Monday night, the LSU Tigers and Clemson Tigers faced off during the College Football Playoffs National Championship. This was the biggest game of the football season, and the fans expected a top-level of production quality. However, they were instead met by an odd split-screen that caused some issues.
Early in the game, ESPN showed off a unique broadcast setting that featured the game on the left side of the screen but also showed two other aspects via split-screen. The sideline reporter was shown while providing a report about the game and a penalty that had occurred early in regulation.
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As it turns out, this split-screen was primarily used on ESPN2. This secondary channel was showing the field pass, which provides the look at the sidelines and the reporters. The best way to fix the issue was to simply over to the main feed on ESPN.
#ESPN shows the game in 4K but on this split screen triple box crap! I want to see the full screen! Ain’t nobody trying to see the damn sidelines! #NationalChampionship pic.twitter.com/6Ab1ZC2Ekq
— Lee John (@Mandavo) January 14, 2020
Despite the simple fix, the fans were not happy about watching the game in this manner, and they wanted to let the broadcast giant know. Hundreds weighed in on social media, writing about the unenjoyable experience on Monday night.
“Okay if they have this ridiculous split screen view the entire game, I’m gonna get a headache [LSUvsCLEM],” one user wrote on Twitter during the first quarter. Another chimed in by saying that this was not a great look.
“[ESPN] this split screen on the national championship game is the dumbest s–t I’ve seen all week,” one user ranted on social media. This was a common theme on Monday night as multitudes of fans called out ESPN for their decision to add a split-screen to the broadcast.
This was not an issue that was limited to the United States, however. Other users weighed in and mentioned that this split screen was affecting the viewing experience in Canada. One user showed a photo of their screen, which was airing the game on TSN.
This individual actually had to cover a portion of their screen with a towel in order to focus entirely on the game action. This wasn’t a perfect fix, but it kept them from seeing the dreaded split-screen that was causing so many problems.
(Photo Credit: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
