
X Games Aspen 2022: ESPN Brings Back Crowds, Debuts 5G-Powered Immersive Viewing Experience on App 20 manned cameras across 40 different positions are planned By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Friday, January 21, 2022 - 1:49 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
After going a year without its signature raucous crowds and festival-style atmosphere, X Games Aspen is back in full swing beginning today with the return of fans and a larger onsite presence at Buttermilk Mountain from ESPN and production partner Echo Entertainment. For fans who can't attend in person, ESPN Edge and Verizon have teamed up to create a new immersive viewing experience within the X Games Aspen 2022 App. So, whether they're in Aspen or watching at home, the 2022 edition of Winter X promises to be a welcome return to normalcy for fans.
ESPN has brought back the CondorCam point-to-point aerial system.
Clearly, last year, operations were very different and scaled down to ensure safety in a pre-vaccination world, says Tim Reed, VP, X Games, ESPN. We were thankful just to make that event happen and get it in the books last year. This year, the biggest change is obviously having fans here, and we could not be more excited about that because we really missed them last year. We're excited about the size and scope of show we're going to have, and it should be pretty epic while also being a safe environment for fans and crew.
Immersive Experience: 180 and 360 Cameras Take Viewers Onto the Slope For the first time at an X Games, the event app - built on Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband - will provide fans with an immersive viewing experience via 180- and 360-degree cameras positioned throughout the Slopestyle, SuperPipe, and Big Air courses. Within the app, fans are able to select among multiple live cameras and access immersive views exclusive to the app (now available to download on iOS and Android/Google Play stores).
YBVR has deployed several four-camera arrays to create the 360-degree experience.
Within the app is an immersive viewing experience where you would essentially be your own director while watching the X Games, says Reed. In some cases, the program feed will be fed into the app, and the end user will be able to select different cameras to view. Then, in addition to those cameras, there are also 180- and 360-camera options that allow the viewer to move around and determine their own [viewing] angle.
The new immersive experience is the result of a collaboration between ESPN's X Games team, the ESPN Edge Innovation Center (which launched in September), and Verizon (a Founding Partner in ESPN Edge).
In Aspen, ESPN and Echo Entertainment have teamed up with Verizon, YBVR, and Ghost Hand Productions to deploy nine 180/360 camera systems on the Slopestyle, SuperPipe, and Big Air Courses. The 180-degree systems comprise two Panasonic Lumix BGH1 4K cinema cameras; the 360-degree systems feature an array of four BGH1's. Although some camera arrays are supported by fiber connectivity (laid down by Echo), others are fully wireless and connected via a Verizon 5G network established at Buttermilk.
They've worked with our director on the best places to put those cameras to get the views that will be different from the television production, says Echo Entertainment Technical Manager Pierce Williams. The course designers even had some input just to make sure we can get that most immersive shot possible. We are all pretty psyched to see some of these angles that have ever been seen before.
Two Lumix BGH1 4K cinema cameras create the 180-degree-camera array at X Games.
Besides providing these 180- and 360-degree views for the app, ESPN plans to integrate these views into the linear telecast. Throughout the three-day event, Verizon's onsite team will take the feeds from the 180 cameras, stitch them together, and distribute them to the production truck as EVS replay clips.
We're planning to use those angles within our broadcast as replays, which will be pretty cool, says Reed. We will be able to grab those replays to tell [TV viewers] about this unique experience and actually show them what it is. We will be driving people to go download the app through the use of the replays within the broadcast.
YBVR is overseeing the Verizon 5G-powered immersive-experience production at X Games.
The Return of Crowds: Reinjecting the Fan Element Into the Broadcast Although this year's festivities may not have full-fledged concerts as X Games Aspen did in the pre-pandemic era, the 2022 iteration is most certainly a partial step in the return to normalcy. With fans back onsite (all attendees and staff are required to be vaccinated), ESPN and Echo expect this week's broadcasts to feature a return to the party-like atmosphere of years past.
ESPN is back in full force for X Games Aspen 2022.
As the producer, says Echo Entertainment President Hugh Arian, you can't speak enough to how much the fans make a difference in terms of the energy of the event, the noise and audio, how it makes events look bigger, and how all of that rubs off on the athletes. The fans are what ties it all together. So we're all extremely excited about having them back.
Although there won't be full concert-level musical performances, ESPN is planning a smaller-scale music performance in the corral at the base of the SuperPipe course on Sunday night prior to the Men's Ski Pipe competition.
ESPN and Echo are back to a larger-scale production this year after a smaller operation in 2021
In addition to having fans back onsite, ESPN will also have its full team of announcers in Aspen after having limited the headcount in 2021. Host Jack Mitrani will return, along with reporters Jonathan DC Oetken and Victoria Arlen and the play-by-play/analyst teams for each event.
We have not
More from Sports Video Group
17/05/2022
NHL Ramps Up New Production Studio at Hudson Yards NYC HQ for Stanley Cup Playof...
17/05/2022
SVG Sit-Down: NHL Chief Content Officer/EVP Steve Mayer on League's New Prod...
16/05/2022
LaLiga and Mediapro achieve massive viewing figures for first live TikTok broadc...
16/05/2022
Getting the balance right: The inside track on the eSkootr Championship By George Bevir
Friday, May 13, 2022 - 10:03
Print This Story
The first stage of t...
16/05/2022
NAB 2022 Perspectives: Puget Systems Matt Bach and Eric Brown on Optimizing Virt...
16/05/2022
USFL Mixers for Fox, NBC Find Their Rhythm on a Profusion of Audio Sources Players, coaches, coordinators, and officials are miked By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
...
13/05/2022
NAB 2022 Perspectives: Cobalt Digitals Suzana Brady on Foreseeing the Challenges...
13/05/2022
BT Group forms a new premium sports joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery an...
13/05/2022
SVG Returns to Sydney for SVG Australia Summit on June 1 Register now to attend event at Telstra Customer Insight Centre in Sydney By SVG Staff
Friday, May 1...
13/05/2022
NAB 2022 Perspectives: Vizrt CTO Gerhard Lang on the Future of Adaptive Graphics...
13/05/2022
Families in Recovery: Susan Ford on Her Mother's Legacy and the Founding of ...
12/05/2022
NAB 2022 Perspectives: Crown Castles Anush Sarabakhsh on Powering Connectivity W...
12/05/2022
NAB 2022 Perspectives: Edgecast's Ariff Sidi on Interactive Live-Streaming E...
12/05/2022
SVG Sit-Down: Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley on ATSC 3.0, HDR Sports, Bally Sports D...
11/05/2022
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: APM Music's Max Crutchfield on the Impact of High...
11/05/2022
Heavy audio presence: Audio-Technica takes the MotoGP challenge onboard at Jerez By Michael Burns
Tuesday, May 10, 2022 - 10:01
Print This Story
At MotoGP...
11/05/2022
Live from Jerez: Dorna and Audio Technica sounding ready for another MotoGP in the Spanish sun By Michael Burns
Friday, April 29, 2022 - 09:47
Print This S...
11/05/2022
Tech Focus: Production Music, Part 2 - What's Happening in Libraries Choices in genres, tunes, and cues are proliferating By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Wed...
11/05/2022
Tech Focus: Production Music, Part 1 - Sports Is Big Part of the Industry's ...
10/05/2022
Warner Bros. Discovery brings a world feed production in-house for the first tim...
10/05/2022
Speedway Grand Prix data and innovations placed in the hands of fans in Warner B...
10/05/2022
NAB 2022 Perspectives: Telemetrics Michael Cuomo Provides Update to Companys Rob...
10/05/2022
NAB 2022 Perspectives: Genius Sports' Michael Connell Offers Look at Award-W...
10/05/2022
SVG Sit-Down: House of Highlights' Sam Gilbert on the Live Strategy Behind t...
10/05/2022
NBC Officially Names Rob Hyland as Coordinating Producer of Sunday Night Footbal...
09/05/2022
SVG College Summit 2022: To Stay in SVG's Hotel Block at Special Room Rate, ...
09/05/2022
EMG Italy produces 20th edition of Milan Marathon for RCS Sport By Roberto Landini, Italian Correspondent
Thursday, May 5, 2022 - 14:37
Print This Story
T...
09/05/2022
NAB Show 2022: AT&T Global Video Solutions Scott Beckett Tours the Companys New ...
09/05/2022
SVG On Demand: Behind the Scenes of MLB Network's Revamped Studio 3, New Stu...
06/05/2022
Silicon Valley Video Schedules What Did You See at NAB? Debrief on May 26 By SVG Staff
Friday, May 6, 2022 - 8:15 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Stor...
06/05/2022
ESPN Adds University of Oklahoma's SoonerVision Content to Streaming Portfo...
06/05/2022
NAB Show 2022: MediaPros M rio Sousa Dissects the Tools Empowering Content Creat...
06/05/2022
WNBA 2022 Preview: ESPN Elevates League's Continued Growth With High-Profile...
06/05/2022
NBC Returns to Baseball as MLB Sunday Leadoff Streaming Package Debuts on Peacoc...
06/05/2022
As Lindsay Schanzer Makes Kentucky Derby History at Front Bench, NBC Sports Welc...
05/05/2022
Turner Sports Takes to Stanley Cup Playoffs Ice for the First Time TBS and TNT will carry up to 28 first-round games, including 16 in five days beginning Thursd...
04/05/2022
On the Ice Again After Nearly Two Decades, ESPN Continues To Innovate for 2022 S...
04/05/2022
NAB 2022 in Review: Audio Continues Its Trek Toward an IP Future Innovations and combinations, some spurred by COVID, abounded on the show floor By Dan Daley, ...
04/05/2022
NESN Becomes First U.S. RSN to Broadcast MLB Games in 4K HDR With All Red Sox Ho...
04/05/2022
NAB Show 2022: Fujifilm/Fujinons Stosh Durbacz on Showcasing New 4K Box Lenses a...
04/05/2022
On the Ice Again After 20 Years, ESPN Continues To Innovate for 2022 Stanley Cup...
04/05/2022
NAB 2022 Perspectives: The Video Call Center's Larry Thaler on AirFirst, Sol...
03/05/2022
Ambition versus success: TV 2 on balancing its goals to be the number one sports...
03/05/2022
Crowds and crew return to the Crucible for the World Snooker Championship By George Bevir
Wednesday, April 27, 2022 - 10:28
Print This Story
For the past ...
03/05/2022
Moving on up: Timeline joins the big league with significant studio and OB fleet...
03/05/2022
World first 4K HDR broadcast workflow to feature at Tyson Fury versus Dillian Wh...
03/05/2022
Wind in Her Sails: SailGP's on Its Plans to Exploit Even More Data Points fo...
29/04/2022
NAB 2022 SportsTechBuzz in Review: Central Hall By SVG Staff
Friday, April 29, 2022 - 9:26 am
Print This Story
The SVG and SVGE editorial teams were out i...