After tragic accidents involving scissor lifts, many teams are getting rid of the structures that camera operators stand in to films games and practices, opting to use mobile towers with cameras mounted on them instead.

The scissor lifts put high people above the field to get the best view, four or five stories high. Height, weight, ground and weather conditions could make these lifts dangerous, and a student at Notre Dame was killed in 2010 as he was filming practice from a scissor lift. High wind knocked the lift over while he was in it and it was reported that he was 50 feet in the air when the wind blew it over. The university has since stopped using the structures, and other universities and 10 professional NFL teams have started to use them less and less or not at all. Instead, they are installing permanent towers with cameras fixed atop them that are stationed around fields, or are using mobile units.

Rather than putting a person up above the field teams are installing cameras on mobile poles that can be stationed and maneuvered around the field. The cameras can be controlled by someone on the ground who can sit in the bottom of the unit under a shaded canopy so they can see monitors that stream the “mast cam” footage. The stations can be moved around on the field and are easy to transport to other fields or stadiums.

Mike Perkins has spent 18 years as the Jacksonville Jaguar’s video director and it the Jaguar’s director of football technology. He and says there may be a little bit of a learning curve for staff members if someone is used to holding a physical camera and getting footage that way. He used to worry about safety while in the lifts, and is excited that the mast cam technology is being put to use. He says his crew loves them and anticipates more teams to start using them in the coming seasons.

Titans coach Mike Mularkey said, “It’s safety and convenience.”

Other cities whose teams have started to buy and use the mobile units are Atlanta, Baltimore, Buffalo, Dallas, Houston, New England, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Tennessee. They cost about $75,000 per unit.