ESPN Mocked for Wide Camera Angle That Turned Football Players Into Ants

For certain sports, telephoto lenses are crucial for allowing viewers to see the action from a distance. But for one major football game this weekend, ESPN was forced to broadcast parts of the game with a wide-angle view. Frustration, mocking, and hilarity ensued.

SBNation reports that this is what ESPN’s TV broadcast looked like at the beginning of the game:

You can see the same view of the players looking like ants on the field in this highlights video:

The wide angle view made it impossible to see the action for certain plays… like this field goal:


The reaction was swift and brutal on social media.








No, ESPN wasn’t failing at its job and it wasn’t intentionally messing with its viewers: it was forced by weather to pull its main camera operators. Here’s ESPN PR rep Keri Potts with the explanation:


So since a lightning strike was detected by official ESPN partner AccuWeather within 8 miles, the camera people perched up high on the stadium operating the high-powered lenses had to abandon their posts for 30 minutes.

Football fans at home were forced to squint or get up close to their TVs to see the action, but that’s a small price to pay to keep the camera operators out of harm’s way. In the future, though, ESPN might want to look into using remotely-operated cameras as a backup option.

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