Leaving Metrodome Cameras On Pays Off

Before leaving its routine NFL game setup at Minneapolis' Metrodome Saturday, the Fox Sports crew did something different: It left a camera on to continuously shoot the roof.

"It was already leaking," NFL lead game producer Richie Zyontz told Michael Hiestand at usatoday.com Sunday. "But we heard that's happened here before. They were heating up the dome to furnace levels to melt the snow."

But Zyontz said Fox videotape operator Randy Carr heard from a Metrodome staffer "this was a real problem." With a camera and mikes left on overnight, Zyontz says, "We knew what we were looking for. This was specifically for that roof collapsing."

Which it did early Sunday morning, causing the New York Giants-Minnesota Vikings game — which was supposed to go to 49% of the USA as Fox's most widely distributed game Sunday — to be moved to Monday (7:20 p.m. ET).

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