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
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
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...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
07/05/2026
Two multi-role L3Harris products - the Red Wolf launched effects vehicle and SK...
07/05/2026
L3Harris will be developing key features of a secure and resilient digital infra...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
07/05/2026
Strategic three-year partnership marks delivery phase of BFBS' next-generation media vision
Media organisation and military charity BFBS (British Forces Br...
07/05/2026
Amagi, the agentic industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering v...
07/05/2026
Lightware Visual Engineering has developed Rack Taurus for rack-based environments such as education and corporate training spaces. It enables clean and simple ...
07/05/2026
Jigsaw24, the UK's leading media equipment supplier and systems integrator, will showcase its expanded end-to-end workflow capabilities at MPTS 2026, signal...
07/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, today announced that it has been granted a US Patent for its proprietary graphical overlay technology, the foundation for interact...
07/05/2026
Test & measurement innovator Leader Electronics of Europe will present an extensive range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement solutions at...
07/05/2026
At Broadcast Asia 2026 (Stand 5H3 8), LiveU is redefining live production with its most powerful IP-video EcoSystem to date built to help broadcasters and con...
07/05/2026
January 8, 2024
Colorfront (colorfront.com), a leader in high-performance, on-s...
07/05/2026
February 9, 2024
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning pioneer i...
07/05/2026
March 20, 2024
NAB 2024, Las Vegas - Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-awa...
07/05/2026
April 1, 2025
CINEMACON, APRIL 1, 2025 - Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming syste...
07/05/2026
June 15, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), an Academy and Emmy Award-winning de...
07/05/2026
June 15, 2025
Colorfront participated in the ICTA Barcelona Cinema Technology Summit on Sunday, June 15, 2025. Held at The Phenomena Experience, the event feat...
07/05/2026
July 1, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming systems for motion pictures, OTT,...
07/05/2026
July 1, 2025
Passion and dedication will take you places. Come with us on a short trip to the heart of India, where Annapurna Studios is living-up to the inspi...
07/05/2026
July 3, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming systems for motion pictures, OTT,...
07/05/2026
September 1, 2025
IBC 2025, Amsterdam - Colorfront (colorfront.com) - the Acade...
07/05/2026
April 17, 2026
LOS ANGELES - April 17, 2026 - Colorfront today announced Colorf...
07/05/2026
April 23, 2026
NAB 2026, Las Vegas - the Academy and Emmy Award-winning develop...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Recreating the 1974 Doctor Who Time Tunnel in After Effects
Graham Quince May 6, 2026
0 Comments
The Time Tunnel from Doctor Who titles is one of th...
07/05/2026
Back to All News
Red Chillies Entertainment and Netflix Present the Trailer of ...
07/05/2026
Production sound mixer Dirk Sciarrotta has mixed Family Feud for 28 seasons. Thats up to 200 syndicated episodes per year, plus primetime celebrity specials - a...
07/05/2026
As audience expectations have evolved, Owen has stopped trying to hide microphones or excuse amplification. Instead, he treats sound as a fully immersive part o...
07/05/2026
Well known Irish faces pushed to the edge in new series of
Uncharted with Ray G...
07/05/2026
RT will premiere A Traveller Family, a compelling new documentary exploring the...
07/05/2026
Less typing, more tanking.
Faster logins mean more time in the gaming action - and this week provides GeForce NOW members with a smoother path straight into th...
06/05/2026
Gravity Media Chief RF Communications Engineer Glenn Willems uses Wisycom RF over Fiber and wireless solutions across major cycling events and international mar...
06/05/2026
A Sennheiser Spectera module is now available in Bitfocus Companion and Buttons, enabling direct integration of Spectera with the two software platforms. The mo...
06/05/2026
Ted Turner, the visionary media entrepreneur whose appetite for disruption helpe...
06/05/2026
Peacock is going all-in on the beautiful game - streaming all 104 FIFA World Cup...
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 
