Live From MLB All-Star 2024: With Full Slate of Events in Arlington, MLB Network Settles In for Multi-Day MLB Draft at Cowtown Coliseum League's production arm is embracing the western theme at the Fort Worth Stockyards By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor Sunday, July 14, 2024 - 11:37 am
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This year's starting pitcher for the 2024 National League All-Star squad, 22-year-old fireballer Paul Skenes, began his Major League Baseball journey by walking across the stage of the MLB Draft nearly one year ago. The next class of potential superstars and Hall of Famers will grace that same stage starting with Round 1 on Sunday, July 14 at 7 p.m. ET from Cowtown Coliseum. For those who won't be amongst the crowd in the Lone Star State and are watching from home, the broadcast from this 116-year-old venue will pack a thematic and technological-savvy punch.
Similar to our productions at Field of Dreams or Rickwood Field, this MLB Draft will be more of a blank canvas, says Jason Hedgcock, senior director, remote technical operations, MLB Network. We couldn't have asked for a better venue.
MLB Network has a strong ops and production crew for the 2024 MLB Draft. (L to R): Tony Vitello, Harold Reynolds, Chris Roenbeck, Todd Bivona, Greg Amsinger, Jim Callis, Ryan Delaney, Susan Stone, Dan O'Dowd, Ben Friedfeld, Mike Martin, Zaac Christopher, Tom Guidice, DJ Driscoll, and Marc Caiafa.
Working Within the Confines: Intimate Venue Presents Ops, Stylistic Challenges Although Cowtown Coliseum is accustomed to hosting sporting events that involve bovine animals, the building isn't necessarily used to holding larger-scale events with moving parts occurring onsite and remotely. With MLB Network's facility in Secaucus, NJ being brought online to insert graphics remotely, it was imperative to construct a reliable and accurate back-of-house infrastructure. Working from a more-than-a-century old venue in Birmingham, AL less than a month ago, many of the network's operations crew figured it'd be the same case in Fort Worth. They were treated to a much-needed surprise to ease their workload.
Luckily, this building does have some pre cabling, says Zaac Christopher, senior remote technical manager, MLB Network. It was much easier to run everything back home from the truck rather than run fiber from this pre-cabling to where our onsite mobile unit is parked.
This decision meant that the pre-existing infrastructure wasn't used, but having the possibility of tapping into it was a nice option to have. A bigger challenge was working from within Game Creek Video's Gotham and B9, with the latter being used by the network to send live video feeds back to ESPN's facility in Bristol, CT for ESPN's REMI-produced simulcast of the Draft. To compensate for the smaller-sized and 3,418-seat venue, as well as to further a production wrinkle that's been leveraged since the 2020 MLB Draft, all 30 clubs' respective Draft rooms and prospects watching from home will be brought back to site via Zoom.
This year's stage is leaning heavy on rodeo motifs and iconography.
We're going to have the Draft rooms for all 30 clubs and they're going to have their audio locked, continues Hedgcock. Zoom has a lot of great security features, so the only people that can see each team's video are the broadcasters. When a team is on the clock, they get removed from their initial Zoom and are put into another one with MLB operations. Once the pick is made and everything is officially done, they go back to their original Zoom.
In addition to these live Zoom feeds, the broadcast will feature 15 total cameras, including nine controlled by MLB Network, and three apiece from ESPN and Van Wagner. On the production end, this tighter space to work within presented a challenge that could disrupt how the televised product looked to the viewing audience.
When [Senior Coordinating Director] Mike [Martin] picked our final location, we were happy with our cross shots, says Tom Guidice, VP, remote operations, MLB Network. We were able to tweak the desk a little bit to get us our desired result shot.
Aesthetically, this studio set is outfitted with a sleek Western theme and vibe. Running parallel with MLB Global Events' - the department that's tasked with choosing the location of this marquee production - overall theming on and around the stage as well as other aspects of the building, MLB Network's crew matched it with stellar detail. To maintain the elevated set's beauty, the crew is paying attention to dust particles that are still present as remnants from the venue's usual all-dirt surface.
We had to set up all of our equipment three days before the start of the Draft, so we need to keep everything clean, continues Guidice.
Creativity Runs Wild: Front Bench Lays Out Ideas in Special Setting When MLB Network initially learned that this event would take place in a one-of-a-kind location like Cowtown Coliseum, the brainstorming process must have boomed with potential ideas. Concepts were thrown around, but being in a house where cowboys are thrown around, the front bench duo of Senior Coordinating Producer Chris Roenbeck and Martin focused on the similarities between bull riding and baseball.
The first thing I thought about is how can we showcase the rodeo in general and tie it into baseball, and I noticed the idea of eight seconds to glory in bull riding, says Roenbeck. When I watched Commissioner Manfred's picks from previous Drafts, they all seemed to be about eight seconds. We decided to focus our entire open on this idea and have it voiced by [Kansas City Royals shortstop and 2024 American League All-Star] Bobby Witt Jr.
Cowtown Coliseum in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards is the locatio
