
CFP National Championship 2025: It's All Hands on Deck for ESPN's Massive Production in Atlanta More than 100 cameras, 100 microphones power 11 viewing options for season finale By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Monday, January 20, 2025 - 1:08 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
In college sports, it doesn't get much bigger than this.
More than five months of work comes down to a blockbuster matchup between two of the nation's marquee brands: No. 8 Ohio State meets No. 7 Notre Dame in the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship Game tonight. ESPN has rolled into Downtown Atlanta with a massive production and operations plan to broadcast the festivities from every angle.
The College Football Playoff Championship Game returns to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta for the first time since 2019.
Among the highlights are an arsenal of more than 100 cameras, 100 microphones, and 23 mobile production facilities to support 11 viewing options in ESPN's annual MegaCast offering, as well as the first 4K presentation of the CFP National Championship Game's main telecast ever.
After an expanded 12-team playoff that added eight games to ESPN's CFP slate over the past month, it is familiar territory for the broadcaster's behind-the-scenes team of more than 850 credentialed staff: back at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium for one big bash.
It has been like seeing an old friend, says Jarrett Baker, senior manager, remote production operations, ESPN. You haven't talked for a long time, life has happened, and then you get back together, and it's like you never left. The expanded playoff has been incredible, and the team we work with is top-notch. This is why we do what we do.
MORE FROM THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:
ESPN To Deliver Main Game Telecast in 4K for the First Time
ESPN's MegaCast Menu Highlighted by REMI Production of Field Pass With The Pat McAfee Show
Van Wagner To Hype Up Buckeyes, Fighting Irish Fans From New IP-Based Control Room
Inside Ohio State Football's Creative Storytelling at Monday's Title Game
The Camera Plan ESPN's main game production - available to selected subscribers as an upconverted 4K viewing option - will be a fully 1080p HDR production onsite. Producer Bill Bonnell, director Jimmy Platt, and technical director Josh Miller will have more than 100 cameras and 100 microphones at their disposal to tell the story of this epic clash.
The camera layout comprises a total of 115 cameras. Among them are 12 cameras with super-slow-motion (SSMO) capabilities. There are also seven handhelds: three of them RF, one a cabled SSMO on the far sideline. All dedicated game hard and handheld cameras are Sony HDC-5500's.
ESPN has more than 800 credentialed staffers who have worked this week preparing for tonight's broadcast. Here, the production and operations groups take a team photo. (Photo: Allen Kee/ESPN Images)
The lineup of specialty cameras is impressive as well. There are eight end-zone PylonCams, including on the pylon at each end of both goal lines. Provided by NEP Specialty Capture, those systems have SMMO. Wireless line-to-gain PylonCams will follow the action with the first-down marker.
Two Skycams are rigged up inside the stadium, with one flying at two points in a side-to-side flight pattern. The other flies in a traditional four-point configuration with a 4K camera and AR capabilities. Aerial shots will also come from inside the stadium via an ESPN-owned and -operated drone and from outside via a fixed-wing plane.
Down on the turf, ESPN aims to take viewers deep into the action with an on-field shallow-depth-of-field rig. That RF rig is a Ronin RS3 Pro stabilizer outfitted with a Sony FX3 full-frame cinema camera.
ESPN director Jimmy Platt (left) and producer Bill Bonnell will call the shots on the main game telecast of tonight's College Football Playoff National Championship. (Photo: Phil Ellsworth/ESPN Images)
Additionally, three officials will wear MindFly BodyCams on their shirts to deliver live video feeds to the truck. The umpire, center judge, and head linesman will wear the AI-stabilized POV cameras with a built-in microphone that ESPN will monetize through its title sponsorship with AT&T as Connected Cam on the broadcast. The MindFly BodyCams made their CFP debuts in the semifinals at the Rose Bowl and Cotton Bowl.
To provide coverage depth, as well as potential officiating assistance, ESPN will have robotic Sony 4800's shooting at 8X speed on each goal line to catch any close break-the-plane visuals. There will also be a robo (Sony P1) on the crossbar of each goalpost.
Standard fixtures include a cart on each sideline, a jib, robos in the stadium tunnels for entrances, and hard cameras dedicated to each team's head coach.
Roof Camera Is Back To Blend Creative With Live The return to Mercedes-Benz Stadium - a stadium with a roof and walkable scaffolding - allows ESPN to bring back a camera angle that became popular a few years ago: a roof camera.
ESPN used a camera in the catwalk of Mercedes-Benz Stadium during the SEC Championship Game last month (Courtesy: ESPN PR)
The camera angle, first made popular by the Atlanta Falcons social- and digital-media team, blends trends in the postproduction creative space with the excitement of live. A Sony 4800 with a 24-300mm Fuji Duvo Lens will be configured as a handheld and operated by a camera operator approximately 285 ft. above the playing surface.
It is not for those who are bothered by working at heights, says Baker. It looks right down on the play. We're going to run that in 8X mode and through a Sony server, where we'll be able to make key frames and pan-and-scan to follow the ball and give some really neat effects where we ramp the playout speed
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
COW Jobs: Editor de V deo - Direct Response, Performance Ads - Brazil, Remote
Brie Clayton March 11, 2026
0 Comments
Editor(a) de V deo (Direct Respon...
12/03/2026
Avatar: Fire and Ash Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton March 11, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist delivers premium cinematic color across 2D, 3D...
12/03/2026
Boston Conservatory to Timoth e Chalamet: We Care About Ballet and Opera Boston Conservatory at Berklee students and faculty respond to the actors recent comm...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Matrox Video will showcase its vision for the future of live production at NAB 2026 in Las Vegas, April 19-22, highlighting how broadcasters and media organizat...
11/03/2026
Geneva-based technology company, GlobalM SA, is presenting its GMX Distributed Video Gateway, a software-defined IP media transport platform designed to replace...
11/03/2026
Backlight (booth #N2829), the company behind Iconik and Wildmoka, which power video workflows for large media and entertainment organizations, has released the ...
11/03/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, presents its latest StudioEdge models at The NAB Show ...
11/03/2026
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, today announced the expansion of Telestream Cloud Services with the introduction of UP, a new cloud-...
11/03/2026
Operative, the preferred advertising management provider for the world's leading media brands, today announced the launch of AOS for digital media, an AI-po...
11/03/2026
Calrec will be located in Central Hall, on Booth C6907
Choice without compromise
The broadcast industry is going through a rapid evolution that s signalling a...
11/03/2026
The new service is hosted and operated entirely in the Netherlands, combining data sovereignty, resilience, scalability, and predictable costs without relying...
11/03/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company and leader in interactive graphical overlays, today announced the successful deployment of its platform on Red Bull TV for Premier ...
11/03/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, is advancing its Semantic Intelligence cap...
11/03/2026
Emergent, a leading provider of AI-enhanced media production solutions, today announced the official launch of Fusion, a powerful, no-code application builder d...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Utah Scientific today announced the expansion of its Technology Partner Program with the addition of Audinate, Bitfocus, and Skaarhoj, three industry leaders wh...
11/03/2026
DigitalGlue, creator of the creative.space on-premise managed storage platform, today revealed plans to launch creative.space Intelligence (CSI) at NAB 2026 (Bo...
11/03/2026
Maxon, maker of powerful, approachable software solutions for creators working in 2D and 3D design, motion graphics, visual effects, gaming, and more, has annou...
11/03/2026
Composer and Re-recording Mixer Michael Phillips Keeley has built his career around immersive storytelling. Working from his Dolby Atmos-equipped studio, Sound ...
11/03/2026
Leading video software provider Synamedia today announced that YES, the pay-TV subsidiary of the telco Bezeq (TASE: BEZQ), has selected Synamedia Iris to delive...
11/03/2026
As media companies face increasing cost pressures and operational complexity, at the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, Viaccess-Orca (VO), a global leader in OTT / TV...
11/03/2026
Digital Alert Systems, a global leader in emergency communications solutions for media providers, today announced the release of Version 6 software for its DASD...
11/03/2026
First Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) deployment of the emergency.lu platform for refugees and their host communities' use provides dependable broadband for humani...
11/03/2026
Foundry releases Nuke 17.0
Brie Clayton March 1, 2026
0 Comments
Native Gaussian Splat support, new 3D system based on USD, expanded machine learning ca...
11/03/2026
Preserving UNESCO World Heritage with URSA Cine Immersive
Brie Clayton March 1, 2026
0 Comments
The Explorers turned to France's cultural landmark...
11/03/2026
I Clicked This By Accident And It Made After Effects SO Much Faster
Graham Quince March 1, 2026
0 Comments
Discover how Region of Interest in Adobe A...
11/03/2026
Cine Gear Connect Brings a Focused All-Day Experience to Industry City, NY
Brie Clayton March 4, 2026
0 Comments
Registration is now open for Cine Gea...
11/03/2026
La Vor gine Edited and Finished with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton March 4, 2026
0 Comments
One of Colombia's most ambitious projects goes g...
11/03/2026
SoundMarket Launches 18,000 Tracks of Real Music by Award-Winning Composers for...
11/03/2026
Capta Center Supports NOVO19 Remote Production with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton March 5, 2026
0 Comments
The facility provides production and playo...
11/03/2026
DigitalGlue Ends the Post-Production Tax: creative.space Intelligence (CSI) Unif...
11/03/2026
Kochi Sun Sun Uses Blackmagic Replay for High School Volleyball Finals
Brie Clayton March 9, 2026
0 Comments
Versatile Blackmagic Replay system proves...
11/03/2026
Richard Bona Joins Berklee for Signature Series Concert The Grammy-winning Cameroonian bassist and vocalist collaborates with students and faculty in a progra...
11/03/2026
Launched today, NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super is a 120 billion parameter open model with 12 billion active parameters designed to run complex agentic AI systems at sc...