Live From the NFL Draft: ESPN Brings First-Cla Production to Second City
29/04/2016
ESPN's 40 40-ft. set at Selection Square in Grant Park is the home to its breadth of should programming, including NFL Insiders.
We did this show for so many years in New York and we had a routine, so last year we didn't make any major changes to our schedule since there were a lot of unknowns with Draft Town and the overall setup, says ESPN Senior Operations Director Steve Carter. But this year, we have modified our schedule to operate a lot more efficiently here in Chicago than last year. We have a better idea of the size and scope this year, as well. Last year, all we saw were drawings, but this year we have a concept of just how large the area actually is in reality. So there aren't as many surprises this year.
Taking Over Chicago
In addition to the Draft itself (which will be produced in 1080p for the second consecutive year) at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University on Thursday and Friday (Rounds 1-3) and Selection Square across the street in Grant Park on Saturday (Rounds 4-7), SportsCenter, NFL Insiders, and NFL Live are all originating from ESPN's Grant Park studio and Mike & Mike is airing live from Harry Caray's 7th Inning Stretch and the Chicago Sports Museum at Water Tower Place on Thursday and Friday.
Our shoulder programming is hugely important for us at the Draft, so it makes sense to have these shows on-site in Grant Park where the excitement is, says ESPN Coordinating Producer Seth Markman. The Draft starts at 7:00 p.m. local time Thursday, but, for us, it really starts at 9:00 a.m. with SportsCenter and continues throughout the entire day and into the night. We want people to know that this is a three-day event that we're going to own from start to finish.
A Larger Draft Footprint = 17+ Miles of Fiber
The NFL's expansion of the Draft Town and Selection Square footprint in Grant Park (nearly double the square footage of last year) has resulted in a more spread-out production for both ESPN and NFL Network. Last year, Selection Square, the truck compound, and the bulk of the Draft Town festivities were located near the Michigan Avenue side of Grant Park - just across the street from the Auditorium Theatre. After more than 200,000 people showed up for the Draft last year, however, the the truck compound and Selection Square have been relocated to the Lakeshore Drive side of the park, near Buckingham Fountain - thousands of feet further away from the Theatre.
ESPN Senior Operations Manager Steve Carter at the Draft.
The biggest change for us is our trucks have been moved several thousand feet out into Grant Park, so we have to run 10 Tac-12 [fiber cables] into the theater, which is a 6,000-foot run, says Carter. With 10 Tac-12's, that's 60,000 feet of fiber, and we've run over 90,000 of fiber total for this show overall. The shortest route isn't necessarily always the best route so we're sort of going outside the perimeter of all the events and then into the theater, so it makes for some insanely long cable runs.
In addition, ESPN and NFL Network must once again utilize a temporary bridge built above Michigan Avenue to run its cable across - with a second bridge running across Congress Parkway.
Both Sides of Michigan Avenue: The Compound and the Sets
ESPN has erected a 40 40-ft. set at Selection Square looking out onto Buckingham Fountain that serves as the home of its shoulder programming throughout Thursday and Friday and becomes the host set on Saturday.
ESPN's primary NFL Draft set inside the Auditorium Theatre
Inside the Theatre, ESPN has deployed its primary set (featuring host Chris Berman with analysts Mel Kiper Jr., Jon Gruden, and Louis Riddick) in the same stage-left location as last year along with a secondary position for NFL Insider Adam Schefter and a position near the stage for Suzy Kolber to interview Draftees.
ESPN deployed 27 cameras all throughout the Theatre and the park, including a blimp aerial shot (provided by AVS), two RF SteadiCams and two RF handhelds, three robos (provided by Fletcher), a fixed-wing aerial shot (also provided by AVS), and four jibs (provided by Fully Armed Productions) - two of which are equipped with the virtual graphics/augmented reality system developed by ESPN Visual Technologies. ESPN and NFL Network also share several camera feeds, including the primary podium cam, green room handhelds, and a handful of robos and beauty shots.
ESPN's compound at Grant Park includes all five NEP EN1 mobile units.
Inside the compound, ESPN is relying on the five-truck NEP EN-1 fleet (four production trucks and a support unit) that serves as home to its Monday Night Football production throughout the season. The primary Draft telecasts are being produced out of the A unit control room, while the D-unit control room is serving ESPN's shoulder programming throughout the week.
AVS is also on hand with its own mobile unit to support RF operations and the compound is being powered by four 300-kw generators from Illumination Dynamics.
Day 3: From Coast to Coast and Beyond
ESPN is taking in 10 inbound fully routable fiber paths and sending out seven outbound feeds with satellite backup. Throughout the week, ESPN is integrating 20 player live shots and Glowpoint HD videoconferenci
LINK: | http://www.sportsvideo.org/2016/04/29/live-from-the-nfl-draft-espn-bri... |
See more stories from svg |
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet Appoints Santiago Solanas as CEO to Lead Next Era of Growth and Innovation
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet and Veritone Reach Agreement to Distribute, Transact and Monetize Media Archives
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
28/04/2024
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with URSA Broadcast G2
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with U...
26/04/2024
Amagi Names Richard Perkett Chief Product Officer
NEW YORK Amagi has appointed Richard Perkett chief product officer (CPO)....
26/04/2024
NAB Board Election Results Announced
WASHINGTON, D.C. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has announced the results of the 2024 NAB Radio and Television Board of Directors elections. The...
26/04/2024
Mattel to Launch First FAST Channels on Samsung TV Plus
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. & NEW YORK Mattel has announced a deal to launch its first three 24/7 free ad supported streaming (FAST) channels on Samsung TV Plus, Samsung...
26/04/2024
NextGen TV Launches In Portland, Maine
PORTLAND, Maine Viewers here can now receive the NextGen TV signals of five local stations with the launch of ATSC 3.0 service from host station WPFO, which is ...
26/04/2024
Rogers Inks Agreement to Deploy Comcast's Products and Technologies
TORONTO Rogers Communications has signed a 10-year agreement with Comcast to bring the latest Xfinity products and technology to Canadians....
26/04/2024
Calrec scoops third Argo win with NAB Show Product of the...
Calrec is very pleased to announce the benefits of its highly flexible approach to customer service has been recognized with a third award for the Argo range. T...
26/04/2024
New Adobe Photoshop with Advanced Generative Fill and Generate Image Brings New Superpowers to All
New Adobe Photoshop with Advanced Generative Fill and Generate Image Brings New ...
26/04/2024
Trends And Takeaways From NAB Show 2024
Trends And Takeaways From NAB Show 2024 Melanie Ciotti April 25, 2024 0 Comments NAB's Eric Trabb (right) awards SNS with two NAB Show Product of ...
26/04/2024
Sony's Ci Media Cloud Keeps NHRA Moving
Sony's Ci Media Cloud Keeps NHRA Moving Brie Clayton April 25, 2024 0 Comments Cloud-Based Media Asset Management and Collaboration Platform Accel...
26/04/2024
2024 Emerging Leaders Internship Program Open for Applications, Deadline May 31st
Capitol Broadcasting & Leadership Triangle Collaborate for Third Year Capitol B...
26/04/2024
MIX 101.5 Launches New YouTube Shows
The staff at CBC Radio have been hard at work creating several new features for listeners and viewers. Several debuts are taking place this spring. I have nev...
25/04/2024
Inside the Archives: Highlighting the Importance of Preservation for the Festival's 40th Edition
Sundance Institute Founder Robert Redford during a press conference at the 1996 ...
25/04/2024
SNS Dealer Of The Year Awards: See The Full List Of Winners
alt= class=wp-image-12361 data-lazy-src=/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/NAB-booth-2024-960x540-1.jpg/> Set against a vibrant backdrop of innovation and collaboratio...
25/04/2024
Trends And Takeaways From NAB Show 2024
alt= class=wp-image-12356 data-lazy-src=/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/NAB-mod-win-960x540-1.jpg/>NAB's Eric Trabb (right) awards SNS with two NAB Show Product...
25/04/2024
Peacock Subs Jump 55% YoY to 34M in Q1 2024
PHILADELPHIA Comcast beat earnings estimates in its Q1 2024 financial report, as streaming losses continued to decline and Peacock's paid subscribers spiked...
25/04/2024
Seattle Kraken Inks Deals with Tegna and Prime Video
SEATTLE The Seattle Kraken have inked new multi-year agreements with Tegna and Prime Video that will expand access to their games over broadcast stations and st...
25/04/2024
Opinion: charting a cloud driven future
M2A Medias Matt Hughes asks, is it time for news broadcasting to shift to the cloud? By Contributor Published: April 25, 2024 M2A Media's Matt Hughes ...
25/04/2024
Cintel Scanner G3 HDR+ Restores Egypt's Cinema Treasures to Their Former Glory
Cintel Scanner G3 HDR Restores Egypt's Cinema Treasures to Their Former Glo...
25/04/2024
Sinclair Names Kevin Coskren Chief Meteorologist at KTUL Tulsa
Sinclair Broadcast Group said it named Kevin Coskren chief meteorologist at KTUL, its ABC affiliate in Tulsa, Oklahoma....
25/04/2024
Attend The Business of TV News Event in D.C. on May 2
The Business of TV News, a new one-day event featuring Martha Raddatz, Shannon Bream, Glenn Kirschner and other major figures in television news, happens at Hot...
25/04/2024
Problematic FCC Conditions On Station Sale Could Create Detroit Drama
Conditions put on the proposed sale of WADL Detroit, to Mission Broadcasting have created a potential drama in the Motor City....
25/04/2024
TelevisaUnivision 1Q Loss Widens But DTC Business Expected To Turn Profit in Second Half
TelevisaUnivision reported a $52 million loss in the first quarter, up from $3 m...
25/04/2024
Comcast Earnings Flat As Video, Broadband Sub Losses Continue
Comcast reported flat first-quarter earnings as it reduced the red ink at Peacock but continued to lose video and broadband customers....
25/04/2024
Vevo Brings Music Videos To Telly's Dual Screen TVs
Music-video network Vevo said it launched its app on Telly, the company offering consumers free dual-screen TVs in return for data about what they're watchi...
25/04/2024
Future Today Redesigns Streaming App Interfaces
Future Today said it has introduced a redesigned user interface for about half of its 300 streaming apps, including Fawesome, HappyKids and iFood.TV....
25/04/2024
Czech mates
The writer and director of a hit Czech series tell Robert Shepherd about their approach to portraying real-life Pakistani kidnappings on the small screen, while...
25/04/2024
Molinaire Creative Group opens new Liverpool facility
Notorious DIT will work with the Liverpool Film Office to increase opportunities for regional talent By Matthew Corrigan Published: April 25, 2024 Notorio...
25/04/2024
Deutsche Telekom Powers New MagentaTV Service With Broadp...
Broadpeak , a leading provider of content delivery network (CDN) and video streaming solutions for content providers and pay-TV operators worldwide, announced t...
25/04/2024
Lightware Enhances Microsoft Teams Rooms with Powerful BY...
Lightware Visual Engineering, a leading manufacturer of connectivity solutions for the professional integrated systems market and a pioneer in signal management...
25/04/2024
Net Insight secures collaboration with DMC Production to...
Net Insight has entered into a collaboration with DMC Production that positions Net Insight at the forefront of sports broadcasting in the Nordics. Net Insight ...
25/04/2024
GlobalM and scoopa announce strategic partnership to faci...
GlobalM has announced a strategic partnership with scoopa, the specialists in broadcast-quality content distribution, offering a complementary service for live ...
25/04/2024
DDish TV LLC Chooses PlayBox Neo Channel-in-a-Box for Bro...
PlayBox Neo announces the completion of a new multichannel playout system for the DDish direct-to-home satellite television network in Mongolia. Based in the na...
25/04/2024
Legendary Producer Garth Richardson Chooses PMC Monitors...
Canadian music producer and engineer Garth Richardson also known as Gggarth due to his stutter - has embraced immersive audio by installing a PMC monitoring s...
25/04/2024
Televisa transforms its broadcast ecosystem with proven t...
Leading video software provider Synamedia today announced that Televisa, the Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company, has chosen Synamedia as its pa...
25/04/2024
OTTera partners with ThinkAnalytics to enhance personaliz...
OTTera, a leading provider of end-to-end OTT and FAST channel solutions, proudly announces its strategic partnership with ThinkAnalytics, a global leader in adv...
25/04/2024
Perfect Weather Forecast for American Tobacco Events Tonight and Saturday
The American Tobacco Campus will be hopping with activity tonight and this weekend with two fun events! Durham Night Market At last! The Durham Night Market i...
25/04/2024
Qurate Launches The Big Dish on The Roku Channel
WEST CHESTER, Pa. Video commerce provider Qurate Retail Group has launched The Big Dish, a new culinary-themed FAST channel on The Roku Channel....
25/04/2024
HPA Opens Submissions for 2024 HPA Engineering Excellence Awards
LOS ANGELES The Hollywood Professional Association has announced that submissions for the 2024 HPA Engineering Excellence Awards are now being accepted. This re...
25/04/2024
DV Earns MRC Accreditation for CTV Viewability
NEW YORK The digital media measurement and analytics firm DoubleVerify has announced that it has received Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation for Video Vie...
25/04/2024
DAZN FAST Channels to Launch on Tubi
SAN FRANCISCO Fox Corp.'s ad-supported streaming service Tubi has announced a licensing agreement with the sports platform DAZN that will see DAZN Ringside ...
25/04/2024
IAB Makes Three Appointments to Its Leadership Team
NEW YORK In the runup to the 2024 IAB NewFronts, the IAB has announced three key appointments to its leadership team....
25/04/2024
Epic Games releases Unreal Engine 5.4 with new Motion Design Mode, Unreal VCam for Android, and more
Epic Games releases Unreal Engine 5.4 with new Motion Design Mode, Unreal VCam f...
25/04/2024
Content Creation, Production, Distribution Is In a State of Flux
Content Creation, Production, Distribution Is In a State of Flux Andy Marken April 24, 2024 0 Comments My empathy is creeping towards what I would de...
25/04/2024
Capitol Broadcasting Company to Air Carolina Panthers Games on Triangle's Strongest Broadcast Signal
The Carolina Panthers and Capitol Broadcasting Company (CBC) announced they have...
25/04/2024
Berklee Student Riko Sasaski Named 2024 Yamaha Young Performing Artist
Berklee Student Riko Sasaski Named 2024 Yamaha Young Performing Artist The accomplished saxophonist secured a spot among the elite winners of this year's ...
25/04/2024
Local News Close-Up: St. Louis Born and Bred
Stations everywhere take pride in having a main anchor who comes from the market they represent. That applies in St. Louis, too, but it also pertains to general...
25/04/2024
Edward Moody Joins WBTW Myrtle Beach Anchor Team
Edward Moody is joining the WBTW Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, anchor crew, and will anchor the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts alongside Trish Williford. He comes f...