Like just about every other person and/or business around the world, NBC Sports Philadelphia is changing the way it does things in 2020. Routine has been flipped upside down, and safety has taken the place of efficiency and convenience as the top priority.

While empty stadiums and fake crowd noise are sure to dominate the discussion when it comes to a new age of broadcasts, the reality is the changes will go far beyond just what we see and hear on our television screens.

Detailed in this Philly Business Journal piece are the challenges NBC Sports Philadelphia faces amid broadcasting games in a pandemic. Some key points include the expected:

  • Normally packed production trucks are now thinned out due to social distancing protocols.
  • There will be heavily reduced crew members in control rooms.
  • Masks and hand sanitizer will be plentiful.
  • There will be daily temperature checks for crew members going in and out of Citizens Bank Park and the Wells Fargo Center.

But, according to the Philly Business Journal story, there will be some additional tweaks to coverage, too, including the length of pregame shows:

One major change for the Comcast Corp.-owned network will be hour-long pregame shows for Flyers, 76ers and Phillies games that begin at 7 p.m. games [sic]. The first 15 minutes will include a new program called “The Warm Up,” which will include the work of the three sideline reporters who have seen their duties diminish by not being allowed proximity to players and coaches due to the pandemic.

So expect more Gregg Murphy (Phillies), Taryn Hatcher (Flyers), and Serena Winters (Sixers) on your screens before the start of games.

Unsurprisingly, the execution and presentation of each individual production will be vastly different this season. For instance, Phillies road games will be broadcast remotely. During home games, play-by-play guy Tom McCarthy will be stationed in a separate booth from Ben Davis and John Kruk. As we wrote yesterday, Ruben Amaro Jr. will play a big part in the coverage, too.

There’s some other good stuff in the article on the network’s systems for Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, and Eagles coverage, including the travel plans for each broadcast team and some of the obstacles facing each individual crew.

You know I’m the baseball guy here, so be ready for one big change to the Phillies viewing experience. Cardboard cutouts.

Behold the weirdness: