From what I'm seeing, the banners shouldn't be blocking the platform in front of the chairs. You can see below on the left, there a couple of feet of space to put cameras there. Or can set up the camera on top of the roof, there enough room. I've seen them set up on the roofs in FA WSL games.
Definitely agree on Bixby. As far as rookies, I think part of it is that the players who were drafted first round and have more eyes on them haven't really shone. But some players who are getting their first minutes in the league have proven that they belong, such as Sky Blue's Cudjoe. As far as rookies, Del Fava for Utah has also been fairly impressive; she's been solid in the 3-back and that's really all you would ask from a defender. So far, if there's a Rookie of the Year award for 2020, I think Del Fava would be making a case for it.
So, the Premier League does them half way through each half. The NWSL does them 30 minutes into each half. Before the Premier League restart, I was only familiar with the 30 minute and 75 minute breaks. I'm guessing it's not that critical though.
Probably because its not as hot while they were playing in Winter and Spring. And they are currently playing in the summer in PL.
I'm not actually sure on what your first suggestion was there. What I was saying was the banners with sponsors on them have to be in the cameras' view, so the banners cannot be behind the cameras. The banners are on that left side of the stadium, and they're there to be a platform for the local sponsors that would normally be advertised on the boards in home stadiums. The lower space in front of the stands to the left side also isn't feasible because cameras have to be up and away from the field to get a clear view. Otherwise, you get the issue that the MLSisBack opener had where you have no view of the near sideline of the field (In the case of MLS, its an issue of not being able to move the cameras back further because of another adjacent field). And, I think on the roof would be a safety issue for the camera operators? My question about moving to the opposite side was whether the top row of the left stands was feasible, or if it was technologically or operationally not feasible due to the set-up for cameras being on the main side of the stadium. The picture actually makes me think that is the case, because it looks like almost all the facilities are on that main side. And while we're talking cameras, I would love one day for the NWSL to have the money to have the tactical camera above the field, like we've seen in the MLS games. Some day...
The Premier League likes to be different? I don't know. But yeah, the norm is 30 minutes into the half.
I've been in the stadium, but I'm afraid I don't have any answers other than the ones you propose. Maximizing ad space was probably their first thought. At least it won't be a problem at Rio Tinto for the semifinals and final - the stadium is deeper and the press box faces east.
Just to flesh this out a bit, Dash's Clarkson spoke on the mental toll players are facing and said teams are looking forward to these days off before the quarterfinals: "I think you have to appreciate the pressure these players have been under through the whole of the build-up and being in the tournament. Everything that’s going on socially, in the world at the moment, our players are very active and they understand what’s going on and (are) dealing with those things away from football. Then the pressures of being here, making the squad, performing, trying to get into the starting XI, playing in games, not playing in games, it’s just a lot. Then, being in a hotel that we can only walk around the parking lot, we can’t get out, we don’t get a break, we’ve played every four days for the last, just over two weeks. It’s an accumulation of everything that’s building up. ...It’s a real grind, and every team’s going through it."
It seems like this is a case of "poor little privileged girls have too much pressure to bear." But that is not really the case. When you apply the right kind of pressure on anyone they can be broken. Some of the seemingly strongest break the earliest while it is often the little reserved mousy types that show the most resistance to the situation. I have seen grown adults reduced to tears in a disaster situation and a little seven year old girl lead everyone to safety. It does not seem that there is much pressure to being inside the bubble and for some that seems true but for others, and I will say most to varying degrees, the pressure keeps building until something just breaks. What these ladies are undergoing is a lot like the "test to destruction" that engineers use to determine how much load a substance or design can handle. In one you simply place a block of your test material in a press and just gradually, a little at a time, add weight to the top of the press. For almost all of the test of rigid materials nothing seems to happen then, often quite suddenly, the test substance explodes and collapses in a cloud of dust. We really have no idea how many people in the bubble, or anywhere else for that matter, are right on the edge of breaking. A break can come suddenly and be fairly mild to the eye of the observer like what happened to Balcer or it can cause full breaks from reality and even violent actions. I hope they have several really good people available for help inside the bubble because it takes someone quite knowledgeable and quite empathic to deal with issues of this kind and the "correct" person for one individual can be the exactly wrong one for another. The players are the ones that will support the best but most of them have no experience and may not know when someone needs more experienced or professional help. BTW: I do not think the real stress has much of anything to do with soccer, these laddies know how to deal with that kind of stress, it has to do with isolation and boredom, it might not seem that the people are really isolated but any limit to the freedom of movement can be as isolating as a solitary jail cell for some people.
That was a revealing and personal comment by Balcer acknowledging a problem with stress and using the words "mental illness." It's remarkable for an athlete -- who use words like "strong" to describe themselves -- to admit to fragility. Balcer wears her religion on her sleeve. I guess that might be a thing she turns to for help. We all need a crutch now and then and whatever keeps your boat on course is fine with me if it's not illegal, immoral, or fattening.