ESPN Aims to Innovate Its College Football Playoff Semifinals Productions With RefCam, Goal Line and Line-to-Gain Pylon Cams Extensive MegaCast offering to bring up to 12 viewing options of each of the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Friday, December 28, 2018 - 12:25 pm
Print This Story
Story Highlights
It's that most wonderful time of the year - not only for college football fans but for ESPN's extensive list of production and operations talent as the sports media giant again pushes the broadcasting envelope with its unrivaled coverage of the College Football Playoff.
Pylon Cams (seen here at the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship Game in Atlanta) will be deployed by ESPN in the four corners of each end zone of both College Football Playoff Semifinals on Saturday.
On Saturday, ESPN delivers college football's ultimate doubleheader with the CFP Semifinals at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic in Arlington, Texas featuring No. 2 Clemson vs. No. 3 Notre Dame (4 p.m. ET) and the Capital One Orange Bowl in Miami pitting No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Oklahoma (8 p.m.).
Among the production highlights include some unique cameras angles bringing viewers closer access to the action than ever before and a whopping 12 different ways to watch the games via the network's unrivaled MegaCast effort.
Specialty Cameras Spice Up Traditional Linear Coverage
At each of the semifinal locations, ESPN is loading up on fun imaging tools and technology with more than 50 cameras deployed (including three super slow mos) at each game with a few poised to give viewers a look at the action in a way unlike anything before seen on the CFP.
Making its debut on this event is RefCam. A robotic camera will be affixed to the bill of the hat of two of each game's officials offering a look into their line of sight.
Also available on the POV/robo front is Pylon Cam. Viewers have grown to love Pylon Cams positioned at the goal line over the past few college and pro football seasons after the technology was first tested at the CFP Championship back in 2015. Now this year, in addition to Pylon Cams in all four corners or each end zone, ESPN will also add a pylon-like camera at the line-to-gain or first down marker embedded with the chain gang. It's a wireless camera system that's built into a pair of movable pylons that provide a replay angle that shows straight down the first down line from both sidelines.
Fully-Loaded MegaCast Makes Triumphant Semifinal Return
The MegaCast, which has become an annual highlight on ESPN's calendar, continues to grow in size and scope. While its now long linked with the CFP Championship Game, the MegaCast made its first appearance ever on the two semifinal games a year ago and, for Saturday's Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl action, its back and bigger than ever.
There's as many as 12 viewing options for the two games with a strong focus on offering up hyper-customized experiences for fans who want to experience the game in a way that's different from the main linear telecast on ESPN. The multi-window screens spotlighting in-depth stats and realtime analytics, there's live, conversation-driven analysis from coaches and personalities to isolated alternate camera angles and a multiude of audio options including calls from hometown radio teams and Spanish-language options.
Here's a quick breakdown from ESPN and where all of them are available for viewing:
Command Center: A split-screen with four simultaneous camera views, which could include the main ESPN camera angle, the SkyCam view and isolated camera feeds of both head coaches at any given time. Enhanced statistics and real-time drive charts supplement the game action. (ESPN2 and ESPN App)
Coaches Film Room: Head coaches watch the game in a film room, offering strategic advice in real time. Participating coaches TBA. (ESPNEWS and ESPN App)
Thinking Out Loud: Trio of Marcus Spears, Greg McElroy and Alyssa Lang make their MegaCast debut together, bringing hijinks, highlights and hilarity. (SEC Network for Orange Bowl Only)
DataCenter: A perfect catch-all viewing option, as ESPN's main telecast will be surrounded by up-to-date real time stats, analytics, social media reaction and player information. (ESPN Goal Line and ESPN App)
SkyCam: The popular view from above the action and behind the offense on most plays. This unique angle has been one of ESPN's alternate viewing options for many years. (ESPN3 and ESPN App)
All-22: Watch the game the same way players and coaches study film, with a vantage point high above the field of play. The angle allows for the 22 players on the field to be seen at all times providing the ability to distinguish how plays develop. (ESPN3 and ESPN App)
ESPN Radio: Steve Levy, Brian Griese and Todd McShay (Rose Bowl Game) and Bill Rosinski, David Norrie and Ian Fitzsimmons (Sugar Bowl) call the games. The broadcast is available throughout the country on more than 400 ESPN Radio stations, the ESPN App, ESPNRadio.com, SiriusXM, Apple Music, iHeartRadio and TuneIn. (ESPN App)
ESPN Deportes and ESPN Deportes Radio: Spanish-language call with Lalo Varela and Pablo Viruega (Cotton Bowl), and Kenneth Garay and Sebastian Martinez-Christensen (Orange Bowl) on television. Radio announcers TBA. (ESPN App)
Hometown Audio Feed: A partnership with JMI Sports, Learfield, and Notre Dame Global Partnerships pairs the ESPN telecast with the hometown radio call of the four teams. (ESPN3 and ESPN App)
Top Executive Talent Steers the Ship
ESPN's production of the Capital One Orange Bowl will be run by the network's top college football producer-director team of Bill Bonnell and Derek Mobley. The Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic will be produced by Phil Dean and directed by Scott Johnson.
Production and operation
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...
13/05/2026
New Adobe Premiere Color Grading Mode Accelerated on NVIDIA GPUs
Joel Pennington May 13, 2026
0 Comments
New NVIDIA RTX-accelerated features streamlin...
13/05/2026
Grass Valley announced that dB Broadcast has delivered new IP-based outside broadcast (OB) trucks for Cloudbass, featuring Grass Valley LDX 100 Series cameras a...
13/05/2026
Ikegami will exhibit the latest additions to its wide range of broadcast production cameras, control units, viewfinders and monitors on stand 5D3-1 at Broadcast...
13/05/2026
FISE, working with the founding members of the XR Sports Alliance (XRSA), Accedo, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and HBS, have collaborated to develop an immersive...
13/05/2026
Canon Unveils New EOS R6 V Full-Frame EOS Camera and RF20-50mm F4 L IS USM PZ Bu...
13/05/2026
Boston Conservatory at Berklee Honors Beth Morrison and Moses Pendleton at Comme...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Creative software developer Foundry today announced the latest developments on Nuke Stage. A purpose-built application for end-to-end virtual production and in-...
13/05/2026
A definitive portrait of one of Ireland's most influential musicians
New TV documentary airs Monday 18 May on RT One and RT Player at 9.35pm
Watch the...
13/05/2026
Agentic AI is changing the way users get work done. Following the success of OpenClaw, the community is embracing new open source agentic frameworks. The latest...
13/05/2026
Reinforcement-learning agents - AI systems that learn by trial and error - can c...
12/05/2026
Beyond the Hype: A Strategic Post-Hoc Analysis of NAB 2026 If NAB Show 2026 had an underlying theme, it was a quiet, industry-wide pivot from the high-energy sp...
12/05/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D), a Panoptec Technologies Group company, and CT Square, led by Chandresh Shah, have announced a joint venture to distribute G&D and V...
12/05/2026
With 30 days until the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026, Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the tournament in the United States, has announced th...
12/05/2026
The NHL has announced the return of Stanley Pup for its third consecutive year, a 90-minute special featuring adoptable rescue dogs competing on a miniature rin...
12/05/2026
NBCUniversal presented its 2026 Upfront to advertisers at Radio City Music Hall, detailing upcoming programming across NBC, Peacock, Bravo, and Versant properti...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced funding for the Fandom and Social Connection Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Publ...
12/05/2026
TNDV and Live Media, both divisions of Live Media Group, supported live broadcast coverage around NCAA Final Four weekend in Indianapolis, including the March M...
12/05/2026
The European Football Alliance (EFA) has announced a content distribution agreement with Fubo Sports Network, the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel ...
12/05/2026
For the first time, Spanish-speaking fans in the U.S. will have two separate tel...
12/05/2026
CP Communications led a comprehensive spectrum management initiative on behalf of Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby week, coordinating RF assets across the ...
12/05/2026
LiveU has announced a strategic partnership with DRONERESPONDERS, a 501(c)3 non-...
12/05/2026
Open Broadcast Systems has announced that BMC TV, a specialist in IP transport of broadcast content, has selected the Open Broadcast Systems 5G Flyaway solution...
12/05/2026
NEP Europe, part of NEP Group, has announced it will deliver broadcast solutions...
12/05/2026
Grass Valley has announced continued collaboration with Ravensbourne University ...
12/05/2026
Stats Perform has announced the launch of Opta Pulse, an AI-assisted video creation and distribution platform for leagues, rights holders, and broadcasters. The...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced a collaboration with Sesame Workshop to integrate Sesame Street characters into FOX Sports' FIFA World Cup 2026 programming. Conten...
12/05/2026
To date, NHL Productions has produced 19 broadcasts with commentary in American Sign Language
NHL in ASL (American Sign Language) may be just one show, but the...
12/05/2026
Google's Brian Albert: creators, athletes, highlights, nostalgia, second-scr...
12/05/2026
A still from Past Lives by Celine Song, an official selection of the Premieres program at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Sundance Institute | p...
12/05/2026
Spotify is where fans and artists come together, turning discovery into somethin...
12/05/2026
Features patented Marco-MMC clocking technology
Black Lion Audio's latest release combines the company's expertise in clocking with their renowned p...
12/05/2026
New Track Panel, sequencer upgrades & more
Following their recent public beta release, Reason Studios have announced the full release of Reason 14. With the...
12/05/2026
One month to go! SBS reveals expansive FIFA World Cup 2026 lineup beyond the pi...
12/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz presents its advanced solutions for power electronics testing at...
12/05/2026
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, has developed a modified fund raising p...
12/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/05/2026
Tyrell Corporation, specialists in high-end live sports and entertainment broadcasts, was tasked with delivering compelling broadcast coverage of premier equest...
12/05/2026
Registration is now open for IBC2026 as the global media, entertainment and technology community prepares to converge on the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September ...
12/05/2026
Ross Video, a global leader in live video production technology, will present its latest innovations and integrated production workflows at BroadcastAsia 2026, ...
12/05/2026
500 selected leaders from around the world across start-ups, corporates, and venture capital. Over 50bn in assets under management among attending investors, a...
ESPN Aims to Innovate Its College Football Playoff Semifinals Productions With RefCam, Goal Line and Line-to-Gain Pylon Cams Extensive MegaCast offering to bring up to 12 viewing options of each of the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
