Fox Sports: Power Failure in Production Compound Causes Delay of World Series Game 1

During the fourth inning of Tuesday’s night Game 1 of the World Series, Fox Sports experienced a power failure in the truck compound that led to a disruption in the national telecast and a temporary delay to action on the field. In an official statement, Fox Sports said that “a rare electronics failure caused both the primary and backup generators inside the FOX Sports production compound to lose power.”

Check SportsVideo.org Friday for SVG’s in-depth story on the power outage and roles Fox Sports and MLB Network played in its resolution

Fox Sports’ full official statement released Tuesday night at approximately 11 p.m. ET stated:

“Before the start of the bottom of the fourth inning of tonight’s World Series Game 1, a rare electronics failure caused both the primary and backup generators inside the FOX Sports production compound to lose power. The issue was immediately addressed, although it resulted in the audience missing one at-bat during the time needed to switch to carriage of Major League Baseball’s international feed, powered by a different generator on site. The on-field delay was due to replay capability being lost in both team’s clubhouses. We apologize for the interruption in tonight’s coverage and are working to ensure that the remainder of the World Series is broadcast without incident.”

Following a brief technical delay, Fox Sports quickly kicked back coverage to the network’s Los Angeles-based studios before handing over the live broadcast in Kansas City to the international world feed production being handled by MLB Network.

“FOX, ESPN, and MLB Network work together on baseball year in and year out and we share resources and support each other,” Susan Stone, SVP, Operations and Engineering, MLB Network. “FOX has helped us out on many occasions and we were very happy to return the favor. Gabe Nucci (the world feed tech manager) really deserves the credit since he immediately suggested taking the world feed to air so FOX could focus on recovery.”

According to various reports, including Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, the initial disruption also caused a loss to MLB’s instant replay review infrastructure and that both teams agreed to continue play without the challenge system in place. There was no verification as to how long the replay system was down but it did not play a factor in the game action.

In the fifth inning, Fox Sports moved its primary on-air team of Joe Buck, Harold Reynolds, and Tom Verducci into the broadcast booth being utilized my MLB’s international talent, but the broadcast continued utilizing international’s truck and on-air graphics package.

The original Fox production truck came back on-line and resumed production in the bottom of the sixth inning.