Revisiting the Football Lifts

In November, The Chronicle examined the Duke football program's use of hydraulic scissor lifts, following an incident at Notre Dame in which a student videographer tumbled 50 feet to his death from a similar device.

Duke uses lifts to film all of their outdoor practices, using, "three or four lifts to capture the practice at different angles and to observe the team’s different units."

This week, according to the Associated Press, Notre Dame announced that it will no longer put students on the lifts to film practices. Instead, they will use remote-controlled cameras to tape the action.

While the Blue Devils have yet to formally announce any policy changes with regards to their use of the lifts, Director of Video Operations Tom Long predicted months ago that formal action would be taken on a broader level:

“We [video directors] have a meeting every year called the Collegiate Sports Video Association, and we bring up problems,” Long said. “I’m sure it will be the first thing brought up at the meetings this year, to establish [a policy] not just here at Duke but maybe throughout the entire NCAA.”

As always, check out The Blue Zone for updates on this story and all other Duke sports information.