Dating back to when Ed Sabol filmed the 1962 NFL Championship Game with a 16 millimeter camera, NFL Films has exclusively used film to shoot games, documentaries and its various programs. If you visit the NFL Films headquarters in Mount Laurel, NJ, you’ll see its vaults which contain more than 100 million feet of 16 millimeter film all stored in canisters.
That is about to change this season when all games this season going all the way to the Super Bowl will be shot on digital. Before you say Steve Sabol is rolling in his grave, this is a change that he had endorsed before his death. According to the New York Times, Sabol had experimented using a digital camera and was impressed with the technology.
The transition to all-digital was supposed to happen in 2015, but according to Richard Sandomir, it was changed to this season with Inside the NFL’s move to Tuesday nights:
The shift to shooting all games with digital cameras was supposed to begin with the 2015 season, but that was accelerated with the move of the “Inside the NFL” show on Showtime from Wednesday night to Tuesday night. The show will be repeated on the NFL Network on Wednesday night with an additional segment looking at the Thursday night game.
The change will also make NFL Films more efficient. Storage will be easier and video will be easier to access.
Sandomir writes the transition to digital began several years ago as the NFL’s TV partners wanted to get highlights delivered faster and more efficiently.
Up until last season, reels of 16 mm film had to be shipped to each game site then either driven or flown back to NFL Films headquarters to be developed. Now the games will be shot on digital cards and can be transmitted back to NFL Films after each quarter. From there, the highlights can be sent to the TV partners immediately.
For old school fans who still love film, rest assured there’s still some unused 16 mm cans left at NFL Films and they will be utilized on some upcoming programs. But once they’re developed, NFL Films will be all-digital.
Sandomir also points out that the long-running “NFL Films Presents” which was a staple on ESPN or ESPN2 will be moving to Fox Sports 1 this season. It’s a big move for Fox Sports 1 which can use the inventory and will be the first NFL Films series on the network.
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