As the long awaited North American 2026 World Cup starts tomorrow, a note about my broadcast work. I’ll be at the Int’l Broadcast Center here in Dallas working on FIFA’s Audio Descriptive Commentary feed for many matches (starting w/ MEX vs RSA and KOR vs CZE tomorrow).
A little primer on Audio Descriptive Commentary. It’s a service provided by many clubs in Europe and by FIFA in previous men’s and women’s World Cups for visually impaired individuals to go to games and experience the match atmosphere in person while having special headphone receivers to hear someone provide essentially an elevated version of radio play by play of what is happening. It’s making in-person matches a more inclusive experience for the visually impaired.
Well this year FIFA as described in the screenshot below is making the service available on the FIFA ADC app. It’s now something anyone can listen to in-stadium or anywhere else, designed for blind/low-vision users but available to anyone who wants to listen. It’s the first time in this delivery method so it’s quite an endeavor and we’ll see how the first matches go tomorrow from a technical standpoint but a lot of people have worked really hard on it and I have no doubt it will provide the service desired for its intended audience. And there’s no real radio broadcast of these games in the US. Sirius XM and some iHeart stations are simulcasting the TV broadcasts but we’ll be doing as I mentioned a hyper descriptive form of radio PxP so this hopefully is of value to many others.
My longtime former FC Dallas colleagues and friends
@OwenNewkirk and
@ryanfigert are doing many games as well and the great
@VJ_Villalba12 and
@golalvarado are providing Spanish play by play. Games played in Canada will be handled there by the outstanding
@PeteSchaad in English and
@MattCullenLive in French.
Many don’t know this but my late mother spent the last about 8 years of her life dealing with significant visual impairment (limited vision in one eye, no sight in the other). Needless to say that was a difficult time in her life but not the only one and she fought thru it like the strong person she was until the end. Of course we all want to help people but a service for the visually impaired community will always connect to me in a unique way because of personal experience. So for many reasons this is an exciting and emotionally fulfilling project. Looking forward to it! ⚽️