From “Touchdown!” to “It’s outta here!” to “Goal!”, sportscasters have provided a soundtrack to a variety of sporting events on both television and radio for generations.
Now, the Audio Description Initiative is looking to take play-by-play to the next level for blind and visually impaired fans by offering audio description at live sporting events around Central Florida. This means having a live describer at the event speaking to fans through a listening device to fill them in on what’s happening on the field, court, or ice. But it also would include pregame festivities, halftime performances, fan contests, and other visual-oriented activities not typically described by traditional broadcasters.
As a lifelong sports fan who happens to be visually impaired, I reached out to the ADI team last year shortly after moving to the Orlando area. I inquired if the team had any experience or interest in providing audio description for live sporting events. They said “not yet, but we’re very interested in exploring the possibility!”
“Attending live sporting events is part of the joy of life for many people because it’s FUN to be IN the stadium or arena, cheering with the crowd, booing a bad call, enjoying a beer and a hot dog with your buddies,” said Stasha Boyd, Founder and President of ADI. “Whether it’s sports or arts or anything else where people come together for a shared experience with their community, ADI is committed to making sure it’s as accessible – and enjoyable – to a person who uses a white cane as it is to a person who uses a wheelchair.”
Boyd believes Central Florida is a perfect region to offer audio description for live sports. She points to countless local teams, including the Orlando Magic, Orlando City SC, Orlando Pride, Orlando Solar Bears, and the University of Central Florida and Rollins College athletic teams. There are also many high-profile sporting events that come through the area, such as the NFL Pro Bowl, the Arnold Palmer Invitational PGA tournament, as well as college bowl games and college basketball tournaments. Plus, Orlando is the largest travel and tourism destination in America, attracting 75.3 million visitors in 2024.
“The ability to make a huge impact on accessibility to our rich tapestry of sports is unique in Central Florida, not only for our local friends, family, and neighbors who are blind or have low vision, but also for those who visit us every year,” she said.
“Sports have been a piece of the fabric of my soul,” said Brian Smith, Director of Partner Development for ADI who is working closely with Boyd on this effort. “That fabric was torn in 2007 when I lost most of my vision to the side effects of diabetes. I still follow my teams, still attend games, still cheer and boo, but not in the way I once did.”
As he helps bridge the gap between local sports teams and the blind and visually impaired community, Smith is confident audio description can have a major impact on visually impaired fans like himself.
“Audio description will make it possible to be involved with a game rather than a consumer at a game. It will allow me to go to a game without feeling like a burden to those I am with by always needing an update or explanation,” he said.
Thanks to my job at Full Sail University, I was very aware of our Dan Patrick School of Sportscasting. I thought a good next step would be to reach out to program director Gus Ramsey and some of the sportscasting faculty (with a special shoutout to Jeff Radcliffe and Mac MacDonald) to see if I could connect them to ADI. We had our first meeting in the late summer of 2024 and have continued our conversations with them. They have connected us to several current sportscasting students and alumni, and we are extremely grateful for their support.
This past April, ADI collaborated with Alan March Sports, a UK-based company that provides audio description for sporting events around Europe. Alan March, who runs the company, spent a full day at LighthouseWorks facilitating a training program on audio description for live sports with five prospective describers, including ADI’s own John Palmer, as well as four current sportscasting students and alumni from Full Sail. During the training, the participants had to watch and listen to clips from a variety of sports, including soccer, American football, baseball, basketball, swimming, equestrian, and even gymnastics.
“Alan first showed us some examples of bad description where the announcers would get so excited and yell and scream that you couldn’t understand what they were saying,” Palmer said. “You want to show some excitement, but you also have to stay on top of what’s happening.”
At times, four participants would close their eyes, and then the fifth person would look at a photo and describe it out loud. Then the other four opened their eyes and gave feedback on whether the picture being described is what they had envisioned in their mind.
“You have to be with the ball all the time,” Palmer explained. “You can’t stop and go into along description about something or do a lot of extraneous things. You have to ask yourself, ‘Am I making my person’s head move like they’re looking to watch the ball?’ You also have to mention the score as much as possible.”
Palmer – who has worn a wide range of professional hats in the arts and entertainment space that include roles as a stage manager, music director, and performer – has described over 40 theatrical shows for ADI. He knows there’s a big difference between providing audio description for theater and sporting events.
“With a live theatrical event, I know the outcome and how they’re going to get there. With sports, there is obviously no telling about what’s going to happen.”
He said knowing the rules of each sport inside and out is also crucial.
Karlos Mancilla, a 2024 Full Sail sportscasting alum, also participated in the multisport AD training. He said the instruction stressed the importance of explaining where exactly the ball is all the time.
“Fans tend to follow the ball with their heads, not their eyes. After the game, you want the blind or visually impaired fan to be able to talk about the game just as well as their friends who saw the game with their own eyes,” Mancilla explained.
The participants also listened to several broadcasts of soccer matches from the past 30 years to observe how much description – or lack thereof – those broadcasts contained.
“We closed our eyes to put us in the shoes of a blind or visually impaired fan, and it showed how unsuitable a traditional broadcast can be, especially with TV,” Mancilla added.
Compared to traditional play-by-play, he said there is less emphasis on storytelling in audio description to ensure fans are hearing the most real-time visual information possible about an event rather than hearing about the background of a coach or player. However, he said he thinks a sport like baseball could still lend itself to a bit more storytelling because of the frequent breaks in the action.
Mancilla has lots of experience doing play-by-play for college athletics. He has called baseball, basketball, and softball games for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, as well as baseball, softball, basketball, and soccer for Rollins College. As someone with cerebral palsy, he explained how this condition drew him to broadcasting.
“I realized being an athlete was a far-fetched ambition, so I’ve tried to figure out ways I could be involved in sports in some way,” Mancilla said. “Broadcasting was very appealing because I’ve always enjoyed hearing people tell stories. It’s been a very rewarding path in my career thus far.”
He said he’s eager to make a positive impact on the disability community considering his own life experiences.
“People with disabilities are often out of sight and out of mind. I’ve been to many places in my life as someone with a disability, and my needs aren’t able to be met in many cases. If I have the opportunity to help bridge that gap or fix needs that aren’t being met, I would be more than happy to do that.”
ADI has also received some guidance from MindsEye, a St. Louis-based nonprofit that is only one of a few providers of audio description for live sports in the U.S.
In addition to all of these connections, the ADI team has already met with a few local sports organizations to propose the idea of live audio description at their games. They’ve been intrigued by what they’ve heard, and ADI is eager to move forward with providing this service for fans in the very near future.
At the end of the day, Boyd is confident ADI can make a difference in ensuring sporting events are accessible both locally and nationally.
“As Americans and sports fans, we know the importance of sports in our lives, the memories it makes, and the communities it builds,” she said. “This includes blind and visually impaired fans. Central Florida is uniquely positioned to show the rest of the nation what is possible when commitment and capability come together.”
NOTE: Greg Lindberg is an ambassador for the Audio Description Initiative (ADI).
Greg Lindberg
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