Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

NFL Media Expands Combine Coverage With Player-Tracking Robo on Catwalk, Exclusive Show on NFL+

29/02/2024

NFL Media Expands Combine Coverage With Player-Tracking Robo on Catwalk, Exclusive Show on NFL Event is part of wild few months from Super Bowl LVIII to NFL Draft April 25-27 By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor

Thursday, February 29, 2024 - 11:09 am

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

The next crop of the National Football League's brightest stars will show off their skills during the 2024 NFL Combine Feb. 29-March 3 in Indianapolis. As the league's production arm, NFL Media is on hand at Lucas Oil Stadium to broadcast the multiple events and evaluations with an arsenal of technologies and a handful of studio shows covering the action from facilities in Los Angeles and New Jersey.

We go from our focus being millions of fans watching Super Bowl LVIII to looking at players hoping to break into the league, says Dave Shaw, VP/head of operations, NFL Media. This event gives fans behind-the-scenes access to get to know these players. It's an event that defines what NFL Network is really about.

The camera operators play a huge part of this intimate event.

Technology Mix: New, Traditional Workflows Enhance Multi-Day Coverage The NFL Combine officially begins late Thursday afternoon, but the preparation and additional programming that NFL Media is handling began this past week. With minimal restrictions to on-field access, the league is poised to litter the playing surface with cameras to capture all the angles and sounds of the various drills that put the potential NFL players through their paces.

The NFL Combine is a unique experience since it's done within a quiet stadium and only the prospects and coaches are on the field, says Adam Acone, director, media operations, NFL Media. You can hear everything, so the ability to capture all that audio is one of the great enhancements.

From left: Tom Pelissero, Ian Rapaport, Mike Garafolo, and Jeffri Chadiha on The Insiders: At the Combine

Much of the technology has become common at this event. On the audio side, more than 70 primary and backup sources make up the mix. That includes 25 RF and hardwired effects mics and four parabolic mics around the stadium, six RF mics on a handful of coaches, and 50 mics used by the onsite studio team and announcers. Talent Rich Eisen, Daniel Jeremiah, Charles Davis, Peter Schrager, Chris Rose, Ian Rapoport, Stacey Dales, and Jamie Erdahl will be joined by guests, including New Orleans Saints defensive end Cam Jordan on Thursday and former NFL offensive tackle Taylor Lewan and NFL Network analyst Shaun O'Hara on Sunday. They will be on the field and in the booth to explain the drills to viewers.

As for video, nearly 50 cameras will anchor coverage of all events, including hard and RF handhelds, a bevy of robotics, a Skycam, and a TVU-powered camera for live hits to free up sources in the production truck. Supporting the effort is a variety of partners and vendors: Robovision (robotics), Aerial Video Systems (RF video connectivity), CP Communications (RF audio connectivity), Filmwerks (power), and THUMBWAR (editing and file transfer).

Aerial Video Systems is handling RF video needs at the venue.

Educating fans about the players aspiring to the professional ranks is important to NFL Media. Editing everything together over the next few days is a big piece to our show, says Acone. We've taken a lot of material and put together a ton of packages that'll be played.

Keeping everything together in the compound is Game Creek Video PrimeOne mobile unit. It has handled NFL Media's NFL Draft coverage in the past, but this is its first time as part of the NFL Combine infrastructure.

Reporter Trevor Sikkema joins NFL Total Access via a TVU-powered camera.

In the stadium, something that isn't new to the coverage is the data-heavy and eye-catching 40-Yard Dash. Driven by the league's Next-Gen Stats and SMT player-tracking and graphics, this portion of the broadcast has changed dramatically since NFL Network began covering the NFL Combine in 2005.

It has been fun pitting the new players against older players that participated in the NFL Combine in the past, notes Shaw. It's a bit tricky to use the older technology and overlay it with newer technology, but it has become an awesome feature to our show.

Changes in technology aren't the only obstacle in pulling off this activation. With the league relying on both manual timers and electronic timing, the challenge is to make sure that the elements of the graphics overlay are synchronized. In the past, we've seen that the video doesn't always match up with the timer, says Shaw. [The officials] throw out the time that looks different from the others, but we can still use it as the base layer for our overlays.

Robovision is responisble for all robotic cameras in Indianapolis, including this one capturing press conferences.

Besides creating another year's worth of 40-Yard Dash overlays, the team is pushing SMT player-tracking and graphics to the limit with a new production wrinkle. Positioned above the field in the catwalk, a robotic camera offering a wide shot of the drills will integrate tracking and graphics for even more stats.

At Home in Indy: The Operations Team Knows the Venue Well Two of the league's tentpole events, the Super Bowl and the NFL Draft, have a different host venue every season, but the NFL Combine has called Indianapolis home for 37 years, since the last non-Indy event in New Orleans in 1986. Centrally located for all 32 NFL clubs, Lucas Oil Stadium is an ideal venue and, for an event comprising a multitude of moving parts, offers the operations team the confidence that comes with working in a familiar setting.

Some of the elements that we execute may change, says Jessica Lee, VP, studio operations, NFL Media, but it feels like coming home every tim
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2024/02/29/nfl-media-expands-combine-cover...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

06/10/2025

France Tlvisions Wins Prestigious 2025 EBU Technology & Innovation Award in Groundbreaking Collaboration with Dalet

France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...

04/09/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment and Dalet Win Prestigious 2025 NAB Show Project of the Year Award

Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...

15/06/2025

Music Production for Women free in-person workshops

July 2025 in Dublin, Berlin, Amsterdam & London Photo: Thea Martre Music Production for Women (MPW) have announced that they will be running a series of fo...

15/06/2025

Jason's Piano & API Drums instruments from Sulcata Sound

Composer/producer launches free virtual instruments Sulcata Sound is the latest venture of Jason Graves, a two-time British Academy Award-winnning composer,...

14/06/2025

Pluto TV Adds All Womens Sports Network's FAST Channel

NEW YORK Pluto TV and the All Womens Sports Network have launched a free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) AWSN channel in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and the Nor...

14/06/2025

Scripps Inks Multiyear Agreement for WNBA Games on Ion

NEW YORK and CINCINNATI E.W. Scripps has announced a new, multiyear agreement with the WNBA that will continue Ions regular-season coverage of the league on Fri...

14/06/2025

NAB Highlights Hidden Importance of Spectrum in Major Sports Broadcasting

WASHINGTON The National Association of Broadcasters highlighted the hidden importance of spectrum in the production of major sporting events and described wha...

14/06/2025

1.0 Sunset, BPS and NextGen Broadcast's Potential Dominate ATSC Meeting

WASHINGTON Sunsetting ATSC 1.0, expanding business opportunities for NextGen Broadcast and increasing international adoption of the ATSC 3.0 standard were top o...

14/06/2025

Samba TV and Acxiom Announce Massive 40-market Global Expansion

SAN FRANCISCO Samba TV and Acxiom have announced that they will dramatically expand their longstanding relationship....

14/06/2025

MPW announce free in-person workshops

July 2025 in Dublin, Berlin, Amsterdam & London Photo: Thea Martre Music Production for Women (MPW) have announced that they will be running a series of fo...

14/06/2025

San Francisco State University's School of Cinema Uses Blackmagic Design

San Francisco State University's School of Cinema Uses Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton June 13, 2025 0 Comments More than 40 Blackmagic Design came...

14/06/2025

Boris FX Mocha Pro Adds New AI Tools To Tackle VFX Tasks Fast

Boris FX Mocha Pro Adds New AI Tools To Tackle VFX Tasks Fast Jessie Electa Petrov June 13, 2025 0 Comments The 2025.5 release helps artists work more...

14/06/2025

AJA Debuts DRM2-Plus Mini-Converter Frame at InfoComm 2025

AJA Debuts DRM2-Plus Mini-Converter Frame at InfoComm 2025 Brie Clayton June 13, 2025 0 Comments Next-gen frame addresses diverse rackmount needs wit...

13/06/2025

Prime Minister: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Leader Who Champions Kindness

(L-R) Lindsay Utz, Michelle Walshe, and The Right Honourable Dame Jacinda Ardern attend the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Prime Minister at Eccles T...

13/06/2025

Materialists' Director Celine Song Reveals the Inspirations Behind the Film's Soundtrack

Photo credit: Atsushi Nishijima If you're a true lover of rom-coms, chances...

13/06/2025

Pure Drama and Fierce Rivalries set to dominate the world's most iconic sporting event

Pure Drama and Fierce Rivalries set to dominate the world's most iconic spor...

13/06/2025

Press Release: NFVF Opens Call for Public Film Screenings on GBV Awareness as South Africa Confronts Ongoing Femicide Crisis

Johannesburg, 12 June 2025 - The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an a...

13/06/2025

Central Texas Storm Knocks out KTXS Tower, Severely Damages Building

ABILENE. Texas A severe storm knocked down the tower and severely damaged the news studio and main facility of Sinclair-owned KTXS here on Sunday, June 8....

13/06/2025

Berklee's Music Business/Management Department Recognized by the Music Biz Association

Berklee's Music Business/Management Department Recognized by the Music Biz A...

13/06/2025

ATSC Honors Aldo Cugnini, Clarence Hau

WASHINGTON The ATSC, the Broadcast Standards Association, honored veteran technologist Aldo Cugnini and Clarence Hau, Senior Vice President of Standards, Policy...

13/06/2025

ESPN Doubles Down on Immersive Fan Experience for UFL Championship

(Editor's note: The 2025 UFL Championship Game between the D.C. Defenders and Michigan Panthers kicks off Saturday, June 14, at 8 p.m. Eastern. The game wil...

13/06/2025

Soulyft Audio release Chime

New iPad/iPhone synth App announced Following on from last year's release of Gradient Synth - which reached #6 on the App Store's Paid Music charts ...

13/06/2025

HBO Max Plans July Launches in 12 New Markets

LONDON Warner Bros. Discovery has announced that HBO Max will launch direct-to-consumer in multiple new countries this July as the streamer becomes available in...

13/06/2025

Verbit Launches Speaker Identification for Live ASR Broadcast Captions

AI voice transcription and captioning platform Verbit has added a new feature to its Captivate ASR solution the ability to identify specific features in automat...

13/06/2025

FCC's Anna Gomez Meets with TV Networks, Studio Execs and Unions

WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission member Anna Gomez has wrapped up two weeks in California visiting broadcasters, television studio executives, enter...

13/06/2025

House Passes Rescission Package That Would Claw Back CPB Funding

WASHINGTON The U.S. House of Representatives voted mostly along party lines to approve a rescission package that would cancel $9.4 billion in previously approve...

13/06/2025

AJA Debuts DRM2-Plus Mini-Converter Frame at InfoComm 202...

At InfoComm 2025, AJA Video Systems announced DRM2-Plus, an intuitive, high-capacity 3RU frame that can neatly house up to 24 AJA Mini-Converters. Tailored to s...

13/06/2025

National CineMedia Selects Operatives Suite of AI-Based C...

Cinema advertising leader to leverage AOS and suite of AI-enabled solutions to optimize forecasting, yield management, and streamlined ad sales and operations a...

13/06/2025

Manfrotto Unveils Unique New Tripod System for Mirrorless...

Manfrotto has launched the ONE Hybrid Tripod, a new support system designed specifically for professional content creators working with mirrorless cameras acros...

13/06/2025

Synamedia unveils security enhancements to its Media Edge...

Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that its Media Edge Gateway (MEG), an ATSC 3.0 software-based IRD, now supports Device Security requ...

13/06/2025

LiveU Strengthens Presence in DACH Region with Strategic...

LiveU, the global leader in live IP-video contribution, production and distribution solutions, is deepening its commitment to the German-speaking market with th...

13/06/2025

Chaos Adds AI Tools Faster Animation Renders and More Sty...

Chaos, the leader in architectural visualisation software, today announces Chaos Corona 13, giving archviz designers new ways to add eye-catching style and flai...

13/06/2025

PALI's Nena Music Video Shot with Blackmagic Design

PALI's Nena Music Video Shot with Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton June 12, 2025 0 Comments Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K and DaVinci Resolve Studio b...

13/06/2025

OddBeast Powers Up iRobot's Newest Roombas with Suite of CGI Launch Assets

OddBeast Powers Up iRobot's Newest Roombas with Suite of CGI Launch Assets Brie Clayton June 12, 2025 0 Comments The motion design and production ...

13/06/2025

On Chick Coreas Birthday, a Newly Uncovered Archival Release

On Chick Coreas Birthday, a Newly Uncovered Archival Release The Visitors, composed by Corea and performed by vibraphonist Gary Burton and pianist Kirill Gers...

13/06/2025

RT Seeks Expressions of Interest for on-air presenting roles on RT Radio 1 and RT News & Current Affairs Output

In fulfilment of a recommendation by the Government's Expert Advisory Commit...

13/06/2025

SVG Sit-Down: Backblaze's Gleb Budman Talks Products, Partnerships, and the Growth in Cloud Storage

SVG Sit-Down: Backblaze's Gleb Budman Talks Products, Partnerships, and the ...

13/06/2025

SVG Sit-Down: DAZN's Walker Jacobs Calls Streaming the FIFA Club World Cup The Most Ambitious Thing We've Ever Done in the U.S.'

SVG Sit-Down: DAZN's Walker Jacobs Calls Streaming the FIFA Club World Cup ...

13/06/2025

New Sponsor Spotlight: Vecima Networks' Paul Strickland on How Improving QoE for Sports Fans Can Deliver Real ROI

New Sponsor Spotlight: Vecima Networks' Paul Strickland on How Improving QoE...

13/06/2025

Pitch Perspective: Where's Next for Specialty Cameras in Soccer?

Pitch Perspective: Where's Next for Specialty Cameras in Soccer? Leaders from Sky Austria and ACS discuss the possibilities of camera placement pitchside B...

13/06/2025

Premiership Rugby Final 2025: Vintage Clash Between Bath and Leicester Gets Full TNT Sports Treatment with AR, RefCam 3.0 and Player Mic

Premiership Rugby Final 2025: Vintage clash between Bath and Leicester gets full...

13/06/2025

Premiership Rugby Final 2025: TNT Sports Gears Up for Bath vs Leicester Battle with Huge Uptick in Season Audience Views

Premiership Rugby Final 2025: TNT Sports gears up for Bath vs Leicester battle w...

13/06/2025

NCAA Men's College World Series: ESPN Adds Two-Point SupraCam, Invests in Nearly 100 Mics to Enhance Audio

NCAA Men's College World Series: ESPN Adds Two-Point SupraCam, Invests in Ne...

13/06/2025

New FSWX signal and spectrum analyzer with novel architecture overcomes limits of todays analysis methods

New FSWX signal and spectrum analyzer with novel architecture overcomes limits o...

13/06/2025

2025-05-28

Apple today announced the addition of iPad to Self Service Repair, providing iPad owners with access to repair manuals, genuine Apple parts, Apple Diagnostics t...

13/06/2025

2025-06-09

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today previewed iOS 26, a major update that brings a beautiful new design, intelligent experiences, and improvements to the apps use...

13/06/2025

2025-06-10

At Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple unveiled Apple Games, an all-new destination designed to help players jump back into the games they...

13/06/2025

NVIDIA and Deutsche Telekom Partner to Advance Germany's Sovereign AI

Industrial AI isn't slowing down. Germany is ready. Following London Tech Week and GTC Paris at VivaTech, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang's Europea...

12/06/2025

Spotify's Heart & Soul Initiative Brings Mental Health Support to Artists and Creators Worldwide

In 2018, Spotify launched Heart & Soul, a mental health initiative developed to ...

12/06/2025

50 Years Strong: SBS and NITV Supercharge NAIDOC Week 2025 in a joint 50th celebration

50 Years Strong: SBS and NITV Supercharge NAIDOC Week 2025 in a joint 50th celeb...