Live From MLB All-Star 2023: MLB Network, ESPN Welcome Next Generation of Superstars at MLB Draft

Live From MLB All-Star 2023: MLB Network, ESPN Welcome Next Generation of Superstars at MLB Draft This year's event is held at Seattle Seahawks' Lumen Field By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor

Sunday, July 9, 2023 - 10:28 am

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After traveling to Denver in 2021 and Los Angeles in 2022, fans tuning into the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft will witness another large-scale production, this year at Lumen Field in Seattle. Normally the home of the NFL's Seahawks, MLS's Seattle Sounders, and other professional teams, the venue will host the tentpole broadcast produced with increased efforts by both MLB Network and ESPN.

We've done this for only three years, says Tom Guidice, VP, remote operations, MLB Network, but this set is larger than last year's, and we'll be working in the largest stadium we've ever had for the MLB Draft. We're lucky to work with great Draft partners since we decided to take this show out of our studio.

From left: MLB Network's Jason Hedgcock, Susan Stone, Tom Guidice, Chris Roenbeck, and Marc Caiafa in Seattle

Go-To Location: Lumen Field Becomes Clear Choice in Seattle In Seattle, it's hard to ignore the sound of screaming fans at Lumen Field. Perceived as one of the toughest environments to play in for visiting NFL teams, the venue is an important aspect of the city's landscape. Since it has become a major sports focal point, MLB Network added the building to its list of potential host sites for this year's MLB Draft. The production and operations team did their due diligence, considered multiple locales from site surveys, and chose Lumen Field.

There were three other venues in play, says Guidice. After looking at all of them, it made a lot of sense because of its proximity to the ballpark.

Seattle's Lumen Field is the home of the 2023 MLB Draft.

Given last year's layout - L.A. Live was nearly four miles from Dodger Stadium - the short distance from the home of the Draft to the home of the MLB All-Star Game was a nice change of pace. From an operational perspective, the team is reveling in the fact that it's right next door to T-Mobile Park, but, in a five-day stretch requiring movement of resources and staffers, the physical distance can still pose an interesting and time-sensitive challenge.

There are a lot of positives about [the two venues'] being together, notes Jason Hedgcock, senior director, remote technical operations, MLB Network, but we're a bit farther apart in real life than what it looked like on paper. You have to be a bit better with your planning. If you have to get a reporter or an operator to a specific location, you have to be on top of your schedule and make sure that everyone's headed in the right direction with enough time.

The main operations trailer sits beneath the football stadium.

Despite working within a broadcast-ready facility, the team is not accessing the venue's permanent infrastructure. Opting for a temporary footprint in the name of greater efficiency, Hedgcock and his transmissions team ran tactical fiber 3,000 ft. from their section of the compound to the main stage in Lumen Field.

This [running of fiber] not only services our needs, he adds, but also supports ESPN and MLB Operations. The MLB Draft is essentially the league's biggest meeting of the year, and that aspect is sometimes overshadowed.

With the compound in a convenient location, MLB Network deployed two trucks, the A and B units of Game Creek Video 79, to handle Sunday's MLB Draft. Onsite editions of MLB Tonight with Albert Pujols, Pedro Martinez, and others and Intentional Talk with Ryan Dempster, Kevin Millar, and Siera Santos will also be handled from them. Talent on the shows will be joined by current MLB All-Stars through the help of VP, News and Production, Doug Jaclin and Supervising Producers Adam Helfgott and Chris Arnowich.

Broadcast Tech: Zoom Brings in Team Draft Rooms, Remote Prospects Using techniques developed for COVID-era Drafts, MLB Network is improving integration of offsite participants through Zoom. With two dedicated Zoom interfaces, one or multiple feeds can be spliced into the broadcast. One group will feature the Draft rooms of all 30 MLB clubs; the other will be populated by more than 20 picks reporting in from home in real time.

Along with the Zoom feeds, the broadcast will deploy traditional broadcast equipment, including two RF handhelds, an extended jib for the main stage, and a hard camera positioned in Section 136 of Lumen Field. Control rooms at MLBN headquarters in Secaucus, NJ, are handling graphics operations. Content teams are also pitching in to tell the stories of these future MLB stars with highlight packages and other editorial pieces.

An extended jib camera is positioned behind the seating area at Lumen Field.

Secaucus always plays an important role on this production, says Susan Stone, SVP, operations and engineering, MLB Network. They'll also be involved in a lot of the shows that we're producing back home.

In addition, Days 2 and 3 of the MLB Draft will be produced remotely from the New Jersey facility.

Drawing Extra Attention: Stage Layout Mixes With MLB PLAY BALL Park Activation At field level, MLB has developed a blueprint that meshes the venue's gargantuan size and the league's main fan destination in a unique way. A white shell over the MLB Draft stage blocks the seating and overhang from the main sightline of the production.

Unless we show a beauty shot of the venue, you probably wouldn't even know that the stage was in a larger stadium, says Guidice. [MLB's events team] did a really great job with the setup and the d cor that has been put around it.

The MLB Network set for Sunday's MLB Draft

The field itself has

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2023/07/09/live-from-mlb-all-star-2023-mlb...
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