever made his way into the game. Having a camera inside the car, bringing viewers along for the ride is a shot you don’t get during an average MLB game. This would be Johnny Bench and Chipper Jones coming out for the ceremonial first pitch and then possibly relievers during the game. It also ties in to in-car cameras at a NASCAR event.”
Fox also will utilize the home plate Ump Cam as well as cameras on a drone and a helicopter, not to mention 20 field effects mics and 14 to be placed on players and coaches.
