
ESPN Ops Team Tips Off Challenging College Hoops Season With Focus on Safety, Efficiency Innovation and flexibility are key in an effort facing myriad changes By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Friday, December 4, 2020 - 12:48 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
What is expected to be the most challenging college basketball season in recent memory tipped off last week with a smattering of early tournaments, and the schedule will kick into high gear later this month. Although ESPN's operations team is no stranger to the challenges of navigating the college basketball season - annually producing more than 1,200 games over seven months - the team has already faced an difficult series of challenges brought on by a list of canceled and postponed games.
There is an all-hands-on-deck mentality amongst the operations team, says Erin Orr, manager, remote operations, ESPN, as the virus continues to spread throughout the world, especially headed into the winter months. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenging moment in time, yet the operations team has derived innovation from necessity through advancements in workflows, skills, and routines.
With that in mind, ESPN's operations team has crafted a plan that focuses on keeping crews safe onsite and producing more games via REMI from control rooms in Bristol, CT; Charlotte, NC; and Wide World of Sports in Orlando.
Never before has such great change surrounded ESPN's college-basketball coverage, adds Orr. ESPN is committed to looking forward as a company and has supported the college-basketball operations team in designing new health and safety policies, business models, and technological efficiencies.
Ramping Up REMI: ESPN Increases Remote Production, Focuses on Safety Onsite During the 2020-21 season, the majority of ESPN's college-basketball productions will be either REMIs or productions that use ACC and SEC schools' on-campus control rooms. The standard of practice last season was about 10 full onsite productions per week; however, with increased safety protocols and a commitment to keeping staff safe and healthy, ESPN plans to have four or five onsite shows a week this season.
For onsite college-basketball productions, ESPN has instituted functional groups for its crews and requires all staff to wear masks and socially distance.
On a standard REMI production, the only positions onsite are audio, video, cameras, and operations. Talent and production personnel are handling their roles at home or in studios in Bristol, Charlotte, and Orlando. Announcers working from home leverage ESPN's Live From Home production model, which has been implemented over the past eight months and is built around Zoom, TVU, and Unity intercom tools.
The operations team [responsible for] getting college basketball on ESPN is made up of a network of groups, says Orr. However, the universal goal has always been simple: to get each game on-air in the safest and most efficient way possible. While the transparency of this goal is concrete, the means of finding efficiencies within the sport have morphed throughout time.
For onsite crews, ESPN has instituted functional groups that give the team the ability to strategically plan for each crew member who works at a game. ESPN's deliberate planning has created a more comprehensive understanding of onsite personnel and roles, which Orr says has facilitated management of each individual's functional group.
These restrictive groups mitigate unnecessary interactions onsite, she notes, which in turn allows each crew member to walk into each game knowing that their health and safety is number-one priority.
COVID Uncertainty: Ops Team Faces Ultra-short Timelines Orr adds that the biggest impact of the pandemic has been the onset of unknowns, which has resulted in initial operations planning now taking place just 10 days prior to each game.
Throughout the team's preseason preparation, the increase in communication within [the] operations [team], as well as with production, has been hugely important. The sport itself has been faced with a landscape of ever-changing information, and, as a result, the operations team aims at a moving target. The team has quickly learned that the plans laid yesterday immediately become a notion of the past.
The operations team and its production, crewing, and health and safety partners have determined to be flexible in the face of myriad changes. With game cancellations and postponements expected to be a regularity throughout this season, the ops team is focused on keeping the lines of communication as strong as possible throughout ESPN.
There is no manual on how to produce live sports during a global pandemic, Orr points out, so each group is learning and evolving with each curveball. Historically, the team has practiced adaptability in adjusting to the inevitable changes that come down the pipeline in a normal season. However, this season has inspired each group to raise the bar in terms of distributing immediate and concise communication amidst a field of ever-changing games.
Unmanned Cameras: POVs, Robos Play Big Role in Game Coverage Much time and energy has been spent individualizing the logistical planning for each venue's unique health and safety protocols. In addition, some venues allow fans to attend while others do not, and the capacity varies from one venue to another. Given all the variations, Orr says, the most challenging aspect has been mapping out camera locations while ensuring that each area maintains proper social distance.
The biggest loss in game coverage has been the elimination of on-court handheld cameras, so ESPN will lean on unmanned cameras to capture much of the on-court action. Marshall POV cameras have been added to every production to be used on the baskets for variou
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
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...
27/07/2026
The Audio Engineering Society Educational Foundation has named its scholarship and grant recipients for the 2026/2027 academic year. The awards support students...
27/07/2026
ESPN and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) have signed a multi-year media rights agreement covering basketball championships and select football and ba...
27/07/2026
Yahoo Sports and Cameo have partnered to allow fantasy football users to book personalized celebrity videos directly within the Yahoo Fantasy app and website. T...
27/07/2026
Eutelsat has welcomed the FCC's order establishing the regulatory framework for the transition of Upper C-band spectrum in the United States. Under the orde...
27/07/2026
ESPN and the International Dance League (IDL) have signed a global rights agreement for the 2026 season. Events will air bi-weekly on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. ET beginni...
27/07/2026
NBCUniversal and YouTube have signed a multi-year global partnership that includes bundling Peacock with YouTube Premium, extending NBCUniversal's distribut...
27/07/2026
Agenda includes presentations from the Miami Heat, Inter Miami, Florida Panthers...
27/07/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, including new deals, departures, and assignments compiled from press releases and repo...
27/07/2026
Ten one-minute shorts will roll out across CBS, The CW, Paramount+ during the 2026 PBR Teams season
PBR is officially moving into scripted animation. The Profe...
27/07/2026
Today the nonprofit Sundance Institute shared the names of this year's cohor...
27/07/2026
New app turns vocal percussion into polished loops
Vochlea, the company behind the voice-to-MIDI instrument Dubler 2, have just announced the launch of a ne...
27/07/2026
Latest MPE-capable instrument completes Pure Trilogy line-up
Sonora Cinematic have just released the third and final instalment in their series of acoustic ...
27/07/2026
Emulates four varieties of optical compression
The latest addition to the fedDSP line-up has just been announced, and packs four distinct optical compressor...
27/07/2026
Optical & FET compressors join 500-series line-up
At our recent GearExpo UK show, we heard from Drawmer that they would soon be launching a pair of new 500-...
27/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/07/2026
Lightware announces SNMPv3-based monitoring support for selected Taurus devices, available from firmware v1.20.0. The update enables IT administrators and AV in...
27/07/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, will showcase its vision for the Real-Time...
27/07/2026
All episodes available Thursday 6 August on Sky and streaming service NOWMonday ...
27/07/2026
Why Confidence MattersIn this series, we explore the technologies, architectures and operational realities shaping modern media operations. Along the way, we ex...
27/07/2026
Apple today announced AppleCare One - a new way for customers to protect multipl...
27/07/2026
Yesterday witnessed truly memorable scenes in Croke Park, bringing the curtain d...
27/07/2026
Luxembourg, July 27, 2026 - SES, a leading space solutions company, issued the following statement following the U.S. Federal Communications Commission approval...
27/07/2026
Open source software is a critical pillar of the global economy. It underpins cloud computing, financial services, manufacturing, telecommunications, government...
26/07/2026
What is Audio Vivid? A New Destination for Immersive Audio Over the past several years, immersive audio has evolved from a niche production consideration into a...
26/07/2026
The complexity of modern chip design continues to grow as engineering teams work to develop increasingly sophisticated CPUs, GPUs and AI systems. To help meet t...
25/07/2026
New app turns vocal percussion into polished loops
Vochlea, the company behind the voice-to-MIDI instrument Dubler 2, have just announced the launch of a ne...
25/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/07/2026
Export FCP7 to XML Without Needing FCP7 Installed
Dave Rice July 24, 2026
0 Comments
I've created an open source tool that allows you to export FC...
25/07/2026
Documentary Sell Your House Edited with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton July 24, 2026
0 Comments
Filmmakers post feature documentary from opposite...
25/07/2026
Time to Act: Bringing a New Opera to Life Boston Conservatory at Berklee vocal arts students played a vital role in shaping the opera's creative developme...
25/07/2026
Beyond the Score For Dean of Music Kevin Haden, the boundless possibilities of classical music begin with process.
July 24, 2026
By
Kevin Haden
Michelle ...
25/07/2026
Reading the Room As music director of two major orchestras, conductor Jonathon Heyward aims to make the concert hall a space for everyone.
July 24, 2026
By
...
25/07/2026
Saturday 25 July 2026
First look revealed for YAGA, a seductive mystery thrille...
24/07/2026
Referee hat cameras, player/coach mics, and virtual graphics will be deployed at the three-day event for the first time
The NFL FLAG Championships return to ES...
24/07/2026
Qvest, Ateme, and Scaleway have partnered to offer broadcasters, media organizat...
24/07/2026
LTN has completed satellite-to-IP migrations for more than 3,000 broadcaster, MVPD (Multi-Channel Video Programming Distributor), head-end, and content owner si...
24/07/2026
Chyron has released Virtual Placement 8.1, an update to its live sports virtual graphics platform. The release adds workflow and graphics changes across chroma ...
24/07/2026
Riedel's RefCam Live was used for the first time at an international soccer match during a friendly between the German men's national team and Ghana in ...
24/07/2026
USSI Global said it is prepared to help broadcasters, satellite network operators, and media organizations manage the next phase of C-band spectrum clearing, fo...
24/07/2026
FuboTV and The Athletic have launched The Athletic Video Hub on Fubo, bringing The Athletic's sports video content to connected TV (CTV) for the first time....