Comment by nlawalker
>During the college football playoffs, ESPN’s family of networks will sometimes show the same game on multiple channels, with one channel broadcasting the whole affair from the Skycam camera. This is a remote camera hovering above and behind the line of scrimmage, replicating the perspective one sees in a video game. Coaches call this the “All‑22” view, because all 22 players on the field are simultaneously observable.
I remember there being discussion here about coverage of when the NFL first made all-22 available for public viewing: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4549832
Unfortunately, the author confuses the broadcast Skycam with the All-22 views. They aren't the same thing and the All-22 cameras aren't even controlled by the television production (although they are available to it).
Per NFL league rules it is the responsibility of the home team to supply the All-22 camera feeds to the league. They are usually operated by the home team's stadium video crew. The All-22 viewpoints are from directly overhead and from each end zone and their purpose is purely documentary not creative - so they are the most complete, yet boring views. These cameras are also the source of the still frames sent wirelessly to the sideline tablets you see players and coaches referring to during games (by rule, there is no motion video or real-time imagery sent to these tablets, just two time-delayed stills for each play, showing the moment the ball is snapped and the moment the whistle is blown ending the play).
The Skycam(s) are sophisticated 'flying' remote cameras operated by the broadcast production and suspended on four wires. They are usually moving around, panning and zooming - which the All-22 cameras never do. Skycams can drop to within 10 feet of the field (although low use during games is strictly limited to behind the line of scrimmage before the ball is snapped). They can also accelerate to over 20mph and in the hands of a skilled two-person pilot team, can track with a fast player running the length of the field. Here's arguably the greatest Skycam shot of all time (https://www.nfl.com/videos/skycam-pilot-alex-milton-narrates...). There are sometimes two Skycams in major playoff games and the Super Bowl (high and low).
In the last year the NFL has added 32 4K and 8K fixed-view cameras to each league stadium to support enhanced replay review by referees. They provide fixed views down each sideline from either end and across the goal-line from each side. Their replay feeds are viewable by the replay referee who sits in a sky box above the field, as well as sent to the league's NYC broadcast center in real-time. They are also made available to the broadcast production team and used for the new virtual measurement system and for skeletal tracking data which you may see in CGI replays during a game (https://www.sportsvideo.org/2025/11/20/nfl-deep-dive-how-32-...).