As ESPN prepares to broadcast the first-ever College GameDay outside of the United States in Dublin, Derek Mobley spoke to Off The Ball about his central role in bringing the entertainment of the game to viewers at home.
An American television show that has built its legacy travelling from one college campus to another in accordance with the most desirable game of college football on any given weekend, College GameDay will come to Dublin later this year as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish take on the Navy Midshipmen at the Aviva Stadium.
For ESPN's Derek Mobley, the occasion will bring with it a number of fresh complications.
"I went over to the Aviva Stadium for a look around," the ESPN television director Mobley told Off The Ball. "Obviously, American football requires different camera coverage than rugby or soccer, so we're having to create some camera positions."
The man charged with overseeing the camera footage of the match itself, Mobley will have anywhere upwards of 25 cameras at his disposal during a regular weekend fixture.
"Aerial cameras, wireless hand-held cameras that go in the stands, different kinds of super slow-mo cameras, point-of-view cameras that might be by the band," he explained by way of the choices he must make.
"On the day of the match, I sit in the control room and my basic job is to choose which of the 25 cameras we put on the air. So, every time you see the picture change, I've made a decision to show the quarterback or the running back or whatever.
"I'll be talking with the whole technical crew and sitting next to me will be the producer who is in conversation with the presenters and he'll decide what replays we'll show, the graphics we'll do and things like that.
"A lot of people describe the producer as the head coach and the director as the quarter-back. The director executes the whole plan for everyone.
"If I'm doing my job well, you don't really notice what I've done."
With such responsibility for the game as a spectacle, Mobley's experience goes beyond college football alone.
"I've done I think 15 Wimbledons, like 12 US Open tennis, I do college basketball, I do the spelling-bee, which is fantastic and then I did about 6 or 7 Open Championships in golf," he explained. "Every sport has a unique way of covering it."
Tickets for the Aer Lingus College Football Classic game between Navy and Notre Dame go on public sale on March 20th.
Head over to CollegeFootballIreland.com to sign up for latest updates and also to register for 48-hour pre-sale access to game tickets before they go on public sale!
Tickets to the 2016 game sold out in 4 hours, so make sure to head to CollegeFootballIreland.com for the chance to get early bird access!"
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