UFL Kickoff 2024: FOX, ESPN Coverage To Listen In on Players, Coaches, Officials Audio is top priority in broadcasts of the new league By Dan Daley, Audio Editor Friday, March 29, 2024 - 10:34 am
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When the revamped UFL kicks off its inaugural season tomorrow, its players, their coaches, and the officials will be wired for sound by the two broadcasters, FOX Sports and ESPN, splitting coverage of the 10-week season.
The result of the merger of the latest iterations of the XFL and the United States Football League (USFL), the UFL opens its season with a matchup between 2023 XFL champion Arlington Renegades and 2023 USFL champ Birmingham Stallions.
FOX Sports (which owned the USFL and now owns half of the UFL) will deploy the Game Creek Gridiron mobile unit to anchor onsite production for half its shows, with Mobile TV Group 53-RP and 46 Flex handling the other half. ESPN will work from combinations of the LMG HD18 and HD15 trucks and F&F GTX-16.
Both broadcasters are supported by the league's Technology Group, which is working with NEP/Bexel to support team and official communications, as well as some of the player/coach/ref microphones. FOX Sports is supplementing its production with CP Communications, which is providing player-mic support.
The Fox Sports Approach The number of microphones deployed will vary by broadcaster. FOX Sports will use 24 bodypack microphones per game, 11 per team. Defensive coordinators will be captured through their intercom partylines; a separate channel will listen in on officials' discussions of on-field rulings; and yet another channel on the PLs can be switched to for coaches interviews during the game.
In fact, this alternative-season football generates so much sound that the main challenge for its inaugural season will be managing it all. We continue to keep working on new microphones, different mic elements, but also ways to enhance and clean up some of the audio, says Brad Cheney, VP, field operations and engineering, FOX Sports.
That is the responsibility of the broadcaster's UFL audio team, led by Mike Del Tufo and comprising Joe Carpenter, Joel Groblinghof, and Greg Briggs. Besides an A1 and a submixer, the team will deploy two mixers per game, versus the three mixers who handled FOX Sports' USFL games last year. Cheney says three sets of hands were needed on the faders last season because of the number of mic inputs from wired bodies on the field: one mixer was solely responsible for managing player microphones. That can be mitigated somewhat this year, he says, with more use of the parabolic microphones, which can roam the length of the sidelines.
Parabolic Mics Closer to the Action One thing that we've found really important has been the ability to place the parabolic microphones on the field in the zone of action, Cheney says. With both college and the NFL, you're [limited in range] somewhere between the 20- and 30-yard lines, so you're pushing the limits of what [the parabolics] can pick up. When you're able to put them right on the line of scrimmage or 10 yards up from the line of scrimmage at the first-down markers, you're getting better audio because you're closer to the action.
It's a lot of work trying to have the right body mic open at the right time and not also get a ton of noise, he continues. With better parabolic placement, we're able to pull back a bit on the player mics and get a more consistent sound. You're going to hear as much or more this year with a more streamlined approach to capturing the sound.
A better handle on field sound, Cheney adds, will mean more and clearer listening in on real-time conversations between players and coaches and among officials. That will enhance understanding of the new league's unique rules and speed fan engagement with the league. It will also permit faster replay audio.
One big thing we find with all this is that, the more we can be in real time, the better off the fan is, he points out. But the sheer amount of great audio we're getting is phenomenal. The beauty of it is that it all existed. Now we can capture it.
The shows are produced as Home-Run Productions (HRPs) from a control room in FOX Sports' Pico network center in Los Angeles.
We're excited about that, says Cheney, because, the more that we can streamline what we're doing with these technicians working both games in a weekend - the more reps you get, so to speak - the better you all are as a team. That's the amazing part of having a 10-week season: these guys are going to do 16 games in the first 10 weeks, with a couple other crews coming in to help out with overflow.
ESPN Taps Deep A1 Talent Pool At ESPN, the mic count is slightly less; that team will be focusing on the field communications among home offensive coaches and away defensive coaches, as well as all special-teams PLs. According to Jesse Kupec, remote operations specialist, remote audio, comms, and RF, ESPN, the conversations between officials will be a big part of the narrative during games, captured in real time, with a standard six-second delay: We have referee mics even when [the officials are] not hitting their [beltpack] toggle switch, which helps add to what's going on in the replay world.
ESPN will capture the wireless audio through Shure Axient ULXD4Q receivers and Riedel Bolero wireless comms via NEP/Bexel in a native Dante format. ESPN and UFL A2s work together to ensure that audio from body mics gets where it's supposed to go, says Kupec.
He also sees the sideline parabolic mics as especially useful for UFL games and getting fans deeper into the action. The league has been great about giving our operators more freedom in that space, but we just have to make sure we use common sense. We would ne
