College Hoops Preview 2025: ESPN Remote-Ops Team Preps for Massive Slate of Men's/Women's Games

College Hoops Preview 2025: ESPN Remote-Ops Team Preps for Massive Slate of Men's/Women's GamesBusy opening week includes Oui-Play Event in Paris, Armed Forces Classic in Annapolis, Dick Vitale Classic in CharlotteBy Mark J. Burns

Tuesday, November 4, 2025 - 1:37 pm

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Tipping off this week, ESPN's coverage of the men's and women's college basketball 2025-26 season will comprise more than 7,400 scheduled broadcasts. On the men's side, 24 of the AP top 25 teams are set to appear on ESPN throughout the regular season; 23 of the top 25 women's teams will do so. The total lineup will include 40 appearances from last year's Final Four teams.

Crew in NEP OB van UHD 42 at Oui-Play Paris

We're thrilled for another unforgettable season of college basketball and the incredible stories it will bring, says Leigh Michaud, manager, remote operations, ESPN. As someone new to managing college basketball, I'm especially excited to work with this Operations team, together for the first time this season, bringing years of experience from a wide range of events and projects. It's a pleasure every day to learn from and collaborate with such a talented group dedicated to delivering an outstanding season of CBB coverage.

Big-Time Tip-Off: Armed Forces Classic, Dick Vitale InvitationalView from Camera 2 at Oui-Play Paris

The 2025-26 women's season tipped off last night with a doubleheader in Paris, with four storied programs - Duke-Baylor and Cal-Vanderbilt - facing off in the Oui-Play Event.

Two major events air later today on ESPN, including the first-ever women's college basketball matchup in the Armed Forces Classic. The game, featuring preseason No. 1 UConn vs. No. 20 Louisville at 5:30 p.m. ET, serves as one of the openers for the women's regular season. Play by play caller Ryan Ruocco, analyst Rebecca Lobo, and sideline reporter Holly Rowe will be on hand.

The marquee matchup was originally scheduled to be held at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany but, because of the U.S. government shutdown, had to be relocated to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.

Our Operations team has spent more than nine months planning for this production, Michaud explains, coordinating two site surveys, international shipping, and over 100 base clearances while navigating vendor changes and rebuilding an entirely new production plan after the venue shift with less than three weeks' notice. Through close collaboration with ESPN Events, Production, and many other teams, the group has worked tirelessly to ensure a seamless broadcast that both celebrates the start of the college basketball season and honors the service members who protect our country.

Marshal camera setup at Dick Vitale Invitational in Charlotte, NC

Today's other event - the primetime matchup of men's No. 6 Duke and Texas in the inaugural Dick Vitale Invitational in Charlotte, NC - airs at 8:45 p.m. Dave O'Brien will serve as the play-by-play voice alongside analysts Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale and sideline reporter Kris Budden.

This game will follow the CBB Saturday Prime production model including Faction Media SDF, Fletcher ATR robotic cameras, HD Proton cameras, and a Nucleus package, says ESPN Ops Supervisor Abby Hurlbert. In the first two weeks of November, our team will support coverage of 56 college basketball games, utilizing REMI, SCR, Packager, and full-truck productions.

Staying Flexible: ESPN Leverages Multiple Production ModelsFor the 2025-26 college basketball season, which includes an upcoming crossover event on Nov. 18 between the College Football Playoff and the 2025 State Farm Champions Classic, ESPN will deploy its packaged and school-control-room operations and four distinct production models for traditional truck shows, according to Spencer Chmiel, senior operations producer and college basketball tech/ops planning lead, ESPN.

NEP Supershooter 33 at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, for the Armed Forces Classic

These range from a base setup of four operated cameras to enhanced configurations featuring up to 10 operated cameras, he says, including Above the Rim robotic cameras, multiple super-slo-mo systems, and additional tools to enhance the broadcast on our marquee events. We will also streamline our REMI productions with a single standardized model featuring seven transmission paths and onsite announcers to deliver consistency and efficiency across productions.

ESPN will continue to work with NEP Rentals (formerly Fletcher) for ancillary equipment and specialty capture solutions, including robotic cameras, Chmiel notes. The broadcaster will partner with CP Communications for RF systems and POV camera rentals in addition to other mobile-unit vendors and specialty partners to support large-scale events and postseason productions.

Operations Producer Alice Garrett sets up at the Dick Vitale Invitational in Charlotte, NC

This season's college-basketball coverage will be produced in three video formats, with selected games in 1080p HDR, says ESPN Director, Specialist Operations, Nick Romano. The broadcaster will strive to broadcast many of the other games in 1080p SDR based on the facilities available throughout the season. The base of the college basketball programming will be produced in 720p SDR.

Although it's ESPN's goal to integrate technology into games and tournaments in ways that best enhance our team's storytelling capabilities, he says, [ESPN] will be selective in determining where this technology can have the greatest impact given the number of games broadcast across its platforms.

Team Effort: ESPN Departments Unite To Pull Off Crazy ScheduleSeveral internal groups - including production, programming, and finance - and vendor partners have worked togeth

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