NFL Draft 2024: NFL Network Embraces Motown Groove With Massive Production That Goes Beyond Detroit In addition to sizable onsite presence, NFL Media brings in dozens of remote video feeds By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S. Thursday, April 25, 2024 - 5:38 pm
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This week's NFL Draft in Detroit marks the 10th edition since the league opted to take the event on the road to Chicago in 2015. In the years since it departed New York City, it has become NFL Network's largest and most complex production of the year - in terms of both its onsite presence and the coordination of live remote feeds from coast to coast.
NFL Media's Adam Acone (left) and Dave Shaw on hand in Detroit
The Draft has become the biggest event we do year after year, Senior Director, Media Operations, Adam Acone, who will be retiring from NFL Media following the Draft, having played an integral role in the broadcast's exponential growth over the past decade. Of course, the Super Bowl and our game productions are extremely important, but, from a sheer size and scale perspective, I think this one stands alone. It's the show that we bring in the most crew and have the most assets to utilize - and it deserves that.
It has grown into this massive event that is truly a celebration of football, he continues. Each city, each venue has its challenges, and it has become my favorite [event] to work on as it has continued to grow.
In total, NFL Media is providing more than 60 hours of live coverage throughout this week (across NFL Network, NFL Films, NFL.com, NFL , the NFL App, NFL RedZone, and the NFL FAST channel) and has set up shop in the middle of the action in Detroit.
Says Dave Shaw, VP/ head of media operations, NFL Media, You have to hand it to the NFL events team for getting this all set up right in downtown Detroit in the heart of the city. They have fenced off different areas so that the [crowd flow] goes right from the riverfront all the way to the stage in the central area of the square. It's awfully impressive and gives us a great look from a TV perspective.
Detroit Rock City: NFL Media Aims To Capture Excitement in the Heart of Downtown NFL Network has once again worked with Filmwerks on its primary set, which is located in Cadillac Square just outside the main Draft Theater. With five cameras and a large footprint, the set will look out onto both the crowd and the main stage, with Rich Eisen, Daniel Jeremiah, Charles Davis, and Joel Klatt hosting the network's coverage. A second set is situated inside the theater, with Insider Ian Rappaport and other reporters reporting on breaking news and trades.
View from NFL Network's exterior set in Cadillac Square
The beauty of this Draft is, it creates this festival environment in the heart of downtown Detroit, says Acone. We wanted to be able to capture that excitement and scenery while also making sure we could appropriately cover the Draft itself. I think we've done that with our two stages.
A third set has also been erected inside the OCM building, where the Draft will move in the event of inclement weather. Because it's Detroit and there are potential of weather changes, the contingency space is a big deal, says Shaw. Thankfully, we're ready. The Draft will go on if the weather is good or bad. It's going to happen; it's just a matter of how we televise it.
Game Creek Video has rolled out its Prime (A, B, C, and D) mobile units to serve NFL Network's needs in Detroit. Also in the compound are an HFI truck for QC, transmission units from The Switch and AT&T, and a satellite uplink from Arctek. BSI is providing four RF cameras and RF coordination; CP Communications, RF audio; AY Productions, comms; and Filmwerks/Sunbelt, generators powering the compound and the sets. In addition, Bexel is supplying fiber, cameras, lenses, and monitors for the production.
NFL Media worked with ESPN, Van Wagner, and the league's events team to lay down approximately 20,000 ft. of fiber to move the multitude of signals throughout site.
NFL Network has more than 20 of its own cameras strewn across the Draft festivities and is also sharing seven feeds from Van Wagner and six from ESPN. With the throng of remote video feeds coming into the compound, the production team has close to 100 sources to handle within the broadcast.
In terms of specialty cams, NFL Media has also brought back the JitaCam that hangs from the top of the theater and offers a sweeping aerial perspective of the stage and the fans in the tent.
NFL Network production room inside Game Creek Video Prime truck
Also included in the camera arsenal are three RF handhelds and an RF Sony HDC-P50, a Steadicam from BSI, and six robos from Fletcher positioned across the campus: three Peapod robos with 40X lenses and three Sony HDC-P50's with 14X and 24X lenses.
The robo that's going to give us some of the best looks is up on a corner rooftop of the Chase Tower that's looking down into the Draft site, says Acone. It captures the Fan Experience area, fans walking up Woodward Avenue, and the Draft site itself in the square. The robotic up on that rooftop is able to shoot all the way down to Hart Plaza and all the way up the street and into the Draft site, providing a look at the entire scene out here.
Beyond Detroit: Live Feeds From Draft Room, Prospects' Homes, Team Parties, and More Of course, NFL Media's presence on-site in Detroit is only a portion of the overall broadcast, which integrates dozens of feeds from around the country - and the world - including Draft Room feeds from all 32 clubs, 30 remote prospects, a dozen team parties, and draft picks announced from outside the U.S.
Managing the Draft Room feeds, remote prospect feeds, club-party feeds are (from foreg
