ESPN Ships La Liga Studio Coverage, Commentary to Madrid for ESPAA Week
21/10/2022
Friday, October 21, 2022 - 10:37 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
With the 2022 Men's FIFA World Cup just around the corner, the sports world can't get enough of the game of soccer. ESPN is enhancing its coverage of La Liga, the highest tier in the Spanish soccer pyramid, by producing studio shows and commentary from Spain during a 10-day stretch dubbed ESPA A Week.
Madrid's La Plaza de Cibeles is the backdrop of the onsite studio. (All photos: Gisela Leyva)
The goal was to bring the onsite feeling of La Liga to our different platforms, says Gisela Leyva, coordinating producer, global event and studio productions, ESPN. We're achieving that with specially tailored content and a strong lineup of well-rounded journalists and f tbol legends.
Working Out Logistics: Production Crew, City Officials Ponder Available Space To shift operations from its typical setup in Bristol, CT, to the Spanish capital, the planning stages required internal communication among different departments and external collaboration with local officials. The multi-day endeavor began five weeks ago, closer to the first few matches of the 2022-23 La Liga schedule.
Brainstorming was the first leg of the journey and included timing up marquee matchups across the entire league to ensure an enticing week of content. Along with Leyva, the core group - Producers Russell Hurwitz and Claudio de la Vega; Senior Associate Producer Nicolas Salazar; Senior Editor Eduardo Fern ndez-Abascal; Onsite Producer Pablo Boveda; Manager, International Security, Andy Lalinde; and Walt Disney Co. Security Manager, Iberia, Spain, and Portugal, Alberto Gallardo - pinpointed potential locations that wouldn't pose safety risks but would offer picturesque views of the city. After figuring out multiple scenarios and taking all elements into consideration, Rodolfo Martinez, SVP/executive producer, ESPN International and ESPN Deportes, moved the plan along.
From left: Fernando Palomo, former Real Madrid player Hugo Sanchez, and commentator Adal Franco on the set in Madrid.
We were ambitious and considered many locations, but, with large portions of the city currently under a lot of construction, our options were limited, says Leyva. We ultimately decided on two iconic locations: La Plaza de Cibeles - which hosts major events, such as Real Madrid's title celebrations, Cabalgata de Reyes during Christmastime, and the National Pride Parade - and la Plaza de las Ventas.
As the ESPN crew worked the U.S. side of the effort, Madrid Mayor Jos Luis Mart nez-Almeida played a major role in making the dream into reality before the crew journeyed across the pond. Constantly asking questions about the broadcaster's vision, understanding the bandwidth needed to pull off their plans, and getting the appropriate clearance to set up shop in a public space, Mart nez-Almeida maintained constant contact with the operations team. Leaving the creative freedom to the professionals, the mayor asked only that the broadcast showcase the beauty of his city to U.S. viewers. With Mart nez-Almeida on board, de la Vega and Boveda held numerous calls to fine-tune the applications submitted to the government. Ultimately, the project was greenlighted, and, prior to the first production on Oct. 13, a total team of 24 U.S.-based employees (16 production employees and eight on-air talent) made their way to Madrid.
Host Alexis Nunes with two-time Premier League champion Pablo Zabaleta and ESPN Spain-based reporter Rodrigo Faez.
Madrid Tech Backbone: Mediapro Powers Onsite Truck; Unity Intercom Links Teams Even though the operation is in its final weekend, the job still requires coordination within the 56-person effort. Besides the Bristol-based crew, there are nine local production-team members and 31 technicians supplied by Mediapro. Inside the compound, Mediapro also provides a mobile production unit. With production crews, familiarity and camaraderie are important, and, luckily, that has been the atmosphere in Madrid.
From left: Dan Thomas, Luis Garc a, Alessandro Del Piero, Stewart Robson, Ian Darke, and Steve McManaman discuss the first El Cl sico of the season on the ESPN FC postgame show.
I have worked with many of these folks for more than a decade, says Leyva. In fact, we replicated this scenario at the last UEFA Champions League Final in Paris in May.
As for technical execution, remote resources have made a difference in distributing content to fans in the States. With crews working 3,505 miles away in Bristol as well as in other locations, such as Mexico, linking employee to employee is key. To that end, five Unity Intercom lines are deployed for audio, and solutions from TVU are used to transmit from the teams stationed in such cities as Madrid, Seville, and Barcelona to the control rooms in Bristol. During shows produced at night, low-latency IFB on top of the same production workflows allows talkback between talent and the production crew in Mexico.
Fun-Filled Fiesta: Studio Talent Paint the Picture; Announcers Provide Live Commentary The past week has been a balanced mix of multiple studio shows and onsite commentary deriving from seven stadiums in four cities: Madrid, Seville, C diz, and Barcelona. With a total cast of 25 on-air personalities - the U.S.-based team of eight is joined by 11 from Spain, four from the UK, and two from Mexico - fans watching on both ESPN and ESPN Deportes have no shortage of entertainment.
Martin Ainstein (left) and Mois s Llorens report live for ESPN Deportes from Santiago Bernab u Stadium in Madrid.
Topping the 70 combined hours of live programming has been live coverage o
LINK: | https://www.sportsvideo.org/2022/10/21/espn-ships-la-liga-studio-cover... |
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...
30/05/2024
That Station Launches New App, Website, Filled with Features, Music, Interviews and More
That Station's app and website just got a major upgrade. The station crew co...
30/05/2024
SWR Deploys Rohde & Schwarz Pixel Power Software Playout Solution
MUNICH, Germany Regional German broadcaster S dwestrundfunk (SWR) has deployed the Rohde & Schwarz Pixel Power graphics and playout solution....
30/05/2024
Hollyland Technology Unveils Pyro Wireless Video Transmission Series
IRVINE, Calif. Hollyland Technology has launched Pyro, a wireless video transmission system designed for the multi-person, mobile transmission and monitoring re...
30/05/2024
AIMS Opens Call for Presentations for Media-Over-IP Pavilion at AES New York
AIMS has announced it will once again collaborate with the Audio Engineering Society (AES) to bring the popular Media-Over-IP Pavilion to the AES New York show,...
30/05/2024
FCC Announces Opportunity for LPTV Stations to Change Channels
WASHINGTON, D.C. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Media Bureau has announced that beginning on August 20, 2024, Class A television, Low Power Televis...
30/05/2024
Comcast's StreamSaver Streaming Bundle Goes Live
Comcast has officially launched its discounted $15-a-month StreamSaver streaming bundle of Netflix, Peacock and Apple TV+ services. The previously announced bun...
30/05/2024
AMG Launches TV Stations, Local Now FAST Channels on Amazon's Fire TV Channels
LOS ANGELES Allen Media Group (AMG) is launching three of its streaming brands o...
30/05/2024
Viant Integrates with Google Cloud's BigQuery Data Clean Rooms
IRVINE, Calif. The ad tech company Viant Technology Inc. has announced a new integration with Google Cloud's BigQuery data clean rooms that enables the seam...
30/05/2024
Marshall Brings Selection of New and Proven AV Solutions...
Marshall Electronics will highlight several of its newest product offerings at InfoComm 2024 (Booth C8982), including the CV612 auto-tracking PTZ camera and the...
30/05/2024
Triveni Digital Streamlines TV Operations at the 2024 ATS...
Triveni Digital today announced that the company will showcase its end-to-end ATSC 3.0 offering at the 2024 ATSC NEXTGEN Broadcast Conference, June 12-14 in Was...
30/05/2024
Riedel Bolero Empowers Student Production Excellence at O...
Riedel Communications today announced that Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA) has successfully integrated the Bolero wireless intercom system into their st...
30/05/2024
SWR moves to software playout with integrated Pixel Power...
Rohde & Schwarz has implemented its Pixel Power graphics and playout solution at S dwestrundfunk (SWR), the regional German broadcaster based in Baden-Baden. SW...
30/05/2024
Media Asset Management vs Inventory Management
From their inception, media asset management (MAM) systems have been a crucial component of the media supply chain. Traditionally MAM systems service customers ...
30/05/2024
Disguise launches new generation of EX media servers to p...
Disguise has announced the next evolution of its hardware solutions with the launch of the new generation of EX media servers, following the recently launched R...
30/05/2024
PlayBox Neo Highlights Smart Media Playout Innovations at...
PlayBox Neo, a globally active producer of broadcast media playout and channel branding solutions, sustained its industry event visibility at three events durin...
30/05/2024
EMG Gravity Media Announces Martyn Edwards as General Man...
EMG / Gravity Media, the leading force in production and content, media services and facilities, is pleased to announce the appointment of Martyn Edwards as the...
30/05/2024
Screen Australia, Australians in Film and VicScreen announce FUTURE VISION
30 05 2024 - Media release Screen Australia, Australians in Film and VicScreen announce FUTURE VISION Lee Sung Jin and Joanna Calo Australians in Film, Scree...
30/05/2024
AI Benefits Come at a Cost
AI Benefits Come at a Cost Brie Clayton May 29, 2024 0 Comments After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill the story ends, you wa...
30/05/2024
Morgan Spurlock, Super Size Me' Director, Has Died
Morgan Spurlock, director of Super Size Me, died May 24 in New York. He was 53 and had been battling cancer....
30/05/2024
Departing Longtime Local Anchors Share Their Lessons Learned
A pair of beloved local anchors with extraordinary runs at their stations are finally stepping down. Tom Wills signs off at WJXT Jacksonville May 31, 49 years a...
30/05/2024
Inscape Founder Zeev Neumeier Launches GraySwan To Optimize CTV Ads
Zeev Neumeier, who founded Inscape and was a pioneer in automatic content recognition, is beta-testing his new venture, GraySwan....
30/05/2024
Robert De Niro To Get Service to America Award From NABLF
Robert De Niro will get the 2024 Service to America Leadership Award from the National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation. The award is presented...
30/05/2024
AGT' is Back, With More Golden Buzzers and Youngest Contestant Ever
Season 19 of America's Got Talent is on NBC starting May 28. The new season features more Golden Buzzers, which send a standout act directly to the live sho...
30/05/2024
The Quiz With Balls', Game Show That Pits Brains Against Boldness, Starts on Fox
Jay Pharoah hosts The Quiz with Balls, a game show that Fox says pits brains ag...
30/05/2024
Netflix's Bridgerton' Keeps Top Spot in TVision Power Score Rankings
Netflix's Bridgerton (season three) repeated as the top show in TVision's Power Score ranking of programs on connected TV for the week of May 20....
30/05/2024
It's Not The Ads, It's How They're Delivered, New FreeWheel Study Finds
A new study from FreeWheel, Comcast's ad-tech unit, found that it's not ...
30/05/2024
First Blippi' FAST Channel Launches on Samsung TV Plus
Candle Media's Moonbug Entertainment unit said it launched its first free ad-supported streaming channel featuring its kid show Blippi on Samsung TV Plus....
30/05/2024
Kantar Names Nicole Gileadi Chief Strategy Officer and North America Managing Director
Kantar Media said it named Nicole Gileadi chief strategy officer and managing di...
30/05/2024
RT Announces Rachael English as the New Presenter of News at One on RT Radio 1
RT has announced that Rachael English will be the new presenter of News at One on RT Radio 1 following the retirement of Bryan Dobson. After 14 years as part ...
30/05/2024
GeForce NOW Brings the Heat With World of Warcraft'
World of Warcraft comes to the cloud this week, part of the 17 games joining the GeForce NOW library, with seven available to stream this week. Plus, it's ...
29/05/2024
ST Engineering iDirect Next-Generation Hub Infrastructure Selected for Indonesia's First Multifunction Satellite
Highly scalable and flexible solution supporting Satria-1 satellite to facilitat...
29/05/2024
L3Harris Empowers Future Canadian Leaders Through the CILA Program
In 2018, Rich Foster, Vice President of L3Harris Canada, envisioned a transformative initiative to address the gender and diversity gap in science, technology, ...
29/05/2024
Charting the Future of the U.S. Navy
The christening of OUSV Vanguard, the U.S. Navys newest Unmanned Surface Vehicle, marks a pivotal moment in Naval technology. Developed through the joint Strate...
29/05/2024
EditShare Boosts Sales Direction With Alumnus Grant Carroll
EditShare Boosts Sales Direction With Alumnus Grant Carroll Long-term leader moves up to head sales in the Americas Boston, MA, May 29, 2024 - EditShare, the...
29/05/2024
Broadcasters Foundation of America Designates June 13 its Annual Giving Day
The Broadcasters Foundation of America has announced its annual Giving Day will take place Thursday, June 13. The campaign's purpose is to raise money to su...
29/05/2024
Grant Carroll Returns to EditShare as its New SVP-Americas
BOSTON EditShare has hired Grant Carroll as its new Senior Vice President for Sales for the Americas....
29/05/2024
Vizrt joins forces with Dalet to enhance newsroom operations
Vizrt joins forces with Dalet to enhance newsroom operations Brie Clayton May 29, 2024 0 Comments The integration between Dalet Galaxy five and Viz Pi...
29/05/2024
Tucson TV Stations Launch NextGen TV Services
TUSCON Six stations have launched NextGen TV, aka ATSC 3.0 broadcasts in the Tucson, Ariz., area....
29/05/2024
France Tlvisions Upgrades to Grass Valley Kaleido-IP Video Multiviewer
MONTREAL Grass Valley is reporting that French National Public TV Broadcaster France T l visions, rebranded as france tv, has selected its next-generation Kalei...
29/05/2024
John Abbot Joins Google Fiber as Its First CFO
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. Google Fiber has announced that John Abbot has recently joined its team as the company's first chief financial officer (CFO)....
29/05/2024
Obsidian Lighting Control ONYX 4.10 Software Now Available
Obsidian Control Systems has introduced ONYX 4.10, the latest iteration of the popular lighting control software for NX consoles and PC systems....
29/05/2024
ZOO Establishes ZOO Italy, Launches Dubbing Studios in Milan
LONDON ZOO Digital, a global provider of localization and media services to the entertainment industry, has launched ZOO dubbing studios in Milan and establishe...
29/05/2024
Vizrt Integrates HTML Graphics System with Dalet News Production System
BERGEN, Norway Vizrt has integrated Viz Pilot Edge, the company's newsroom HTML-based templated graphics system, with the Dalet Galaxy five news production ...
29/05/2024
Elettroformati Audio Post House Installs PMC Monitors In...
Italian audio production company Elettroformati has chosen PMC monitors and an Avid management system for its new Dolby Atmos music mixing studio in Milan. Fo...
29/05/2024
Pixotope Enables Remote Intercontinental Camera Tracking...
Pixotope, the leading software platform for end-to-end real-time virtual production solutions, is breaking new ground by enabling remote real time virtual produ...
29/05/2024
Vizrt joins forces with Dalet to enhance newsroom operati...
Vizrt, the leader in real-time graphics and live production solutions for content creators, today announces that its flagship newsroom HTML-based templated grap...
29/05/2024
Ateme Leads TVRIs Transition to 4K UHD OTT Streaming
Ateme, the global leader in video compression, delivery and streaming solutions with innovation at its core, today announced TVRI s historic transition to 4K UH...
29/05/2024
WRAL-TV's Shrader, Holland Talk Historic Hurricane Forecast on WRAL Daily Download
NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) issued a forecast las...