SVG Sit-Down: Notre Dame's Mike Bonner, Brock Raum on Creating a Video Philosophy for The House That Rockne Built' What it's like to balance up-to-date tech with 175-year-old tradition By Karen Hogan Ketchum, Senior Editor Tuesday, September 12, 2017 - 12:51 pm
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In the two years since the historic announcement that Notre Dame would add video to the football game-day experience, Notre Dame Stadium has been transformed. The university partnered with ANC Sports to install a 10-mm Mitsubishi Electric video display measuring 54 ft. high x 95.5 ft. wide to the stadium's south end zone and surround the bowl with a wealth of LED displays. To run all this video, the university turned to Mike Bonner, formerly with the Denver Broncos and New York Yankees, and Brock Raum, formerly with the Kansas City Chiefs and University of Nebraska. SVG sat down with Bonner, now executive producer, live events, and Raum, now supervising producer, prior to the Sept. 2 home opener to discuss how each found his way to Fighting Irish Media, the lessons they've learned in creating a video-production philosophy from scratch, and the importance of blending the old with the new when telling the story of Notre Dame football.
Two years ago, Notre Dame makes an announcement that they're going to add a videoboard in Notre Dame Stadium and construct a new Digital Media Center. At what point in the process were you both brought into the project?
Mike Bonner: When I worked for the Yankees, we hosted a Notre Dame home game against Army. It was that game in 2010 that people were saying to me, Yankee Stadium is an iconic place and you guys have videoboards; you run your show the right way; you may help us get a videoboard. I actually [went] to South Bend a few weeks before that game to take in the scene and everything and try to duplicate it in the Bronx. The game went great, Notre Dame beat Army, and, following the game, a couple folks said, You might have just helped us get a videoboard at Notre Dame Stadium. And I said, Well, if you do, let me know, I'd be interested in running it.
Legendary Notre Dame Stadium has its first-ever videoboard.
We stayed in touch for quite some time, and, I think it was around 2014, I started talking to Dan Skendzel [now executive director, Notre Dame Studios] about this whole Campus Crossroads Project. He said, We are going to have a videoboard as part of this process; would you be interested? And I said, Yes, I definitely would be. After talking to them and another visit to campus in November 2015 for a game, [where] I spent a good portion of the day with Dan, I applied for the job, and they offered me the job. I gave my two weeks to the Broncos, but I still had a trip to Rio for the Olympics before that, so I started [at Notre Dame] in September 2016.
It was pretty interesting being a videoboard guy without a videoboard for a football season, and, when I realized what the layout was - a layout that's becoming a little more commonplace in sports: control room and replay room without a view to the stadium and a producer box up on the ninth floor [in the stadium] - I realized, Wow, I need someone really strong to direct this game that I can trust and count on. I had heard great things about Brock and the job he did with the Chiefs. So we started talking to each other.
Brock Raum: I had known that Notre Dame had been looking to put in a videoboard [for a while], and I always thought it would be a great opportunity. I started my career at the University of Nebraska, then worked for the Chiefs for the past four seasons. I think Mike and I were always familiar with each other's work; we were both in the NFL, we both were in the AFC West. So, when Mike got my name, I think it just made a lot of sense. When I heard it was Mike Bonner, I knew it was somebody I trusted and respected in the industry; when I heard it was Notre Dame, I knew it was a brand that is one of the most respected in all of sports, not just college football. It was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up.
You both decided to join Notre Dame to build this video-production program. Walk me through the process of joining the university to now. What do you have ahead before your first game?
MB: When the process began, I hit the ground running. I got home from Rio on a Friday, and my first day was supposed to be on Monday. But, the day I got back from Rio, they were doing camera shootouts against Michigan State, and so I [went to Notre Dame on Saturday]. I've been a part of the process of making some of the decisions on what camera systems we're using: what replay systems, router, switcher. There are folks that, before I got here, made decisions: Chris Williams at WJHW, Scott Rinehart from Notre Dame Studios Group, BeckTV. Then, from that point, it was getting to know the team, getting to know not only who the players were but starting to establish the trust [and] build relationships. I actually sat in the stands as a fan for three games this past year to get what the fan was getting without a videoboard. There were times a play would happen and I would turn my neck to the left and look for the replay and it wasn't there. I took a lot of notes. We started interviewing players in May, sitting guys down for reads for the board, green-screen stuff, headshots, interviews. At this point, it's a lot of testing.
BR: One of the biggest differences between here and pretty much anywhere else in the country is, a lot of our screen time on the board isn't taken up by advertising. We don't have any sponsored features; we're just here to promote Notre Dame: the team, the brand, and the university. One of the big things has been identifying what different sorts of features look like and how we make them entertaining and engaging. That'
