Fox Sports parlaying sideline access with UFL into standout product for audience
It’s a new year for the United Football League, and it’s already been filled with some legendary performances through a few weeks. Arguably, the most memorable performance of the year came in the league’s first game back in DFW.
In a week one matchup against the Houston Gamblers, Dallas Renegades quarterback Austin Reed set a new league record for passing yards in a game with 376. Yes, he did the majority of the work, his pass-catchers did their jobs, and his coaching staff put him in the right position to execute. But it may not have all come together without the access on the sideline from Fox Sports.
In the fourth quarter with the Renegades well in control of the game, Reed sat one yard shy of the record. Renegades head coach Rick Neuheisel was unaware, until he got a tap on the shoulder from Fox Sports sideline analyst Jake Butt.
“I go up to Coach Neuheisel and literally tell him that on the sideline,” Butt said. “The camera mics pick that up, they use it on the broadcast. The next plays are Austin throwing, completing and breaking the record.”
It capped a successful first weekend for the UFL in a moment that may not have been possible without the strong connection that it’s formed with Fox Sports since their partnership began when the league was formed in 2024.
“That’s access that you don’t get in the NFL, you don’t get in college,” Butt said. “It also shows the unity in the league for the players, coaches, my team on the sideline. All of our incentives and goals are aligned, and it leads to some really cool moments.”
Setting a record was a cool moment in itself on a cloudy Saturday afternoon at Toyota Stadium, but the moment extended into the postgame.
“Then, Jake grabs him and talks to him after the game,” Fox Sports producer Mark Teitelman said. “[Reed] has babies in the NICU. They’re going to be fine, but it’s been an emotional battle for him. He just had a lovely message for the hospital that is taking care of his babies and his wife. It had some nice elements. That, to me, elevated the Austin Reed moment, and Jake elevated that. We couldn’t do that in the NFL or college.”
The sideline access that has been manifested for the UFL audience early in the league’s existence has seen similar moments also combined with audio straight from players’ helmets in the middle of big game-winning drives or straight from a coach’s headset.
As Fox Sports hunts down opportunities to elevate its product, its third season may be its best yet.
“The most unique part about broadcasting is that they have to be able to take us to places that I can’t go,” Teitelman said. “We always tell our former players, our analysts, our reporters, we need to take people who watch this game to places they can’t go ... The fact that they aren’t limited to who they can talk to or where they can go opens up a whole new road.”
“You can’t force this,” Butt said. “Fans can sense authenticity, and that’s why people love football because it’s so authentic. We can’t force those moments, but we’re ready for those moments when they come about.”
Butt, a former college standout at the University of Michigan and NFL tight end for the Denver Broncos, has taken on this challenge with the same approach he once did in his playing days. Insisting on his classification as a “sideline analyst” and not a “sideline reporter”, his weeks consist of numerous calls with players, coaching personnel and more. In his eyes, even if he doesn’t use a fraction of the information that the UFL provides to him, being ready for just one moment -- like the Reed moment -- will give him and the audience the exact substance they are looking for in the broadcast product.
“He’ll hear certain things, and it’ll clue us in,” Teitelman said. “He gives us a lot of information, and it’s our job to determine how to use it. He’s been really invaluable. The access that he’s given really pays off with a guy like that. He hustles too, he’s a sponge down there.”
“I’m familiarizing myself with the players, the coaches, the schemes, the storylines,” he said. “Honestly, most of it never gets used. It’s paying attention to a big moment and when it happens, I have to be able to ask the right questions to get those answers out of the players and coaches. It’s more about understanding football, knowing the context and being able to tee these guys up so they can add to the show and the viewers can get something out of it.”
The buck doesn’t stop with the current layout, though, for Fox Sports. As the product grows and audience steadily increases, the ideas and brainstorming continues for how to further increase the audience experience in a way that would not be possible in the fall.
“What else can we do that people don’t know or people aren’t hearing? That’s how I approach these games and that’s how our reporters approach this game,” Teitelman said.
