FOX Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt revealed something new FOX Sports will be adding this year for Friday night and Big Noon Saturday college football games. On his podcast, The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast, Klatt introduced ‘Opening Drive’.
“We have built an incredible new product for you, the fans,” Klatt said. “Here’s what we’re going to unveil this year. It’s called ‘Opening Drive’ [and it] is going to stream wherever you’re at. We’re going to come meet you. We’re going to stream in vertical video. We’re going to feature the last 20 minutes of warm-ups leading into the first five minutes of actual game action that you are going to get all streamed in vertical format on CFB on Fox social channels.
“Any of the social channels. You’ve got live game action the first five minutes of the game right there. Opening Drive will stream live for all Friday night games and all Big Noon Saturday games. Every Friday night, every Saturday at Big Noon, you’ve got the first five minutes of game action vertically on the CFB on Fox social channels.”
Klatt said they are so excited about the product they are going to unveil it early and have it for tonight’s game between North Carolina and Minnesota which will air at 8 p.m. ET.
“It’s like Christmas. We want to run down the stairs and open up all the presents,” Klatt said about starting it a bit earlier than planned.
Klatt explained the idea behind this is simply about driving awareness for their games through social media and being where the fan is. He went on to explain this is all part of the innovations FOX Sports has become known for and likes to do.
“We feel like Fox has always been [innovators] going back to the early 90s when we first got into this business,” he said. “Why is there a scoreboard on the screen? FOX Sports. Why is the first down line the way that it is? FOX Sports. We have driven sports in general forward. We did it in golf when we broadcasted golf. Why do you see shot tracers on almost every single shot when you’re watching golf on the weekends? Because when we got the US Open, that’s what we did and the level of expectation of production went up.
“So, we’re innovating again in the live vertical video streaming space. Having achieved success last year, Caitlin Clark, we did this with some of her games. It was off the charts. So, this is a win. This is a win for college football fans.”
