
2024 Daytona 500: FOX Sports Extends Onsite Studio Presence for Added Fan Engagement Off-desk barbecue segment, louder PA system to attract more spectators By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor
Friday, February 16, 2024 - 11:02 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
NASCAR's biggest fans descend on Daytona International Speedway (DIS) to enjoy the warm weather, the fast cars, and the season's biggest race of the year: the Daytona 500. With attendance increasing since the COVID-19 pandemic, FOX Sports' remote-studio-operations team has made a concerted effort to enhance its onsite presence. This year in Daytona Beach, FL, the broadcaster is leveraging the surrounding space around the Chevrolet building to make its trackside footprint a lot bigger.
For the first time, we'll be going away from the desk for a segment, says Rob Mikulicka, director, remote studio operations, FOX Sports. We have all of this real estate, so we want to get the most out of it.
More Energy, Louder Noise: Enhanced PA, Corporate Synergy Create Immersive Experience Last year, FOX Sports altered its audio, amplifying the sound with a new PA system. This year, the production will deploy the system used by Big Noon Kickoff - the broadcaster's marquee college-football studio show - which features custom speaker towers for a larger reach and a heftier sound.
Fox Sports' Rob Mikulicka on the Daytona 500 set at Daytona International Speedway
Besides enhanced audio, the biggest change is the introduction of an off-desk activation integrating talent from the broadcaster's other programming. We Are Family is a game show hosted by comedian/actor Anthony Anderson and featuring his mother, Doris Bowman, and three unknown singers along with a celebrity relative. To promote the show in its first season, as well as Anderson's AC Barbecue brand with fellow comedian Cedric The Entertainer, a segment of the pre-race show will be dedicated to an onsite barbecue presentation.
We'll be doing a walkthrough on Saturday before the race on Sunday, says Mikulicka. It should be something that's new and fun. We'll be having some of the drivers out there with [talent] Chris [Meyers], Jamie McMurray, Clint [Boyer], and Kevin [Harvick].
The off-set segment is enabled by a partnership with the Chevrolet operations team. Working closely with Jack Morton Worldwide VP/Senior Account Director Kelli Sheffler, whose portfolio includes Chevrolet Motorsports, Mikulicka and his team gained access to additional space in the auto manufacturer's building in the infield. The expansion process began in November, and the teams' partnership is continuing through the weekend.
Our partners at Chevrolet have been awesome to work with, Mikulicka adds. They have clients and events [at the building] during setup, so we do our best to stay out of each other's way while also complementing each other.
For instance, the Chevrolet building came in handy to promote FOX Sports' involvement in NASCAR's 75th anniversary last year with a custom logo on the exterior.
Building Momentum: Success of Big Noon Kickoff Influences Other Onsite Setups The broadcaster's pre-race coverage also will be tapping into the success of Big Noon Kickoff. As a guide for onsite studios, the college-football show's playbook is being replicated at other sports events, including this weekend in the Sunshine State. Garnering attention to the set and creating buzz is the goal.
Big Noon Kickoff has been becoming our standard of how we want to do a lot of these [onsite sets], says Mikulicka. It doesn't work everywhere, like our Field of Dreams games with a cornfield, but we always get a crowd behind [our desk] in Daytona. We want to encourage that crowd, so we're going to be handing out some swag, like T-shirts and hats, to feed their excitement.
Fox Sports expanded its presence at the Daytona 500 with additional space in the infield.
The first two hours on FS1 (11 a.m.-1 p.m. ET) will be a Home Run Production via a production team located at the broadcaster's NASCAR studios in Charlotte, NC. For the 1:00-2:30 p.m. slot, the main crew on FOX will take over, with sweeping crowd views captured by a jib camera and shots from handhelds amid the fans.
Inclement Weather Forecast: Possible Rain on Race Day Poses Challenges Customary for Florida, the race is subject to rain on Sunday. The production and operations have a backup plan if the race is postponed to Monday, but, if the broadcaster stays on-air despite stormy weather, the Filmwerks-created set can withstand heavy winds and rain up to a certain point. In the case of intense weather too dangerous to work in - generally, winds above 35 mph - the studio team in Charlotte or the announce team of Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds, Bower, and Harvick up in the booth will be ready to go if the Daytona-based team has to close up shop.
We ran into that [issue] a couple of years ago, says Mikulicka. We were holding back the rain curtain, and it was blowing around like a sail. The structure itself can withstand a lot stronger winds than 35 mph, but we want our staff to operate under safe conditions.
Recently, the remote-studio-operations team had to deal with inclement weather at the 2024 Clash at the Coliseum. It was scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 4, but NASCAR decided to push the race up to Saturday, Feb. 3 before the atmospheric river was forecast to hit California. The set was situated in the 1923 Club at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a space that has no roof or protection from the elements.
We had an alternate location that was under a roof right next to the [primary] set, says Mikulicka. We realized [the original set] wasn't going to work with 60-mph winds [on Sunday]. When we got the information that NASCAR was going to move the ra
More from Sports Video Group
23/07/2026
This Spring 2026 graduate from Honolulu found a home at SoonerVision as a live-production star and is ready to enter the industry as a replay op on Prime Video&...
23/07/2026
As the AUSL postseason begins tonight, listening in to players during games enhances fan engagement for the young organization
Ballplayers chatting with announ...
23/07/2026
Snap Inc. and the Esports Foundation have announced Snap's activations at the Esports World Cup 2026 in Paris, running July 6 through August 23. For the fir...
23/07/2026
Sony has announced the FX5, a full-frame Cinema Line camera built around a newly developed fully stacked Exmor RS CMOS image sensor and BIONZ XR2 image processi...
23/07/2026
TNDV (a division of Live Media Group) provided technical production support for the Pickleball Slam 4 live broadcast from Seminole Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, ...
23/07/2026
LTN has announced it has completed satellite-to-IP migrations for more than 3,00...
23/07/2026
Daktronics has announced the winners of the 2026 DakClassroom Student Showcase, a national competition recognizing student work in media production, storytellin...
23/07/2026
The French Tennis Federation (FFT) and beIN Media Group have announced a five-ye...
23/07/2026
Clear-Com provided the communications infrastructure for the Fryderyk Awards Gal...
23/07/2026
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is, on paper, an unparalleled financial success. Total t...
23/07/2026
Standing inside HQ3 at MediaCity Studios during the FIFA World Cup 2026, it quic...
23/07/2026
Having attracted upwards of 17 billion views throughout the tourney, the broadca...
22/07/2026
Among other tweaks to coverage, the broadcaster added announce positions in the ...
22/07/2026
The Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) has reported a sharp acceleration in Australia's sportstech sector, with revenue growth rising from 10% in...
22/07/2026
From a retrofitted broadcast bus to packed Match Day Live! events, Bennett detai...
22/07/2026
TMRW Sports has named Brendan Donohue as President, Flag Football, where he will lead the company's professional flag football business in partnership with ...
22/07/2026
Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) designed and produced soundtracks for nine projection...
22/07/2026
Harmonic has announced a $25,000 donation to Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) fo...
22/07/2026
Telemundo has announced it has acquired from UC3 exclusive U.S. Spanish-language...
22/07/2026
The Rest Is Football, hosted by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards, ...
22/07/2026
Sports Studio has announced a partnership with TheSoul Group to distribute Free ...
22/07/2026
Daktronics has concluded its 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day hybrid event combining virtual sessions with hands-on host school visits across the countr...
22/07/2026
FOR-A America will exhibit at the MMCA Show in Pensacola, Florida (July 21-24), marking the company's first appearance at the house of worship AV event. FOR...
22/07/2026
The New York Yankees have selected Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) to connect Ya...
22/07/2026
Calrec will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.C47) with demonstrations of its IP-native audio ecosystem built around the Argo console range, and will announce two ne...
22/07/2026
Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Algam EKO as its distributor for SSL large format consoles in Italy, covering the Live, Broadcast, and Studio...
22/07/2026
FloSports has announced the launch of the FloSports Channel, a free ad-supported streaming channel premiering on Prime Video in the U.S. on July 21. The channel...
22/07/2026
Banana Ball TV (BTV), the broadcast operation of the Savannah Bananas, has insta...
22/07/2026
SiriusXM and Audacy have announced an agreement bringing 42 Audacy sports, news, and talk stations from 29 U.S. markets to SiriusXM. Twenty-three Audacy sports ...
22/07/2026
The collaboration produced more than 500 short-form videos across four cities th...
22/07/2026
At 2,600 sq. ft., the new home of digital content houses a main studio, podcast space, and an auxiliary control room
NFL franchises are accelerating their prod...
21/07/2026
With winners Spain having already paraded the World Cup trophy through Madrid in front of millions of fans and the dust now settling on an epic tournament of th...
21/07/2026
In a time of disarray in regional sports broadcasting, the league will provide c...
21/07/2026
When NEP designed one of its largest recurring mobile production unit fleets for PGA TOUR
coverage, the leading media services provider faced a familiar challe...
20/07/2026
The former Northwestern broadcast-operations leader is helping train the next generation of live-sports-production talent across the Big Ten
The sports-product...
19/07/2026
Justin Bieber, Madonna, Shakira, BTS make for a diverse lineup, and the venue ad...
19/07/2026
The stage is set: three-time champion Argentina will defend its World Cup title ...
18/07/2026
Topics include pre-match ceremonies, live performances, the tournament's fir...
18/07/2026
When FIFA and HBS set out to produce the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the numbers alone ...
17/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
17/07/2026
Production workers at Brooklyn Bowl's Williamsburg location voted 15-1 to join IATSE Local 4. The bargaining unit covers 24 production workers at the venue,...
17/07/2026
DAZN and ADI Predictstreet have announced an exclusive global strategic partners...
17/07/2026
Zixi and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) have announced a strategic integrati...
17/07/2026
Professional Fighters League (PFL) has announced a multi-year partnership with E...
17/07/2026
Spectrum Business has announced Spectrum TV Control Pro, a centralized app-based...
17/07/2026
Clark Wire and Cable has announced that Rick Fernandez, Managing Director of Axxion Consulting, will serve as Independent Manufacturers Representative for Centr...
17/07/2026
TikTok, the NBA, and the WNBA have announced a multi-year global content partnership covering highlights distribution, creator access to marquee events, live-ga...
17/07/2026
Company alleges article contained false and misleading claims regarding customer data...
17/07/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
16/07/2026
This recent graduate and Georgia native has turned an early fascination with live production into a growing passion for camera work
In the live-sports-video in...