At Dawn of AAF Era, Technological Innovation Drives Live Productions Dual Skycam, at-home production, and a virtual studio will play major roles By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Friday, February 8, 2019 - 2:11 pm
Print This Story
Story Highlights
The inaugural season of Alliance of American Football (AAF) kicks off this weekend, and all four game productions are expected to feature next-gen production tools aimed at delivering a football-viewing experience unlike anything viewers have seen before. Highlighting the tech expected to be deployed this season are dual Skycam systems on every game, a state-of-the-art virtual studio for pre/postgame and halftime shows, an RFID-chip-based player-tracking system, and live mics on coaches and quarterbacks.
The inaugural AAF season kicks off on Saturday night in primetime on CBS.
There are a number of technological advances that we're going to have, said Alliance of American Football Co-Head of Production Mark Teitelman during an SVG event at Sneaky Big Studios last month. Being able to build something from the ground up is something we're all proud of. I think the quality of football is going to be really, really strong; we certainly have a lot of impressive NFL people working on it. So I feel good about what we're going to put on TV. And it's our job as storytellers, as producers and directors to make it look as good as possible.
The upstart league is attempting to balance high-end production elements with cost-efficient workflows. During the season, two of each weekend's four games will be produced remotely from a control room at Sneaky Big in Scottsdale, AZ (where the virtual studio also is located).
The Viewing Experience: Streamlining How Fans Watch Football
The league has inked deals with CBS Sports, NFL Network, and Turner Sports. The action kicks off tomorrow with a pair of primetime games on CBS, which will also carry the Championship Game in April. On Sunday, CBS Sports Network kicks off its 11-week AAF Game of the Week at 4 p.m. ET, and NFL Network's 19-game AAF slate at 8 p.m. (the network will carry two primetime games per week for the remainder of the regular season).
The AAF production team will have more freedom to deploy Skycam in a variety of locations compared with NFL coverage.
TNT will televise one AAF regular-season game (Feb. 16 leading into NBA All-Star Saturday Night) and one playoff game. Additional regular-season games will be available weekly via B/R Live. Fans will be able to stream AAF games for free through the league's soon-to-launch app.
In addition to the technology, viewers can expect a more streamlined football-viewing experience. According to Teitelman, AAF games will have no TV timeouts and less than half the commercials of an NFL game, as well as no kickoffs and extra points. With a simplified structure and the league's full ownership of all eight teams, Teitelman believes, production teams will have an unparalleled level of freedom for storytelling.
When Charlie [Ebersol, AAF co-founder/CEO] pitched me to come on board, he basically said, You have a blank slate, says Teitelman, a veteran NFL Network/Fox Sports NFL-game producer. We own the league, and we own the teams, so we don't have to go get 32 owners' permission or go through a competition committee to [deploy new production elements]. We're certainly not a gimmick league, though; it's real football. But there are certainly some freedoms that we have that the NFL doesn't [provide]. That opens up a few more channels for us and gives us a chance to paint with a little wider brush.
Game Coverage: Coverage Will Be Based on Skycams
According to Teitelman, each game production will feature six or seven cameras - whether onsite or at-home production - including two Skycam systems. For the two at-home productions each week, the Skycam pilots will be onsite, but the operators will be located at Sneaky Big.
AAF's Mark Teitelman (right) previewed the league's production plans during a Q&A with Sneaky Big's Ben Grafchick at a SVG Regional Platinum Series event in January.
Although most football productions deploy three up-high cameras to cover the field, AAF games will typically have one. However, Teitelman says, production teams will compensate with a more liberal use of the two Skycam systems at their disposal.
Rather than simply locating the Skycam behind the offense or above the line of scrimmage, the production team will have the freedom to maneuver the systems almost anywhere on the field. Viewers can expect to see Skycam views never seen in NFL action, including from the defense perspective and off-axis sideline angles. In the red zone, the Skycam will often be located along the sideline, operating like a traditional camera cart but with the capability of flying down the sideline or toward the action.
Our goal is to figure out if there's a way we can show [the game] differently from what everybody else has been [showing it], says Teitelman. We'd like to see the Skycams on the sideline in a very intimate play-by-play [integration]. It's very complicated, and we have to play with it and really work at it. But there are a lot of things those cameras can do that producers have been a little reluctant to get super adventurous with.
On the audio side, head coaches and quarterbacks will be miked (including play-calling comms) when available. And, with more freedom to deploy live mics on the field, the production team will look to capture more NFL Films-style inside-the-game audio.
One thing that has always bothered me is, we do an NFL game on Sunday and, that Tuesday, you see the NFL Films version on Inside the NFL. And it's a totally different game because you hear everybody talking; you see what they're saying. I would love to be able to give view
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
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...
01/06/2026
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...
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Multi-year partnership positions Victory+ as a free home for Dallas Cowboys orig...
07/05/2026
From sideline reporting to directing and producing, the talented sophomore is building a well-rounded foundation for a career in live sports production
In the ...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital has received two Future Best of Show awards at NAB Show 2026. The COBALT blueCORE platform was recognized by TV Tech, and the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-...
07/05/2026
ESPN analyst Mina Kimes will host the televised semifinals and finals of the 202...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI, the global film streaming platform, has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner. Bitmovin's encoding infrastru...
07/05/2026
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and the U.S. Soccer Federation have announced...
07/05/2026
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and Victory have announced a regional broadcast partnership bringing live match coverage to fans across the greater Los Angeles...
07/05/2026
Spiideo has announced the launch of AI Highlights inside Spiideo Play, its automated sports production platform. AI Highlights combines video, event data, audio...
07/05/2026
Leostream Corporation has announced a unified remote access ecosystem for high-p...
07/05/2026
The Atlanta Dream has partnered with Victory to stream all locally broadcast Dream games for free, expanding the team's digital distribution strategy and g...
07/05/2026
Riedel Communications has announced the appointment of Marc Engroff as Chief Fin...
07/05/2026
SES and ARD, Germany's largest public broadcasting network, have announced a long-term extension of their satellite distribution partnership through 2039. U...
07/05/2026
UpLight Technologies delivers a flexible video and lighting system for a new televised sportLaunching the Pro Cheer League required more than creating a compell...
07/05/2026
Full Day Productions and GSE Worldwide have announced Spikes Under the Lights, a...
07/05/2026
Seit dem Start im Jahr 2023 hat DJ (Beta) das personalisierte H rerlebnis von 94...
07/05/2026
Da quando stata presentata nel 2023, DJ (beta) ha aiutato a definire un'esperienza d'ascolto pi personalizzata per 94 milioni di utenti Spotify Premi...
07/05/2026
Since launching in 2023, DJ (beta) has helped shape a more personalized listenin...
07/05/2026
Desde o lan amento em 2023, o DJ (beta) j ajudou a deixar a experi ncia de ouvi...
07/05/2026
From our earliest days, Spotify has been built on a simple principle: Great audio should be easy to reach. It's what's driven us to expand from music to...
07/05/2026
Asian and Pacific Islander artists continue to shape the global soundscape, pushing creative boundaries and connecting with fans worldwide. This Asian & Pacific...
07/05/2026
Company announce long-requested choir instrument
In the latest expansion of their Symphonic Elements series, UJAM have introduced an all-new vocal instrumen...
07/05/2026
Modular-inspired sound generation with digital control
Buchla have introduced Ziggy, a new compact synthesizer built around the company's complex oscill...
07/05/2026
Combines analogue voices with digital synthesis and sequencing
Polyend have announced Drums, a new hybrid analogue and digital drum machine that combines sy...
07/05/2026
Control surface now officially supports four DAWs
When Nektar launched the Panorama CS12 control surface, it worked exclusively with Apple's Logic Pro, ...
07/05/2026
In the first quarter 2026, SGL Carbon generated consolidated sales of 184.5 million, which was 49.8 million, or 21.3%, lower than in the prior year (Q1 2025: ...
07/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Greenerwave achieve precise and fast ESA antenna characteriz...
07/05/2026
Two multi-role L3Harris products - the Red Wolf launched effects vehicle and SK...
07/05/2026
L3Harris will be developing key features of a secure and resilient digital infra...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
07/05/2026
Strategic three-year partnership marks delivery phase of BFBS' next-generation media vision
Media organisation and military charity BFBS (British Forces Br...
07/05/2026
Amagi, the agentic industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering v...
07/05/2026
Lightware Visual Engineering has developed Rack Taurus for rack-based environments such as education and corporate training spaces. It enables clean and simple ...
07/05/2026
Jigsaw24, the UK's leading media equipment supplier and systems integrator, will showcase its expanded end-to-end workflow capabilities at MPTS 2026, signal...
07/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, today announced that it has been granted a US Patent for its proprietary graphical overlay technology, the foundation for interact...
07/05/2026
Test & measurement innovator Leader Electronics of Europe will present an extensive range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement solutions at...
At Dawn of AAF Era, Technological Innovation Drives Live Productions Dual Skycam, at-home production, and a virtual studio will play major roles By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
