Live From NFL Draft 2025: ESPN's Massive' Production Features 1,700-foot Cabled Aerial Camera, Multiple Studio Sets Outside Historic Lambeau Field The league estimates that about 250,000 fans could flood into Green Bay over three days By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital Thursday, April 24, 2025 - 3:56 pm
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The word you'll hear a lot in the ESPN production compound in Green Bay in the lead up to tonight's 2025 NFL Draft is hope.
It's what makes this event the NFL's traveling spring festival such a compelling product: every team has it. And with every team currently holding a first-round selection (the first time that's happened since the league expanded to 32 teams), there's an excitement that truly every fan base will have a reason to tune in on Night 1 tonight.
ESPN's main NFL Draft set is located off the right hand side of the stage inside the main theater.
Throw in the fact that this Draft is taking place on the football-equivelant of hallowed ground adds another compelling layer to this year's production as ESPN and The Walt Disney Company will deliver wall-to-wall coverage across its family of platforms, transforming the historic Lambeau Field into the epicenter of football's future.
As has become the tradition, the Draft's first round, airing Thursday night, will deliver distinctly different experiences for audiences watching on either ESPN or ABC. ESPN's coverage is centered on team needs and player performance-bringing hardcore fans inside the war rooms and onto the field. Meanwhile, ABC's approach, now in its seventh consecutive year, leans into human interest, highlighting player journeys, backgrounds, and the emotional gravity of their NFL leap.
Live coverage airing on ABC on Thursday and Friday night will be hosted from a set behind the Draft crowd in the Lambeau Field parking lot.
In total, ESPN's 14 hours of Draft coverage spans three days and seven rounds, bolstered by 257 picks and comprehensive digital support. But the broadcast isn't just about what's on air-it's about how it's captured.
Three virtual jibs will float above the crowd, adding dynamic movement to crowd reactions and pick announcements. Drone shots, positioned at the opposite end of the stadium from the crowd, offer sweeping aerial visuals. Hard cameras atop Lambeau's roof will deliver top-down angles rarely seen in traditional football coverage. And thanks to the NFL's partnership with LiveU, coverage includes 23 virtual prospect feeds and 32 team cameras to follow each pick as it happens.
One of the most versatile tools in this production? Supracam-a 1,700-foot line camera that runs through and around Lambeau. We have to really pay attention to creating establishing shots, otherwise it could look like we're just in a parking lot in any American city, says Tommy Mitchell, Senior Operations Manager at ESPN. Supracam allows us to see inside the stadium and then fly back out. It's like the marquee shot at the Rose Bowl. In the past, that camera has been primary for a crowd shot, now it's really going to help us a lot as an establishing shot, too.
ESPN has rigged up a Supracam over the crowd. The cable run stretches approximately 1,700 feet from the stage to one of the videoboards inside Lambeau Field.
The 2025 NFL Draft marks a milestone in the League's offseason showcase, as it lands in its smallest-ever host market. With a population of just over 107,000, Green Bay is preparing to welcome more than double its usual size, with 250,000 fans expected over three days. It's a logistical and technical challenge unlike any other, and ESPN's operations team is tackling it with the precision and scale usually reserved for championship broadcasts.
Everything about this is temporary, says Mitchell, who is working his second NFL Draft. This production essentially originates from a blank slate.
ESPN has three jibs with Sony cameras on site at the 2025 NFL Draft, all with virtual graphics capabilities.
Unlike college football stadiums or arenas outfitted with ready infrastructure, Lambeau Field's surrounding area had to be reimagined and rebuilt to accommodate a broadcast of this scale. That means bringing in everything-power, fiber, staging, camera positions, and more-from scratch.
Crews began arriving well in advance to construct the NFL Draft theater and accompanying sets, strategically placed in the shadows of Lambeau. ESPN's main set is housed inside the theater area, just behind the crowd and to the right of the main stage. ABC's set, along with The Pat McAfee Show's draft platform, is nestled near Lambeau's iconic Atrium, accompanied by additional reporter positions for Adam Schefter and Pete Thamel.
While Green Bay may lack the size of previous hosts like Detroit-whose 2024 Draft drew a record-setting 775,000 attendees-it offers something different: intimacy, character, and football legacy. But making it TV-ready? That's the kind of challenge ESPN's team thrives on.
Executing this scale of broadcast requires a herculean team effort-one that Mitchell is quick to praise. It's a clich to say it's a team effort and we have the best crew, he says. While a clich , its true especially at an event like this when you consider how much pre-planning goes into it and things change when you get here. You have to have the people who are adept at saying ok, that's disappointing but let's figure out the best outcome of this.'
ESPN's primary NFL Draft coverage will be anchored out of NEP's EN1, which has been the home of Monday Night Football for more than a decade.
On the ESPN side, producer Bryan Ryder and director Steve Zawilinski are steering the ship, supported by a veteran
