NHL Draft: NBC, NHL Network Roll Out Big-Production Guns at American Airlines Center With Sportsnet and TVA also on hand, it's all about cooperation in Dallas By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Friday, June 22, 2018 - 2:23 pm
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The NHL Draft arrives in Dallas tonight, as league execs and top prospects descend upon American Airlines Center to plot out the future of the league's 31 franchises. A quartet of broadcasters are on-site covering it all, with NBC and NHL Network handling stateside coverage and Sportsnet and TVA delivering English and French coverage to Canada, as well as host of RSNs providing team-focused reports and live feeds.
The NHL Draft will take over the American Airlines Center in Dallas for the next two days.
The truck compound is populated with NEP's ND5 for NBCSN, Game Creek Video's Justice (NHL Network, which has exclusive coverage of Day 2), and Dome Productions' Journey (Sportsnet) and Thunder (TVA), respectively. Bexel ESS is on-site managing broadcast infrastructure, while CAT Entertainment Services is powering the compound with primary UPS units and backup generators.
Inside the arena, all four NHL broadcast partners' sets are located at the back of the bowl looking towards the stage. According to the league's VP of Arena and Event Operations Dan O'Neill, the size of the Draft continues to grow each year, with the four broadcasters rolling out more than 60 total cameras this year.
NBC Sports Group Rides Stanley Cup Momentum Into Draft
After scoring the most-watched Stanley Cup Final in three years, NBC Sports Group is set for its fourth consecutive production of the NHL Draft. NBCSN's production in Dallas will be based out of NEP's ND5 - its primary NHL truck during the season (along with its sister truck ND6) - and be centered around the NHL on NBC desk used throughout the Stanley Cup Final.
The NHL Draft is the most unique and, in my opinion, interesting of the major sports leagues because all parties are located inside the building, says Kaare Numme, who will be directing NBC's coverage. You have [almost all] of the players and their families sitting in the stands only a few rows from the stage - then all the teams are making their decisions right there on the draft floor. They sit at their team table with many of the front office - GM, coaches, assistants, and team guests - so the placement of all of our cameras are important to make sure we can see faces and expressions all night long.
More than 60 cameras will deployed for NHL Draft coverage by the quartet of broadcasters in Dallas
NBC has access to a total of 23 cameras and has deployed 14 unilateral cameras of its own, including five hard (two are high-speed), three handhelds (including one RF), two set cameras, and a scoreboard snoop camera, which shoots the board so the truck can easily reference picks that have already been made and time left on clock for each pick. NBC also has three beauty shots as part of its production philosophy to stay live inside the arena even when showing full screen graphics or lower-third graphics, according to Numme.
We are utilizing some unique camera positions, as it takes place in an arena but not on a traditional hockey rink' - it's an entertainment show, says Numme. Each arena is a different size and provides different sight lines - so we have to make sure we have clean, dynamic shots of the teams on the floor, prospects in the stands, and the stage by hand-selecting camera positions based on where the NHL is building their structures.
NBCSN is also sharing three cameras with Sportsnet as world-feed cameras: an RF Steadicam, a jib, and a hard camera shooting the podium. In addition, Rogers allows NBC to take seven additional Q-Ball robos located on the seven Canadian team tables as splits from its truck. Numme says while the camera levels are similar to previous years, NBC's coverage philosophy continues to evolve each year.
Numme and company have coordinated closely with Rogers Sportsnet director Mike Mills and each selection will be choreographed using the three main world-feed cameras. The RF Steadicam will walk with the selection to the stage, the jib will continuously provide shots of either the stage or facing out at the tables on the floor, and the podium camera will capture whoever is on stage (i.e. commissioner, GM making a selection, or any guests).
I know that at specific times during the night after a selection has been made that these cameras are ready' for every broadcaster to use, says Numme. Then we utilize our own NBC cameras the rest of the night to storytell about different prospects sitting in the stands waiting or GM's that are contemplating their next selection, etc.
NHL Network Readies Big Day 1 Production, Will Go Exclusive on Day 2
NHL Network is once again going all out at the draft, starting with an army of on-air talent and multiple on-site sets for live preview and recap shows on Day 1. Then, on Saturday, the network takes over for exclusive coverage of Rounds 2-7, which will also be streamed by NHL.com, and delivered to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio, Sportsnet, and NHL International.
This year, NHL Network will debut a unique new graphic - dubbed the Pick Tower - to help viewers keep up with the ultra-fast pace picks on Day 2.
This year, NHL Network will debut a unique new graphic - dubbed the Pick Tower - to help viewers keep up with the ultra-fast pace picks on Day 2.
We're excited about our Pick Tower on Day 2, says NHL Network senior coordinating producer Josh Bernstein. It will be a graphic integration that will - in real time - show each pick as it happens, along with the next team on the clock and the previous three picks at all times. The Pick Tower is fed directly from the NHL's offic
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NHL Draft: NBC, NHL Network Roll Out Big-Production Guns at American Airlines Center With Sportsnet and TVA also on hand, it's all about cooperation in Dallas By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
