The past couple of weeks, I have tweeted on NFL Sundays about certain games being “visually appealing”. The NFL clearly is a game made for TV nowadays, but there is no doubt that some games look better on TV than others. When I talk about visual appealing games, that’s what I mean. It has nothing to do with the skill of the football being played, as is evidenced by the fact that the games I selected as “visually appealing” in the past two weeks were Saints-Raiders for last week’s late game, Jaguars-Titans during yesterday’s early set and perhaps the most beautiful of them all, Rams-Cardinals yesterday. So if game play isn’t a factor, what is?
Uniform contrast: I know I talk probably way too much about football uniforms on this site, but it’s hard to argue that uniforms don’t play a major factor in the attractiveness of a game. Sure, most uniforms are invented to drive merchandise sales, and there are a great deal of faux pas that teams make when designing them, but they can all be thrown out the window when the show up on screen.
For me, the best looking games feature teams wearing uniforms that starkly contrast each other. Silver and black vs. gold and white in the case of the Raiders and Saints, for example, or red vs blue with yesterday’s Cardinals-Rams game. Bold colors also show up well. The Chargers powder blue is a popular jersey, but it doesn’t translate as well on the field, at least not for me. Bolder, contrasting colors work for me.
Field Conditions: Muddy, rainy games are fun for the purpose of seeing the ball slide around and seeing how teams contend with the environment, but a nice, well manicured grassy field looks better. Late in the season, warm weather fields begin to look a lot better, where their northern cousins begin to look more weather worn, brown and dismal. Sunny, dry games translate better on screen.
Of course, you could try to fix this with an indoor stadium, but there is a turf problem with a lot of those stadiums as well. Yesterday’s game at the Superdome was a good example. Did they coat the field in a polyurethane cover? What was with the gloss? The Cardinals have natural grass, and it looks great.
This also might just be me (OK, everything about this article is just me), but the time of day a game is being played also matters. Full afternoon sun? Great! Under the lights? Great! Shadow strewn field in the twilight? Not so great!
Lastly, I love baseball, but infield dirt is a huge no no if you want a good looking game.
Production Values: Duh. When teams use the HD cameras, and the image is crystal clear, it’s a better looking game. Last night’s Sunday night game was fantastic. The Super Bowl always looks fantastic. There is a reason for this. They don’t send the best cameras to Cleveland either, another reason that they don’t look so great. Well that and the bad football.
So follow me on Twitter @victoriawxrhino and see what games I think are the most visually appealing next week.
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