Overwatch League Launches Home-and-Away Era With Opening Homestands in NYC, Arlington Activision Blizzard Esports built an entire broadcast ecosystem for the new model By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Thursday, February 13, 2020 - 3:49 pm
Print This Story
Story Highlights
Last weekend, more than three years of development by Blizzard Entertainment culminated in the Overwatch League's (OWL's) first pair of homestands, in New York City and Arlington, TX. Now in its third season, the esports league had planned from the beginning to transition from a central venue (previously, Blizzard Arena in Burbank, CA) to a home-and-away model that would allow its teams to host a series of homestands. Dubbed Project 2020, that vision has become reality.
Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC was one of two venues (along with Arlington) for Overwatch League Opening Weekend.
It's really an amazing feeling because we've had the name - Project 2020 - for this [home-and-away effort] for more than three years, and now it's actually the year 2020, says Pete Emminger, VP, global broadcast, Activision Blizzard Esports. Our entire broadcast team didn't even exist when I came on board as a full-time employee three years ago. So I'm really proud of the team and happy to be here at this point when we can see all this hard work pay off. And we're excited to see how it grows from here.
To make the home/away model a reality, Blizzard built an entire broadcast ecosystem that has a heavily cloud-based infrastructure and features scalable solutions onsite. Among the key ingredients are cloud-based master-control and transmission systems, custom-built field kits for IT and production needs, a new TeamSpeak comms system, and a virtual studio at its Los Angeles production facility.
All About the Cloud: Master Control, Transmission, and MAM Head to the Sky
Opening Weekend kicked off with four matches each (two on Saturday and two on Sunday) from Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan and Esports Arena Arlington. The Activision Blizzard Esports broadcast team was also in London producing Week 2 of Call of Duty League, which launched last month with a similar homestand format. In addition, Overwatch League's studio analysis show, Watchpoint, was produced out of Activision Blizzard Esports' new facility at LA Center Studios (LACS) in Downtown Los Angeles.
Activision Blizzard Esports' Ryan Cole on hand at Overwatch League Opening Weekend in NYC
Since this will be just one of many multi-site weekends this year, the Blizzard broadcast team has transitioned to a fully cloud-based master-control system. The transmission signals are sent from all onsite locations to Blizzard's transmission-operations center (TOC) in Irvine, CA, for QC and delivery as well as to its broadcast-operations center (BOC) for master-control routing in the cloud. All signal routing is handled via AWS and distributed to YouTube (which signed an exclusive OWL-rights deal prior to the season) and regional partners producing additional content in different languages.
It's very different from the traditional-style master-control workflow, but it works out really well, says Ryan Cole, senior tech manager, Activision Blizzard Esports. We've been doing [cloud-based transmission] for a while, but we're taking it to the next level this year because we think it's the right fit to do the job. Our Technology Group has done a phenomenal job from the transmission perspective, and then our job is to put production technology together and interface to make sure it all works correctly.
In terms of transmission, Blizzard sent out eight feeds from onsite: clean and dirty program feeds, an overhead maps view with team comms layered in (for coaching-tape needs), the observer replay feed (for postproduction), robotic cameras inside the venue, and another EVS replay feed to provide the Watchpoint studio production in L.A. with highlights content.
The OWL observer team inside NEP's Supershooter 23 B unit during Opening Weekend
We have our transmission team here [in New York], but they're only going to be here for the first few events, says Cole. Since our entire transmission workflow is in the cloud, they're going to be managing all our routing and master-control functions from our BOC and TOC.
Using its AWS transmission backbone, Blizzard is also sending all its content directly from the venue to its media-asset management (MAM). The assets are sent to an Amazon S3 bucket in the cloud, are imported into its Reach Engine by Levels Beyond MAM platform, and then can be sent to its local Avid Isilon storage at LACS if necessary.
Blizzard has also created a customized cloud-based system (called Split-Fork) to insert graphics via master-control workflows for sponsorship assets and branding in different regions.
We're looking at a lot of unique, interesting cloud-[based workflows] that not many people have done before, says Cole. We're trying to think more about scale and how we can leverage the cloud to be more effective. But we're doing it with the right mentality in mind where you start small and scale it up as you go.
Live From New York, It's Overwatch League Opening Weekend
In New York last weekend, NEP's Magnus served the main production, and Supershooter 23 B unit housed Blizzard's team of observers (essentially, in-game camera operators for esports productions). The main production features standard positions (director, producer, TD, etc.), with the B unit housing a six-person observer crew: an in-game director, two Freecam observers, two first-person observers, and one replay observer.
NEP's Magnus mobile unit houses the OWL production team.
NEP Magnus and Supershooter 23B will serve as the OWL production and observer teams' primary units throughout the
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
16/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/07/2026
Zixi, a leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) today announced a strategic new integration to deliver ...
16/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Capture Immersive Flight for New Cirrus App
Brie Clayton July 15, 2026
0 Comments
Leader in Personal Aviation taps URSA Cin...
16/07/2026
XenData Announces LTO Archive Appliances with both File and S3 Object Storage In...
15/07/2026
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is a big deal for DAZN, which has distribution rights in three markets: Italy, Spain, and Japan. Each requires a different editorial app...
15/07/2026
As sports-media organizations manage rapidly growing content libraries and incre...
15/07/2026
HBS director of digital Johannes Franken talks SVG Europe through the operation built to serve FIFA World Cup 2026 rights holders remotely from Stratford, east ...
15/07/2026
IBC has unveiled the conference program for IBC2026, with this year's event ...
15/07/2026
Software-defined wideband RF platform supports 96-kHz monitoring, streamlined fr...
15/07/2026
New AI-powered module enables broadcasters and content owners to extract dialogu...
15/07/2026
Weeklong gathering at EBU headquarters will test new IPMX capabilities and expand certified product ecosystem...
15/07/2026
Force Tech has announced the appointment of Bryan Adams, CTS, as Vice President of Integration. Adams will oversee AV and broadcast integration project delivery...
15/07/2026
USA Sports has announced an exclusive English-language agreement with the Bundes...
15/07/2026
ITV Sport's FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage has been produced from one of the m...
15/07/2026
Program will provide professional camera kits, training, and technical support to participating local newsrooms...
15/07/2026
San Francisco church becomes first U.S. deployment of the 2 M/E production switcher...
15/07/2026
Former ESPN and NFL Network executive to advise startup league on media, distribution, technology, and fan engagement...
15/07/2026
The Houston-based RSN is the live-game home of the Astros and Rockets...
15/07/2026
Launched alongside new FreqSoft installer
Designed to bridge the gap between hardware and software, Freqport's FreqInOut FO1 unit provides a simple way ...
15/07/2026
Save up to 55% on software until 23 July 2026
Expressive E have just launched their Summer Offer sale, with discounts of up to 55% now applied across their ...
15/07/2026
Real-time stem-separation tool updated
zplane have recently released a new and improved version of their real-time stem-separation plug-in which they say ma...
15/07/2026
A new benchmark in bass enhancement
Described as a new benchmark in bass enhancement , Baby Audio's latest release has been designed to augment the lo...
15/07/2026
DMC Production's AR 1 and AR 2 units reverse the conventional OB workflow, keeping all production-critical processing at the venue while operators work remo...
15/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/07/2026
GigaCloud, a leading Ukrainian cloud service provider, and Cubbit, the first geo-distributed cloud storage enabler, today announced a new Business Alliance Part...
15/07/2026
SMPTE, the global society for media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has announced the launch of the SMPTE 110th Anniversary Campaign, a fundraising...
15/07/2026
Studio Technologies, a leading manufacturer of high-quality audio, video, and fiber-optic solutions, unveils the new StudioComm Model 762 Stereo Level Control, ...
15/07/2026
COW Jobs: Producer, Virtual Events - Hybrid, Full Time, Salaried
Brie Clayton July 15, 2026
0 Comments
Producer, Virtual Events (Hybrid | Full-time | ...
15/07/2026
Brazilian media organization builds nationwide CDN with Broadpeak's high-performance software for low-latency streaming and new content distribution service...
15/07/2026
DHD announces a new utility designed to increase the efficiency of its audio mixing systems during initial installation and subsequent configuration.
Anyone w...
15/07/2026
BCNEXXT Brings Next-Generation Vipe to IBC2026, Breaking the 1:1 Channel-to-Server Ratio New innovations liberate broadcasters from legacy playout infrastructur...
15/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/07/2026
General-purpose robots and autonomous machines are moving from research labs to ...
15/07/2026
Wednesday 15 July 2026
Screeners and press pack now available: Gomorrah: The Or...
15/07/2026
Trinity's Treasures features Ruth Negga, Eleanor McEvoy, and David Norris, a...
15/07/2026
Join geographer Dr Susan Hegarty, Engineer Tim Joyce and Architect Orla Murphy a...
15/07/2026
Home to leading manufacturers, robotics pioneers, infrastructure builders and iconic gaming companies, of course, Japan is one of the world's centers of AI ...
14/07/2026
South end zone videoboard, cloud-based control system will be ready for 2026 football season...
14/07/2026
Redesigned website, enhanced mobile app unify content, ticketing, and personalized fan engagement...
Overwatch League Launches Home-and-Away Era With Opening Homestands in NYC, Arlington Activision Blizzard Esports built an entire broadcast ecosystem for the new model By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
