Fox's new score bug draws mixed reaction

Publish date: 2024-05-02

The latest version of Fox’s score bug may take some getting used to.

Fox became the latest network to debut a new score bug during Super Bowl 2023, and it has drawn mixed reactions as viewers weigh in with their immediate reactions.

Some fans called the new score bug too large. Compared to the previous iteration, which the network had continued using throughout the regular season and playoffs, the Super Bowl version had additional height and larger logos — though those team images were slightly covered by a bar that contained the quarter, time remaining and down-and-distance numbers.

The number that synced with the play clock was also changed from yellow to red, among other minor tweaks.

Justin Ferguson, who covers Auburn football and basketball for the Auburn Observer, tweeted that “the new FOX scorebug looks like it’s for an unlicensed video game.”

Other viewers thought that the changes, or at least some of them, worked, though. Nick Veronica, the digital executive producer at News 4 Buffalo, tweeted, “The new Fox score bug is much cleaner than it used to be. The bar above the team’s score replaces the dumb negative-looking possession arrow. Big, readable numbers are a plus. 

“The time not being centered under the score gives me mild ocd but it’s fine.”

New FOX score bug sucks. The black bar overlays the logo awkwardly.

— Michael Castillo (@MichaelCastFS) February 12, 2023

Fox Sports executive producer Brad Zager told The Post’s Andrew Marchand leading up the game that the network would unveil — to some degree — a different graphics package for Super Bowl 2023. There were conversations about not doing that, according to Marchand, but the network opted to reveal a look that’d “modernize” the appearance.

Fox also debuted a new score bug ahead of Super Bowl LIV, when the Chiefs defeated the 49ers, according to Awful Announcing in 2020. Those changes, according to the outlet, included italicized text and a location that was more centered on viewers’ screens.

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