Broadcast teams face challenges
The Diamondbacks will be at Dodger Stadium to play their first official exhibition game of camp on Sunday night, and announcers Steve Berthiaume and Bob Brenly will call the game on Fox Sports Arizona.
The occasion will mark a sort of return to normalcy for Arizona baseball fans, but as with most everything in this pandemic-stricken world, there will be a catch — a strange and awkward one.
The broadcast crew will be calling and producing the game from home.
Berthiaume and Brenly will be watching the action on video monitors from a broadcast booth inside an empty Chase Field. Other broadcast crew members will be stationed in trucks near the railroad tracks behind the stadium.
Major League Baseball’s health and safety protocols were formulated to minimize the number of individuals in ballparks and traveling with teams. That
means television and radio broadcasters will not go on the road this year. And it means only one broadcast crew — the home team’s — will be on hand in each of the 30 ballparks; they will share their feed with the road team.
It makes for a challenging wrinkle for broadcast teams at a time when their importance is amplified. With no fans in the stands, the season essentially is being staged solely for television purposes.
“In one small sense, we’re not creating a baseball season; we’re creating a television show,” Berthiaume said. “We’ll do our best to put on the best show we can. No doubt things will be limited, but I think we’re going to be fine.”
Not having the same access to manager Torey Lovullo, coaches or players will create challenges, likely limiting the broadcast’s ability to share behind-the-scenes anecdotes or details about the team’s personalities.
The broadcast also might find itself missing some of its originality. Because they will be sharing camera feeds with the opposing team, producers and directors won’t have the luxury of focusing only on their team, though the road crew will have a single, dedicated camera out of the seven or so at each park.
“If we’re in Seattle getting a feed from the Mariners’ folks, how do we take what they give us and make it Diamondbacks-centric?” Berthiaume said. “I think it’s much harder for the truck than the broadcasters.”
That could mean the Diamondbacks’ broadcast won’t be able to have a long discussion about, say, left fielder David Peralta’s sunglasses — at least not with a camera locked in on him the entire time.
“The little things like that, that’s what you might lose out on,” Berthiaume said. “(Brenly) is the best in the business at noticing things like that. ‘Hey, I think the catcher is using a new glove or that guy changed his shoes or that guy is positioned differently.’ He has a unbelievably keen eye at picking up on those things.”
Jeff Gowen, FSAZ’s lead Diamondbacks producer, said he is most concerned about what the road conditions will mean for his announcers.
“They’re used to being at the game and now they’re having to read off a monitor,” Gowen said. “We’re doing everything we can to make them comfortable. I want to put them in a position where they’ll be at their best. Will it start out that way? Maybe not, but we’re hoping to build to that.”
The club’s radio announcers will be in the same position. For longtime radio voice Greg Schulte, who is entering his 23rd season, he thinks it could prove even more difficult than it is for TV.
“In radio, you always paint a picture of what’s going on,” Schulte said. “You try to set the picture for the family listening at home or maybe in their car. I’ll have to work on that a little bit and see what I get offered to me on the screens. We’ll make it play. It will be a little different.”
With crowd sound being piped in and stadiums playing music and sound effects in much the same manner as before, it is possible the look and feel of a broadcast won’t be all that different for most viewers. Or, at least, that is what FSAZ is hoping.
Much will be different behind the scenes, however. The network has made several changes to the way employees work and interact, all with safety in mind.
Berthiaume and Brenly will be sitting on opposite sides of the broadcast booth. Fans will be running at all times to keep air circulating. Access to the broadcast level will be limited.
For home games, the pregame and postgame show host will be seated at a desk on a set in right-center field while analysts will be in separate broadcast booths.
The production crew that normally works in a single, 53-foot truck — roughly 14 or 15 people for a home game — will be split into two, 53-foot trucks.
“Obviously, our biggest concern is the safety of the crew and the announcers,” FSAZ executive producer Craig Ritchie said. “Just keeping people spread out and distanced, keeping the areas clean — that, for us, is probably the biggest and first priority.”
Crew members will follow the same health and safety guidelines as the rest of the media upon entry to the stadium, with temperature checks, health screenings and mask requirements. However, the working conditions will be different for those in a closed, airconditioned truck compared to, say, an open-air press box or broadcast booth.
FSAZ crew members will not be subject to regular COVID-19 testing; they are not among the “tier” of individuals included in MLB’s testing protocols.
Ritchie said FSAZ has been working with the labor union — the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees — and that the sides are in agreement on work conditions and protocols. Gowen, who, at 62, is the oldest member of the Diamondbacks’ crew, says he is “perfectly comfortable” with the setup.
“I’d be (more) comfortable if there were a vaccine,” Gowen said. “But we’re trying to be comfortable with what’s before us.”
For Gowen and others, the draw to return to work is strong. They are expecting ratings to be robust. They understand the role baseball plays in people’s everyday lives. Berthiaume was reminded of that after getting feedback from Monday night’s webcast of a Diamondbacks intrasquad game.
“It’s always nice,” he said, “when someone says it’s nice to hear your voice again.”
It reminded him how much people have missed interactions and companionship during the pandemic. He said he views himself and Brenly as companions, of sorts, for fans every season.
“When that companionship that you’re used to having with you every spring and summer and into the fall was suddenly gone, it made everything feel even more empty over the last several months,” Berthiaume said. “Now that it’s back, hopefully we’ll be welcomed with open arms.
“People look to us — we’re the voice of the ball club and that’s something I take really, really seriously. I have an obligation to do a good job and to give them the baseball games they’ve been lacking. That’s something we put a lot of work into and something I never take for granted.”