NFL Kickoff 2022: ESPN's Monday Night Football Gets Makeover With Remodeled Truck, Refreshed Imaging Arsenal, New Star-Powered Booth NEP's EN1, MNF's production truck since 2013, gets an IP upgrade By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Monday, September 12, 2022 - 3:39 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Week 1 of the NFL season comes to a close tonight, and a weekend full of compelling storylines is capped by perhaps the most intriguing broadcast of the season.
ESPN's Monday Night Football is back, opening its schedule with the captivating return of quarterback Russell Wilson to Seattle in his first game under center for the Denver Broncos. On top of that, the storied Monday Night Football brand ushers in an exciting new era as the longtime announce team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman make their much anticipated ESPN debut.
For Monday Night Football, ESPN upgraded its EN1 production truck and upgraded its camera arsenal to some of the latest imaging solutions from Sony and Canon.
There's a little bit of something for everyone in this production tonight - even for those keen on what happens behind the scenes.
Amid the highly publicized changes that occurred during the MNF offseason, ESPN also made significant investments in its production and operations facilities, working with partner NEP Group to dramatically remodel the property's primary mobile unit, EN1.
The home for ESPN's NFL coverage since 2013, EN1 is now essentially a new truck, with a backbone infrastructure that includes a new Lawo router and NEP's Total Facility Control (TFC) proprietary broadcast controller and network-orchestration tool. It brings a truck that was entirely SDI into a hybrid ST 2110 IP environment.
Who doesn't love walking into a brand-new kitchen in a house you've lived in for a decade? says Jimmy Platt, lead director, Monday Night Football, ESPN. That's the most important factor for me and the rest of the team. For the engineers, the space is a second home for five months of their lives, three days a week. To walk into the same home you've been walking into for several years is refreshing, and to see the same familiar faces that make the trucks work every week is awesome. Then to have all brand-new appliances, the latest and greatest on the market right now, is just remarkable.
All new is the replay network (which has been bumped up to EVS XT-VIA servers and LSM-VIA remotes), the entire routing system, and the multiviewer network through a Cisco spine with Lawo processing. NEP says the four-unit EN1 was refreshed in a seven-week sprint that got it ready for a rehearsal the MNF crew ran during a preseason game in Seattle last month.
[EN1] truly was the biggest, best truck that you could build [in 2013], says Michael Pean, director, sales, NEP Group, but ESPN was at the point where they had filled it up. If they added anything, they had to take something away. Everything was accounted for. We worked together to grow it together. We came up with a hybrid 2110 with a decent amount of SDI still, because we did not have time to rebuild an entire truck.
The upgrades to EN1 brought with it a full update of ESPN's replay network for Monday Night Football. New to the show are EVS XT-VIA servers and LSM-VIA controllers.
According to Dan Turk, VP/chief engineer, NEP Group, the new and improved EN1 and its IP benefits offer the flexibility that the Monday Night Football crew didn't have last season. Everything can be distributed among the multiple trucks through a protected SMPTE ST 2110 network and even reserves some space for five operator stations with custom GUIs so that rooms can route their own multiviewers, rollers, tallies, etc.
The new infrastructure also enables ESPN to bring aboard a whole new lineup of acquisition tools: a fleet of Sony 5500's, two Sony F5500's, and a collection of new Canon lenses, including some 122 8.2 glass.
The best part about [the new lenses] is, you get more of a distance throw from a hard camera, Platt explains. For example, at a high end zone [position] that's really far away, you can get tighter shots off of the camera than you've ever been able to get. That's remarkable.
But the thing I like about them that probably gets overlooked, he continues, is that the wide side of the lens is much wider than we're used to. It doesn't sound like much when you go from an 8.9 to 8.2, but, with just that little bit wider shot off a game camera or a high-end-zone [camera] in big moments when the crowd is just going bananas, you can envelop it in one camera shot. That's wider than you're used to, and that's really tremendous.
ESPN's Monday Night Football trucks parked outside of Lumen Field for the season opener between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks.
Platt is particularly excited about tools that allow his crew to add more cinema-style imagery. To do that, ESPN has put Sony F5500's as handhelds on each sideline, added a higher-resolution camera in the booth for shots of Buck and Aikman, and, where permissible, will use live or prepackaged drone footage. The crew has also brought back the Sony HDC-4800 full-sensor camera at the top station of the dual sideline cart, as well as the on-field RF rig of a Sony FX9 with a prime lens on an ARRI Trinity stabilizer.
We have quite an array of camera types and lens pairings to tell the story visually in ways I think will be more compelling, says Platt, who works at the front bench alongside producer Phil Dean. It may not be super noticeable by the audience, but I think they'll feel something a little bit differently without knowing it.
If you [asked] the great cinematographers in Hollywood, Platt continues, they would tell you that what they pride themselves on in their work is that [t
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
18/08/2026
SMT will provide race technology for FOX Sports' coverage of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. on August 23, when the NTT INDYCAR SERIES races ...
18/08/2026
The live, YouTube-native roundtables combine fan voices, credentialed reporters,...
18/08/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/08/2026
The industry legend sounds off on replacing the Heat's iconic Medusa score...
18/08/2026
William F. Rasmussen, the sports fan-turned broadcaster and entrepreneur whose out-of-the-box idea of a 24-hour cable sports network, ESPN, changed forever the ...
18/08/2026
DAZN Group has completed its acquisition of ViewLift, a provider of streaming and digital solutions for sports content owners. The acquisition was first announc...
18/08/2026
The American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) has added SI TV, Sports Illustrated's 24/7 streaming channel, as a broadcast partner for the remain...
18/08/2026
The Esports Foundation has announced that the inaugural Esports Nations Cup (ENC), originally scheduled for November 2026 in Riyadh, will be postponed to Novemb...
18/08/2026
Diversified has announced a new Global Managed Services Practice, consolidating the company's managed services capabilities into one organization. Rob Mello...
18/08/2026
Appear has completed a proof of concept with Thoroughbred Racing Productions (TRP), demonstrating multi-camera remote live production over bonded 5G cellular an...
NFL Kickoff 2022: ESPN's Monday Night Football Gets Makeover With Remodeled Truck, Refreshed Imaging Arsenal, New Star-Powered Booth NEP's EN1, MNF's production truck since 2013, gets an IP upgrade By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
