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
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
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
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
10/06/2026
DAZN-owned digital-media company launches three fan-first series leaning into cr...
10/06/2026
Clear-Com has announced the appointment of Jason Dino as Southwest Regional Sales Manager USA, covering Southern California and the Southwest region. Dino joins...
10/06/2026
An 11% decrease in number of global broadcast deals reflects the organization...
10/06/2026
The Women Without Boundaries Awards recognize women whose work is advancing the future of media, broadcast, AV, workplace technology, digital experience, and re...
10/06/2026
Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...
10/06/2026
SES is supporting broadcast distribution of the world's biggest football tou...
10/06/2026
NDI has announced that BirdDog has become the first hardware manufacturer to achieve full NDI 6.3 compatibility across its complete lineup of cameras, encoders,...
10/06/2026
Vince Caputo and Scott Carter, winners of the 2026 Sports Emmy for Outstanding Post Produced Audio have been announced as presenters for the 2026 SVG Advanced A...
10/06/2026
FOX One today unveiled a slate of new product features and enhancements designed to elevate the viewing experience for fans on the official streaming platform o...
10/06/2026
Primary production partners Dome Productions and Raycom Sports once again played...
10/06/2026
The Women in Sports Filmmaking Experienceship is an immersive professional devel...
10/06/2026
The league has expanded its HSAN architecture for the NBA Finals to manage more ...
10/06/2026
The inaugural MoonPay X Games League (XGL) Winter Draft will take place Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at Cosm Los Angeles from 7-9 p.m. PT. The event will strea...
10/06/2026
The University of Oklahoma (OU) Athletics Department and Learfield have announce...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has released TR-06-4 Part 8, a new specification for RIST Satellite-Hybrid: Out-of-Band Method. The specification creates a mecha...
10/06/2026
Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, supporting live medical proc...
10/06/2026
A still from The Doom Generation by Gregg Araki (Courtesy of Sundance Institute)
By Lucy Spicer
Have you checked out our Sundance Film Festival 101 list yet...
10/06/2026
Get Hands-On with Interfaces & Mic Preamp Brands
If youre after a new interface or preamp, then GearExpo UK is the place to be! Well have a whole host of au...
10/06/2026
November 13-14 2026, The Midway, San Francisco
Following their recent rebranding, MONO Music Conference (formerly Music Expo) have officially announced thei...
10/06/2026
Debut instrument free for limited time
deFORM is the debut release from newly founded developer ebbandflow, and it's being offered as a free download fo...
10/06/2026
Alone Australia Season 4: Meet the Cast
10 June, 2026
Media releases
WATCH THE TRAILER
Smash-hit survival series Alone Australia drops its highly anticipa...
10/06/2026
DEADLY THEN, DEADLY NOW, DEADLY ALWAYS: SBS & NITV IGNITE NAIDOC WEEK 2026 WITH ...
10/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF advance laser-based drone defense with THORIS LCS Rohde & Schwarz is showcasing THORIS at ILA 2026: A sovereign, end to end counter...
10/06/2026
MAHLE and Rohde & Schwarz develop application for sensor testing of modern drive...
10/06/2026
Production and Development Funding supports the creation of compelling, commercially viable, artistic and culturally relevant South African screen content. Deve...
10/06/2026
Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...
10/06/2026
Accedo, Humans not Robots, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) have announced the launch of Ecoflow X. Formerly an IBC Accelerator project, ...
10/06/2026
Frequency, the engine powering the world's leading streaming television channels, today announced that James Smith has joined the company as General Manager...
10/06/2026
At the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for live medical procedures s...
10/06/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media, and entertainment managed services, today announced the launch of its Content Exchange platform powered by Or...
10/06/2026
Klvr will showcase how venues, integrators and production teams are rethinking disposable battery usage at InfoComm 2026 (Las Vegas, June 17-19, booth #N6311). ...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has further enhanced the Reliable Internet Streaming Transport (RIST) protocol by incorporating a new feature, RIST Satellite-Hyb...
10/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/06/2026
10 Jun 2026
VEON's Banglalink Brings Every World Cup 2026 Match to Football...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
How to watch every ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 match live on Sky Sports
Where is the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 availabl...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
P RLA brings first-ever Beautifully Clean Oral Care'...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
Sky reveals pulse-pounding first teaser trailer for upco...
10/06/2026
Wuppertal June 10, 2026
Riedel Artist at the Heart of the 14th World Live Neurovascular ConferenceAt the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Li...
10/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Showcases New Mobile Experience, Collections and Games Vision in APAC
Product
10 June 2026
GlobalSouth KoreaJapan
Link copied to c...
10/06/2026
Back to All News
Ready to Join? The Netflix Fan Club Arrives at Cannes Lions
Business
10 June 2026
Global
Link copied to clipboard
Download all assets
N...
10/06/2026
Chemists snap together complex 3D molecules from highly reactive radicals-without losing their shape Scripps Research team develops stereoretentive radical-radi...
09/06/2026
Kiswe announces an expanded long-term partnership with ONE Championship (ONE), t...
09/06/2026
SiriusXM will broadcast FOX Sports' English-language commentary for all 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 matches from June 11 through July 19, available to subscribe...
09/06/2026
EVS has announced it is changing its corporate name from EVS Broadcast Equipment to EVS, reflecting the company's expanded portfolio beyond broadcast equipm...
09/06/2026
Fox Corporation and the NFL have announced a multi-year agreement to bring NFL c...
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 
