
Temple Athletics Enters New Era With In-House Control Room for Live Streaming Built around Ross Video gear, the facility powers live production for ESPN+ By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Tuesday, May 4, 2021 - 2:54 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
For Kevin Hession, director, video production/broadcast engineer, Athletics Department, Temple University, it was an offer he couldn't refuse.
In fall 2019, he was happily producing live events in the ultra-busy (at the time) Ivy League for Brown University. But, when Kevin Copp, associate athletic director, video production, Temple - a former Ivy League colleague - came calling with an opportunity to oversee construction of a brand-new control room, how could he possibly say no?
Temple University's brand-new centralized control room in Liacouras Center supports live-streaming production to the AAC's media-rights partner, ESPN.
A move down I-95, a global pandemic, and a speedy integration later, Hession and his team of three full-time video-production professionals are ensconced in their new control room, delivering a wealth of live coverage of Owl sports to ESPN
This is an opportunity to bring more in-depth coverage of Temple's athletics programs than our alumni and fanbase may traditionally be used to, says Hession. We have a solid team here now, and we're starting to put some miles on this thing. We needed to do this, and this was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up.
The control room, which takes up space previously occupied by a storage room in Temple's primary basketball venue, Liacouras Center, and can produce live broadcasts of multiple sports from three athletics facilities on campus. In addition to Liacouras Center, the control room is connected via 24 strands of fiber to McGonigle Hall across the street (courtesy of the Temple University IT Department) and by NDI cloud through internet connection provided by Comcast to the Temple Sports Complex, which is about a half mile down the road.
Construction began in earnest in fall 2019 when Hession came on board, but it hit a significant roadblock when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down collegiate athletics in March 2020. The goal had been to have a control room operational for the start of the 2020-21 academic year, which is when the American Athletic Conference's media-rights agreement with ESPN would deliver live sports coverage to the rapidly growing ESPN+ streaming platform.
Integrated by Alpha Video, Temple's new control room is built around a core of gear from Ross Video.
Instead, Liacouras Center became a FEMA overflow center in Philadelphia's fight against the coronavirus, and full integration on the room didn't begin until September.
Working with integration partner Alpha Video, the Temple team built the space in just three months, finishing it five days before its first event: a men's basketball game vs. New Jersey Institute of Technology on Dec. 19.
To go from a storage space to a fully produced in-house men's basketball game in about a year, says Hession. I'm still shocked at how quickly that went.
The control room is built around Ross gear: Ultrix 5RU routing core, Carbonite Ultra production switcher, Carbonite Black 2S 2M/E control panel, a pair of Xpressions (provided by the AAC office to facilitate graphics integration with league media partner ESPN), Abekas Mira+ eight-channel replay system, Yamaha CL3 digital audio-mixing console, and Telex RTS ODIN 64-port intercom matrix.
The gear supports a full-fledged, two-bench primary control room. An additional B-level control room, Hession says, is being constructed in the back. The hope is, having the secondary space will enable simultaneous production of multiple events for live streaming. The need for such ability was emphasized during an extremely busy crossover season this spring, when numerous winter, spring, and rescheduled fall sports overlapped.
After construction and integration that took less than three months, a home men's basketball game on Dec. 19 was the first event produced from the new control room.
In addition to Copp and Hession, Live Production Coordinators Cristian Chavez and Russ Troeller are filling crucial roles as the team looks to make the most of the busy crossover season, delivering live coverage for such sports as men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, field hockey, and women's lacrosse.
According to Hession, things are just getting started. He and the team hope to continue to build out the secondary production space to allow multiple full live productions and to bring even more live coverage to Temple sports in the 2021-22 season, when, hopefully, schedules return to a more traditional cadence.
The main goals are to provide the best coverage possible and to grow that coverage year after year, says Hession. I want to keep it going and keep building. I think Temple and the AAC have given us the tools to accomplish that.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/07/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has announced the appointment of Kathy Samuels ...
01/07/2026
Shade has announced Custom Objects and Automations, a platform expansion releasing June 29, 2026, that adds database and workflow automation capabilities direct...
01/07/2026
FOR-A America has announced the addition of Jaz Wray and Fernando Cruz to its U.S. sales team. Both report to Ernie Leon, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Strate...
01/07/2026
NBC Sports will air all 15 MLB games nationally on Sunday, July 5, across NBC, P...
01/07/2026
Clear-Com has announced a wireless communications upgrade for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, deploying FreeSpeak II and FreeSpeak Icon systems across both prod...
01/07/2026
England's performance team will use Sony's STATSports APEX GPS tracking system to monitor player physical data in real time during FIFA World Cup 2026 m...
01/07/2026
Adder Technology has announced the appointment of Neil Hillier as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Hillier succeeds Adrian Dickens, who transiti...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. has announced a strategic transaction creating two separate companies. The Production and Playout business will continue as Bitcentral, now own...
01/07/2026
DAZN has announced results from DAZN48, its creator initiative for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Launched in April 2026, the program received thousands of applicatio...
01/07/2026
Sarah Rose, VP, global services, Daktronics (NASDAQ: DAKT), will be inducted into the Information Display and Entertainment Association (IDEA) Hall of Fame at t...
01/07/2026
Gravity Media and the World Economic Forum's production team provided broadc...
01/07/2026
Insight Productions has announced the launch of Insight Storm, a 53-foot mobile broadcast unit built for esports production. The truck is built around a Ross Vi...
01/07/2026
ESPN has announced several content initiatives marking America's 250th anniversary, as part of The Walt Disney Company's Disney Celebrates America pro...
01/07/2026
Eleven production kits, REMI workflows, and cloud distribution bring 40 World Cu...
01/07/2026
The conference also discussed the opportunities offered an industry that is endu...
01/07/2026
The Mountain West Conference has announced the launch of MW , a direct-to-consumer streaming platform powered by Kiswe. The platform will carry live Mountain We...
01/07/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
01/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
01/07/2026
Exclusive run of limited-edition modelling pedals
Sweetwater and Andertons M...
01/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camera bag collection for modern h...
01/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition
Brie Clayton July 1, 2026
0 Comments
Volunteers use ATEM Mini Pro, Blackmagic Desig...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
PlayBox Technology has published State of Broadcast Infrastructure 2026, an in-depth industry research report examining the technologies, operational challenges...
01/07/2026
LONDON, UK, 1 JULY Jigsaw24 has appointed Alan Henry as Head of Sales for Media and Entertainment, reinforcing its continued investment in helping broadcaster...
01/07/2026
Content Vault, the patent-pending secure content distribution platform protecting high-value media from disclosures, theft and unauthorised access, today announ...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. a leading provider of enterprise software and digital media solutions for news, sports and entertainment broadcasters, as well as streaming pla...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Groundbreaking First Nations Screen Business Accelerator launched through nation...
01/07/2026
Chyron Launches the All-New Chyron Academy: A Reimagined, Hands-On Learning Expe...
01/07/2026
Amplium Captures Kawasaki Brave Thunders Game with Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersiv...
01/07/2026
Boris FX Optics Expands Plugin Support to Apple Photos, Capture One, and Affinit...
01/07/2026
UKTV has today announced the appointment of Matt Berry to the newly created role of General Manager - Marketing, effective 1 July.
Matt will take on this senio...
01/07/2026
Sky Zero Footprint Fund-backed TV campaign featuring Deborah Meaden challenges consumers to rethink everyday bathroom wasteWednesday 1 July 2026
Fussy asks Bri...
01/07/2026
Constituency-level analysis reveals where girls miss out most on sport - and where targeted action could unlock more than £640 million in economic and health be...
01/07/2026
Wuppertal July 1, 2026
Riedel and SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration With SimplyLive IntegrationRiedel Communications today announced an expanded collaboration wit...
01/07/2026
Apple today introduced power-packed updates to Apple Creator Studio, a groundbre...