In-game interviews could transform broadcasting...and boost ratings

If you missed it--and you'd have to be a cave-dweller for that to have happened--one of the great spring training broadcasting events occurred late last month and the viral video that resulted could reshape broadcasting and boost ratings in the future.

During a spring training game between the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, ESPN had attached a microphone to outfielder Mookie Betts.

Prior to the pitch, the broadcast team was talking with Betts and then this happened....

With the ball hit over his head, Betts said, "I ain't getting this one boys..."

That video and others like it already have collected over 2,000,000 views not to mention the curious looks Betts must have received during the game by fans in attendance who were unaware he was talking with the ESPN broadcasters:

“Once he started working on his golf swing in the outfield while wearing the microphone—he was really close to demonstrating dance moves,” ESPN’s head baseball producer Phil Orlins told SportTechie, “You got to think what people in the crowd are seeing. They don’t know he’s talking to somebody.”

ESPN has conducted similar interviews for nearly 20 years but never during a regular season game.

According to SportTechie, that could change and it would dramatically reshape sports broadcasts and ratings.

“We’d love to be able to try it,” Orlins said. “I’m not sure how likely that aspect of it is.”

ESPN already hides mics around pitcher's mound and home plate but that audio is heavily edited, especially during heated arguments.

While we aren't likely to see a change anytime soon, SportTechie believes the success of such antics eventually will win out.

As long as producers have to judge in-game audio like admissible evidence at a trial, the path toward greater access will be painfully slow. The Betts interview isn’t good for the sanctity of baseball, but it’s definitely good for ratings. In a handful of years, we’ll see which one is winning.

Professional sports leagues are going to have to find better ways to engage with fans as attendance and even TV ratings sag.

Allowing the fans onto the playing field--even if only through their ears--could help restore the excitement those leagues once enjoyed.