I am not a big NFL guy but was watching some this weekend. I was watching some stories and it amazes me how clear the audio is. Now some shots you could boom but there are plenty of shots where you can tell the camera is zoomed in yet you can hear what the guy is saying crystal clear and the noise of the stadium is very low. Any insight into how the NFL captures audio for their stories?

Wireless mics. Some of players wear them. The referees obviously. There's also lots of plant mics and a few parabolic dishes. I think 'NFL Films' was using the Lectro SM transmitters mounted in the shoulder pads. The NBA is using the Q5X Playermic systems.

I work as a camera op for sports broadcasts here in LA so while I'm not an audio guru, I can point you in the right direction. One of the ways they capture the audio of the action on the field is by using parabs (parabolic mics - google for a pic). Basically the operator points the parab towards the action to pick up the audio and its very directional so it rejects a lot of the background noise.

Keep in mind, I'm no audio guru (just a camera op) so I'm sure there's someone who can explain it a lot better than me! Hope his helps!

Joe Sonnenurg
Joe Sonnenburg - Sports Cameraman and Video Production Specialist (http://www.SportsCameraman.com)

As Rick pointed out the Parab and some players are lav'd also they run a whole lotta of shotguns on booms. I can just about promise that none of the audio comes from on cam mics regardless of whether they have them on the camera or not.
A lot of the camera guys you see running around out there are local station, cable station and team cameras not network so they don't usually have access to the network audio feed so yeah they'll have something on board but the audio isn't nearly the same as the network.

I am just a camera op too. Work lots of NHL up here in Canada. Just amazing the clear sound of players talking that they capture for their stories. I wonder how many players per game wear mics. I would hate to have to watch every single word I say during a game.