On the Hardwood: After Assisting Fox Sports Sun, Miami Heat Retrofit Control Room for Games in AmericanAirlines Arena Instead of a production truck, the RSN worked from the control room during the NBA bubble By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor
Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - 10:47 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The doldrums of 2020 may be in the past, but 2021 is still presenting challenges to in-venue production teams. Now out of the Orlando bubble, NBA organizations are hosting games in their home arenas and navigating the continuing difficulties of the pandemic. Like SVG's At the Ballpark and On the Gridiron series, On the Hardwood will take a look the hardships, creative ideas, and teamwork of NBA franchises.
The Miami Heat traveled the 245 miles north to the NBA bubble in Orlando and made a surprise run to the NBA Finals as the No. 5 seed. During the bubble, HEATv, the organization's broadcast- and in-venue-production department, allowed Fox Sports Sun to use the control room in AmericanAirlines Arena as its broadcast hub for the playoff games and subsequently revamped the space to accommodate social distancing and safety protocols during the current regular season.
Miami Heat's Josh Goshin in the NBA bubble last year
While [Miami Heat Director, Game Presentation,] Josh Goshin was in the bubble and helping our players there, we converted our control room for our RSN at the arena, says Kurt Doster, director, arena video production, Miami Heat. Instead of bringing in a live truck, we integrated a lot of their equipment into our room.
MORE ON THE HARDWOOD INTERVIEWS:
Denver Nuggets Repurpose RSN Broadcast With Some In-Venue Flavor
Atlanta Hawks Honor Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. in First of Season-Long Unity Nights'
Bubble Operations: Fox Sports Sun Takes Over Control Room The players might have been away from the AmericanAirlines Arena, but the building was buzzing with activity down on the floor and up in the control room. When Fox Sports Sun wanted to cover the Heat's play in the bubble, including broadcasts of the non-national games, HEATv adapted the RSN's workflows and hardware to the space.
Down on the floor, the network's broadcast team called the game courtside through TV screens and produced pre/postgame and halftime shows from the arena. Part of the crew at the forefront of this endeavor, Doster served as technical director for the practice games, eight restart games, and the first round of the playoffs.
The Fox Sports Sun broadcast team sat courtside for games played in the Orlando bubble.
It was a weird time because, up in the control room, we're expecting to play off the sound of the fans since we're in the playoffs but it's a silent bowl, he says. It definitely took some adjusting to because, in every other run we've ever had [to the finals], the building's packed and people are going crazy.
In Orlando, the Miami Heat crew had its fair share of responsibilities. Goshin was at the helm of productions in the Wide World of Sports complex. In Miami, production and creative-services crews worked overtime to develop a hefty amount of content to play on the LED videoboards installed behind the team benches at Wide World of Sports.
We tried to provide as much content as we could to make the players feel like they were at home, says Doster. We sent 200 files [to Orlando] using our pool of assets between our media-production and motion-graphics crews. We wanted that content to give the players a little extra push that we hope to give during a normal home game.
Back in Miami: Team Rebuilds Control Room, Commits to In-Venue Energy After the NBA season, instead of returning the control room to its previous layout, HEATv used the two-month offseason to forge ahead in the face of the pandemic. Besides removing a lot of the infrastructure installed for Fox Sports Sun, the effort rearranged other equipment to optimize productions and enforce safety for the onsite crew.
We're doing everything we possibly can to ensure the safety of our workers, says Doster. We've reduced the crew a little bit, but I also have to request permission for anybody who's going to enter the arena. When we arrive, we fill out a form with standard health questions, get our temperature checked, and get a color code that determines the spaces in the arena that we have access to.
After Fox Sports Sun's departure, HEATv rearranged its control room, including installation of additional equipment racks.
Following those guidelines, the control room has plexiglass dividers between workstations, and employees don protective face coverings. From a production perspective, the franchise is diving deep on some of the game-day staples that AmericanAirlines Arena has become known for, including PA announcer Michael Baiamonte's 2 Minutes call and player introductions. In addition, the crew is deploying crowd prompts despite the empty seats.
As we discussed [the plan] more, did a couple of games, and started to get the feel of it, Doster adds, we realized that we could play with the fake crowd noise to match some things that we were doing on the videoboard. If the other team is shooting free throws, we'll pull up a scream graphic or if there's a big three-pointer in the fourth quarter, there will be a huge eruption.
Content Gathering: New-Look Media Day Gives Access to Players Direct access to players is hard to obtain during the pandemic, but, in an effort to create content for the videoboard and, for example, graphics for social media, HEATv worked alongside Fox Sports Sun to host Media Day at the beginning of the season. The three-day shoot was facilitated by a 14-member team representing HEATv, which determined what rooms could be used; the RSN, which handled the interviews; and
North America Stories
08/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Technology Exhibits Preview, Part 1By SVG Staff
Monday, December 8, 2025 - 6:56 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The 2025...
08/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Bill Rasmussen, the Entrepreneur Who Drea...
08/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Live Production Innovation Workshop Goes Deep on ST 211...
08/12/2025
#GALSNGEAR Announces East, West Leadership Retreats for 2026By Ken Kerschbaumer
Monday, December 8, 2025 - 9:10 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story High...
08/12/2025
MediaKind Acquiring Harmonic's Video Business to Create New Streaming-Video ...
08/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Sony HDR/SDR Camera Shading Techniques for Live Production...
08/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: NESN's Kenny Elcock and Harmonic's Jean Macher Talk Next-G...
08/12/2025
Monsters Funday Football,' ESPN's Latest Live Animation Effort, Advances...
08/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ESPN Director Jeff Nelson on Calling the (Animated) Action on Mon...
08/12/2025
Monsters Funday Football': Louisiana Philharmonic Delivers Again With Orches...
08/12/2025
Nielsen's robust data offering enables marketers to connect with their target audience more effectively and drive better results throughout Amazon's adv...
08/12/2025
LOS ANGELES and NEW YORK Paramount has launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery with an all-cash tender offer to acquire all of the outstandin...
08/12/2025
EMERYVILLE, Calif. Media and entertainment technology and services provider Advanced Systems Group has named Macky Beheshti as director, enterprise storage and ...
08/12/2025
DENVER MediaKind, a global provider of cloud-based video streaming technology announced today that it is acquiring the video business of Harmonic Inc. for appro...
08/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsen has announced that its Audience Segments from Nielsen Marketing Cloud (NMC) are now available across the Amazon Ads marketplace, including the ...
08/12/2025
Marshall Electronics showcases the CV355-27X-ND3 Optical Zoom NDI (NDI HX2, NDI HX3) Camera at ISE 2026 (Booth 4N900). Designed for users seeking high-quality ...
08/12/2025
Cinnafilm today announced the immediate availability of IPx LIVE and Tachyon LIVE, delivering broadcast-grade, real-time IP video transcoding and motion-compens...
08/12/2025
Following a successful 45th anniversary year in 2024, Hiltron reports increasing demand for its wide range of satellite communication equipment manufacturing, p...
08/12/2025
When was the last time you updated your default playlist(s)? A default playlist keeps your station(s) on the air should your team ever miss a step in sending mu...
08/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix ISP Speed Index for November 2025
Product
08 December 2025
Global
Link copied to clipboard
This month marks 15 years of the Netfl...
08/12/2025
Back to All News
Another Exciting Chapter in Our Book-to-Screen Journey and What's to Come
Entertainment
08 December 2025
Global
Link copied to clipboa...
07/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Takes Over the Oslo Skyline With Celebratory Troll 2 L...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public commen...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the First Look for Land of Sin' - Premier...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
On the Hardwood: After Assisting Fox Sports Sun, Miami Heat Retrofit Control Room for Games in AmericanAirlines Arena Instead of a production truck, the RSN worked from the control room during the NBA bubble By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor 
