Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Inside SailGP, Part 2: The View of New York from London

27/06/2024

Inside SailGP Part 2: The view of New York from London By George Bevir

Thursday, June 27, 2024 - 17:48

Print This Story

Left to right: Director's assistant Liza Rowlandi, executive producer Chris Carpenter, vision mixer Tim Cook and director Lyle Fielmich.

The New York leg of the SailGP season gave New Zealand's Black Foils a chance to extend their lead in the sailing championship, while the London-based production team showcased new technology, including 5G-enabled on-board cameras.

When SVG Europe visited the Ealing Broadcast Centre in London during the Friday practice for the New York SailGP event (Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 June), CBS host, analyst and former American football player Nate Burleson was midway through a Sixth Sailor' experience on the US team catamaran.

As well as providing a chance for celebrities and influencers to experience the thrills of high-speed racing (and generate some shareable content, with additional angles from chase boats and helicopters provided by SailGP), the Friday practice also gave the production crew valuable time to rehearse camera angles and smooth out any technical issues.

When you're racing somewhere like Manhattan, it's really important that we're getting the amazing backdrops and iconic images like the Statue of Liberty into our coverage, as well as the crowds on Governors Island, says executive producer Chris Carpenter.

Chris Carpenter, SailGP, at Ealing Broadcast Centre (Photo: Andrew Baker for SailGP)

In some respects, when you are in a place like New York, it doesn't matter where you point the cameras because it all looks iconic, but the challenging thing about sailing is that we can practice today and then the wind might have changed by 190-degrees tomorrow, so the racecourse could be completely different and therefore how we cover the races might be completely different.

So, it makes it complicated for us, because even though we might be happy on rehearsal day, it's not always going to be the same when we come to racing. Today is really all about getting our ducks in line and flushing out technical issues which can crop up given we don't have a single wired camera in the entire production and around 47 video sources.

There are never two days the same with SailGP, with never ending curveballs, whether it's wind, thunderstorms, connection issues, whales, dolphins you name it, we get it!

And this season - season four - has been the most challenging so far with new venues, increasingly unpredictable weather, the introduction of quite a few new technologies plus a full mid-season broadcast refresh. We've had a busy year.

US traction

Last weekend was SailGP's first return to the Big Apple in five years, with the New York event the 12th stop on a 13-event global sail racing championship in which teams compete on identical flying catamarans at speeds of over 60mph. In New York, New Zealand's Black Foils triumphed in front of 8,000 spectators in the purpose-built Race Stadium on Governors Island.

Those not in New York were able to watch the live racing via SailGP's own app, Facebook page and YouTube channel, while viewers in Europe can also watch live coverage or highlights via deals with a host of broadcasters including ITV in the UK, Canal+ in France, Servus in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and Ziggo in the Netherlands. In the US, CBS Sports aired coverage of the weekend's races, having doubled its network coverage of SailGP in 2024 compared to last season.

Read more Inside SailGP Part One: What it takes to cover racing action sea and sky

We've got four rounds in North America now, so we're starting to generate a lot of traction in terms of people watching in the US, explains Carpenter.

The SailGP calendar also includes events in Chicago, Los Angeles, Saint Tropez, Dubai, Sydney - plus the final race in the calendar in San Francisco in July but wherever in the world the 10 teams are racing, live coverage is produced by the SailGP production team at Timeline's Ealing Broadcast Centre in west London.

The in-house SailGP production team of around 100 people takes over much of the Ealing Broadcast Centre during a race weekend, using all of floor one - including the production main gallery - plus LiveLine's new dedicated graphics and data space and additional galleries for LivelineFX augmented reality graphics and the remote umpire team, sometimes remote coaches and other integrated projects.

Around 13 edit suites receive the programme feeds, creating highlights packages and prebuilt features. These include a US-focused, 90-minute duration, overnight delivery for CBS (which given the New York location is a lengthier cut compared to the usual 44-minute show) plus a 47-minute show for ITV4 and an international highlights package. In addition, there's a 47-minute French-language show specifically for Canal+ and a Spanish-language show for RTVE.

Dedicated digital platforms also takes some of the highlights plus the digital team its own edit team to create bespoke content for online and social media.

By sea and air: A helicopter-mounted Shotover camera and a Cineflex camera towards the stern of on one of the chase boats.

All of this is supported by five EVS machines with four ops and a VT coord taking in some 47 feeds, including two helicopters (one pictured above), three chase boats, three onboards per catamaran and three onshore RF cameras. Another EVS is used by analysis producer Zoe Pike, who creates technical breakdowns at the end of each race.

Also based in Ealing is the commentary team of Todd Harris from the US, former Olympic sailor Stevie Morrison as a colour commentator, and Emily Nagel who specialise in the numbers and data to provide stats and analysis. They have an EVS and telestrator system, and Emily works with the t
LINK: https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/news-roundup/inside-sailgp-part-two-the...
See more stories from svg

More from Sports Video Group

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Aurora's Matt Beal on Taking Up the Broadcast Reins Alongside the FIA

Progressive realism: Aurora on taking up the broadcast reins for World RX alongs...

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Getting the Production Together With NEP Finland, Cloudbass Graphics

Great speed: New host broadcaster Aurora on getting the World RX 2025 season pro...

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Host Broadcaster Aurora Looks Ahead to This Weekend's Second Race of the Season in Hljes

Seat of its pants: Aurora boxes clever and looks ahead for the FIA as new host b...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: EBU, BBC Sport, Sunset+Vine Talk Coverage Plans, Distribution and Maintaining Momentum

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: EBU, BBC Sport and Sunset Vine talk coverage plans, ...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Women's Super League Launches New Content Series to Support Teams, Players Over Summer of Football

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Women's Super League launches new content series...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Ignite Puts Fans, Players Front and Center With Title Sequence for ITV

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Ignite puts fans and players front and centre with t...

02/07/2025

Storytelling in the Live Game Broadcast: ESPN Director Jimmy Platt Breaks Down the Craft

Storytelling in the Live Game Broadcast: ESPN Director Jimmy Platt Breaks Down t...

02/07/2025

CONCACAF's Miguel Angel Garcia on the Gold Cup's Enhanced 2025 Production Plan

CONCACAF's Miguel Angel Garcia on the Gold Cup's Enhanced 2025 Productio...

01/07/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Spyrosoft's Jonathan Witty on Futher Business Expansion in the U.S.

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Spyrosoft's Jonathan Witty on Futher Business Exp...

01/07/2025

The NIL Effect: How the Shifting Business of College Athletics Impacts On-Campus Video Production

The NIL Effect: How the Shifting Business of College Athletics Impacts On-Campus...

01/07/2025

Cherry On the Cake: Inside the Technical Production of the Tour de France 2025 with EMG / Gravity Media

Cherry on the cake: Inside the technical production of the Tour de France 2025 w...

01/07/2025

NESN's Josh Jun on Keeping Alternative Broadcasts Fresh for Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins Fans

NESN's Josh Jun on Keeping Alternative Broadcasts Fresh for Boston Red Sox, ...

01/07/2025

TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge

TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge Production approach emphasizes creative freedom, bold storytelling, casual-fan-friendly tone B...

27/06/2025

How Smarter Video Compression is Creating a Sustainable Future

How smarter compression is creating a sustainable future By Michael Burns Monday, June 23, 2025 - 14:13 Print This Story Live sport is especially vulnerab...

27/06/2025

RTL Group To Acquire Sky Deutschland

RTL Group To Acquire Sky Deutschland By George Bevir, Editorial Director, SVG Europe Friday, June 27, 2025 - 8:00 am Print This Story | Subscribe Story ...

27/06/2025

Frictionless, At Scale: The Current State of Live Video Streaming Techology

Frictionless, At Scale: The Current State of Live Video Streaming Techology Leaders from Bitmovin, Comcast Technology Solutions, Harmonic, IMAX, and Phenix brea...

27/06/2025

Marquee Sports Network's Nick Steger on Meeting the Moment of the Contending Chicago Cubs

Marquee Sports Network's Nick Steger on Meeting the Moment of the Contending...

27/06/2025

NHL Draft 2025: The League Is Primed for First Decentralized Draft in Non-Pandemic Era

NHL Draft 2025: The League Is Primed for First Decentralized Draft in Non-Pandem...

26/06/2025

10th-Annual SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Presents Useful Roadmap for the Future of the RSN, Local Media Business

10th-Annual SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Presents Useful Roadmap for th...

26/06/2025

The Big Cloud Debate: Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid

The Big Cloud Debate: Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid Tech leaders from CineSys, Diversified, and Net Insight breaks down all flavors of cloud By Jason Dachman, ...

26/06/2025

Program Productions' Jess Kowatch on Training the Next and Current Generation of Sports TV Technicians

Program Productions' Jess Kowatch on Training the Next and Current Gener...

25/06/2025

SVG College Summit 2025: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY

SVG College Summit 2025: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY Tackling the latest in college sports video: NIL, live production, virtual productio...

25/06/2025

ESPN Is Set To Bring AR Graphics to Wimbledon, Revamps Bunker and Studio 18 VO Booths

ESPN Is Set To Bring AR Graphics to Wimbledon, Revamps Bunker and Studio 18 VO B...

24/06/2025

2025 NBA Draft: ABC/ESPN Prepares for Two-Day Draft at Barclays Center

2025 NBA Draft: ABC/ESPN Prepares for Two-Day Draft at Barclays Center Partners Game Creek Video, CP Communications, NEP Specialty Capture will be on hand By M...

24/06/2025

Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: Google Cloud's Jane Day on the Impact of AI on Sports

Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: Google Cloud's Jane Day on the Impact of AI on ...

24/06/2025

Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: AWS's Dana LaGattuta on Data-Driven Innovation in Sports

Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: AWS's Dana LaGattuta on Data-Driven Innovation ...

24/06/2025

British & Irish Lions Men's Tour: Dublin Opener Sees Sky Sports Take Remote Route

Lions live: Dublin opener sees Sky Sports take remote route By Fergal Ringrose ...

24/06/2025

British & Irish Lions Men's Tour: Pumas Maul Lions as S4C and TG4 Deliver First-Ever Joint Host in Dublin

Pumas maul Lions as S4C and TG4 deliver first-ever joint host in Dublin By Ferg...

24/06/2025

ABC/ESPN Prepares for 2025 NBA Draft, the First at Barclays Center

ABC/ESPN Prepares for 2025 NBA Draft, the First at Barclays Center Partners Game Creek Video, CP Communications, NEP Specialty Capture will be on hand By Mark ...

23/06/2025

Adventures in Live Cloud Production: Stories From the Trenches with MLB, NHL, NBC Sports, Warner Bros. Discovery, and AWS

Adventures in Live Cloud Production: Stories From the Trenches with MLB, NHL, NB...

23/06/2025

Finding the Edge: How Badger & Combes Produces Live-Streamed Coverage of County Cricket for LancsTV

Finding the edge: How Badger & Combes produces live-streamed coverage of county ...

23/06/2025

Masters of Madness: New Football Format Shakes Up the Rules of Sportainment

Masters of Madness: New football format shakes up the rules of sportainment By Adrian Pennington Monday, June 16, 2025 - 11:38 Print This Story The ball i...

23/06/2025

New State-of-the-Art Mountain Media Center Launches in Former Starz Encore Building Near Denver

New State-of-the-Art Mountain Media Center Launches in Former Starz Encore Build...

23/06/2025

ESPN Says Goodbye to Seaport Studios, Hello to New State-of-the-Art Production Facility at Disney's 7 Hudson Square

ESPN Says Goodbye to Seaport Studios, Hello to New State-of-the-Art Production F...

20/06/2025

A True Test? Cricket's Growth on the Global Stage and the Role Broadcast Can Play

A True Test? Cricket's Growth on the Global Stage and the Role Broadcast Can...

20/06/2025

Sky Sports Goes Large for the British & Irish Lions Tour with AR Graphics, UHD and a Pop Up Channel

Sky Sports goes large for the British & Irish Lions Tour with AR graphics, UHD a...

20/06/2025

ESPN's Men's College World Series Finals Coverage Combines Innovation, Legacy

ESPN's Men's College World Series Finals Coverage Combines Innovation, L...

19/06/2025

SVG Rewind: PGA Tour Introduces Drone AR Smart Tracing, Reflects on Winning George Wensel Technical Achievement Award

SVG Rewind: PGA Tour Introduces Drone AR Smart Tracing, Reflects on Winning Geor...

18/06/2025

Technology Focus: Fan Expectations Drive Advances in the In-Stadium Experience

Technology focus: Fan expectations drive advances in the in-stadium experience By Jo Ruddock Tuesday, June 3, 2025 - 08:36 Print This Story For years, att...

18/06/2025

Making Connections: How Stadiums Are Meeting the Ever-Growing Demand for Data and Connectivity

Making connections: How stadiums are meeting the ever-growing demand for data an...

18/06/2025

SVG Venues & Teams Summit Keynote: RWS Global Powers the Stadium Environment at 2024 Paris Olympics

SVG Venues & Teams Summit Keynote: RWS Global Powers the Stadium Environment at ...

18/06/2025

SVG Rewind: Behind the Scenes of Producing Tottenham Hotspur's Europa League Victory Parade

SVG Rewind: Behind the Scenes of Producing Tottenham Hotspur's Europa League...

17/06/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Mercury Intermedia's Tom Richardson, Mike Ligon on Powering DTC Streams for Teams Reclaiming Media Rights

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Mercury Intermedia's Tom Richardson, Mike Ligon o...

17/06/2025

Total Sports Performance from Relo Metrics, VideoAmp, Offers Next-Level Media, Brand Measurement

Total Sports Performance from Relo Metrics, VideoAmp, Offers Next-Level Media, B...

17/06/2025

From Stage to Stream: Producing Live Esports Events in 2025

From Stage to Stream: Producing Live Esports Events in 2025 Leaders from ESL FACEIT Group, Riot Games, and more break down the latest trends By Jason Dachman, ...

17/06/2025

Inside FIFA 2025 Club World Cup Operations With FIFA's Oscar Sanchez, HBS's Stefan Wistuba

Inside FIFA 2025 Club World Cup Operations With FIFA's Oscar Sanchez, HBS...

17/06/2025

Production Ambitions: Over Exposed on Making the National League Promotion Final for DAZN as Spectacular as Possible

Production ambitions: Over Exposed on making the National League Promotion Final...