NFL Playoffs 2025: ESPN Scrambles To Get Production in Place After Wild Card Game Moves to Arizona An operations team familiar with State Farm Stadium helped smooth the effort By Mark J Burns, SVG Contributor
Monday, January 13, 2025 - 12:49 pm
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On Thursday evening, the NFL decided to move tonight's Wild Card game between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA, to State Farm Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals. The relocation, driven by the devastating Los Angeles wildfires and concern for public and fan safety, forced ESPN to execute a last-minute audible with its broadcast and production team.
It was a scramble, says ESPN Senior Operations Manager Tommy Mitchell, but it allowed us to utilize all the standard Monday Night Football facilities and plan. He adds that it does simplify the technical plan once production personnel arrived in Glendale, AZ.
The change of location, he says, was actually a huge benefit and eased some of those logistical challenges, allowing all production resources to be diverted to Arizona days ahead of the broadcast.
State Farm Stadium has been given a new look for tonight's Wild Card game.
Mitchell, who joined the Monday Night Football operations team ahead of the 2024 season after almost two decades in college football, and his team had not expected to know the game's venue until as late as this past weekend. Knowing all that is happening [in Los Angeles] really puts things in perspective for all of us, especially the human side of things. We were planning on what additional safety measures could be implemented should the game remain at SoFi.
ESPN delayed start-time plans in Los Angeles because of the possibility that the game would be relocated. Its production trucks were held outside of California and directed to Arizona once the game's relocation became official. Contingency plans included incorporating different mobile units into the production. Still, Mitchell says, a full complement of mobile units and broadcast gear will be deployed for tonight's broadcast.
Between the main broadcast, NFL Live, Monday Night Countdown, and the ManningCast, ESPN plans to integrate not only its onsite systems and the full production truck but also REMI and REMCO resources into the overall production. We are utilizing pretty much every single way that ESPN does shows, Mitchell notes. It's all encapsulated into what we will do for the Wild Card game.
NEP Broadcasting is supplying four expando mobile units for the telecast. A production trailer will also be an onsite. About 60 cameras will be incorporated into the broadcast, including a drone, RF Steadicam, Skycam, and 23 super-slo-mo units.
One differentiated component within the broadcast will be one of the down-the-line cameras, which are normally robotic. One will be upgraded to a full super-slo-mo camera chain with an operator, according to Mitchell. Multiple pylon cameras and robotic cameras will also be deployed. About 200 production personnel will be onsite at State Farm Stadium.
As for the effect of the last-minute relocation on staffing, he notes, the vast majority of the Monday Night Football technicians are core traveling members of the crew and worked to rebook their travel itinerary.
Even so, some crew members also worked the College Football Playoff semifinal games, and their travel has been hampered by inclement weather in the Southeast. We will work around those logistics as best we can, says Mitchell, adding that the late change of plans presented a local challenge in securing some utilities and runners. However, moving to a market like Phoenix is welcomed as they have a well-rounded sports-television community.
Mitchell has previously dealt with game-location changes, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he worked on ESPN's college-football coverage. Moving an event/crew of this size is not as simple as a quick phone call or email, he points out. It takes a ton of people, all focused on the same things, who have been clearly communicated to about what the plan is going to be.
After his first full season working behind the scenes on Monday Night Football, Mitchell compares the experience with his days in college football. On a Saturday in the fall, with 20 to 30 games across ESPN platforms, A lot could go right, but a lot could also go wrong. Coming from that side, I'm well-versed in my phone ringing a lot on game day, with possible broadcast issues with power, cameras, or production trucks. That was kind of what I was expecting on game days for Monday Night Football. There are too many moving pieces. It's a big show. There are going to be some things that go wrong. We have to constantly put out fires.
That hasn't proved to be the reality, though. Reflecting on the 2024 season, he says, It was about as smooth as I could have expected it to be operationally.
He credits the engineering and operations teams: They're the best at what they do. They're on this show for a reason. Generally, what that means is, they've already thought of all the things that could go wrong, and they already have backup plans in place. If something does go wrong, they fix it before I even hear about it. That is a very comfortable place to be for someone in my role.
Wild Card Broadcast Notes Play-by-play caller Joe Buck and analyst Troy Aikman will lead the main Rams-Vikings broadcast on ABC and ESPN. The pair, who have called 60-plus NFL postseason games and six Super Bowls together, will be joined by sideline reporters Lisa Salters, reporting on the Vikings, and Laura Rutledge, covering the Rams.
Meanwhile, Peyton and Eli Manning will return for their 11th ManningCast of the 2024 season and their fourth Wild Card broadcast. Newly name
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