Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

NFL Los Angeles Spotlight (Part 2): Inside NFL Media's New Facility and the Cutting-Edge Technology Behind It

22/09/2021

NFL Los Angeles Spotlight (Part 2): Inside NFL Media's New Facility and the Cutting-Edge Technology Behind It IP-based, 4K- and HDR-capable facility sets a new technical watermark for industry By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor

Tuesday, September 21, 2021 - 2:35 pm

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

The day before the 2021 NFL season kicked off, the league officially opened NFL Los Angeles. The 450,000-sq.-ft. Class A building at Hollywood Park adjacent to SoFi Stadium features 214,063 sq. ft. of office space and 74,922 sq. ft. of studio and studio-support space. As the new home for NFL Network, NFL.com, NFL RedZone, the NFL app, and other media and business operations, the new facility is among the most technologically advanced in the industry.

NFL Staff arrived on Tuesday, Aug. 31 in Inglewood, CA. (Photo: Dan Steinberg/AP Images for NFL)

When we do tours with people now, we actually look at each other and go, Wow! I can't believe we did this.' It's really quite remarkable, says Bruce Goldfeder, VP, Engineering, NFL Media. I think the team that we put together here is the best team in the country in terms of dealing with this [next-generation] technology, and that shows in the final product.

The state-of-the-art IP-based, 4K- and HDR-capable production facility took nearly four years to conceive, design, build, and integrate based on the SMPTE ST 2110 standard for media-over-IP production. NFL Media is currently producing 1080p60 broadcasts with Dolby 5.1 audio out of the building but is capable of 4K60 with Dolby Atmos 7.4.2 audio and can scale to any format in the future, including HDR or 8K, thanks to its robust IP infrastructure.

CLICK HERE for Part 1 of SVG's NFL Los Angeles Spotlight, focused on how NFL Media launched facility amid a pandemic.

The Studios: Cavalcade of Stages, Flypacks Provide Flexibility Throughout Hollywood Park The NFL L.A. production space houses five stages, led by the 5,970-sq.-ft. Studio 1, which serves as the primary studio for NFL Total Access, NFL Gameday Morning, and other marquee NFL Network studio shows.

The 5,970-sq.-ft. Studio 1 serves as the home to NFL Total Access in at the new NFL L.A. facility.

Our primary stage is multi-use and very flexible, says Shaw. It has windows that you can see SoFi stadium right outside, as well as the demo field that we built with natural turf right outside the building so our talent can walk outside for demos. We're really excited about what we can do with [a studio] like this.

The four other production stages, which serve NFL Red Zone and various digital productions, are Studio 2 (6,276 sq. ft.), Studio 3 (3,089 sq. ft.), Studio 4 (1,751 sq. ft.), Studio 5 (1,559 sq. ft.). In addition, the building houses a podcast studio (550 sq. ft.), a voiceover booth (300 sq. ft.) that is podcast-capable, and another four-person desk built inside the NFL Media Newsroom.

One of five broadcast studios at the new NFL L.A. facility (Photo: Jeff Lewis/AP Images for NFL)

Six production-control rooms and audio-control rooms serve the five stages and the podcast studio. Goldfeder and his team also built three portable flypacks, each comprising four cameras and six microphones, that can roll out anywhere in SoFi Stadium or across the Hollywood Park complex.

All the cameras and control rooms are interconnected so that any camera can be used in any control room, says Goldfeder. We can beef up the camera complement per studio depending on our needs. We also have a unified microphone and IFB system that works from anywhere across the entire property, as well as outside. So the talent can go from room to room without changing the microphones.

IP Backend: Routing, Playout, Postproduction, Audio, and More

The NFL Media production operation is built around a COTS IP routing switch featuring the Magellan SDN Orchestrator (SDNO) to manage the mix of SMPTE ST 2110 IP and HD-SDI baseband infrastructure.

Much of the technology was integrated in Burbank prior to arriving at the new NFL L.A. facility. (Photo: Jeff Lewis/AP Images for NFL)

NFL Media uses an integrated storage and replay-server system for multiple playout uses and installed EVS 12-channel XT VIA production servers across the board for ingest, playout, and quick-turnaround applications - totaling 48 channels of ingest and 48 channels of playback. All media is then input into NFL Media's Arvato media-asset-management system within 60 seconds of ingest so that editors can immediately access the content.

The NFL postproduction operation consists of 18 high-end edit rooms, two audio-sweetening suites, and 90 VDI thin-client desktop editors that can be accessed from anywhere in the building and even from home.

We've created our own virtual environment here in Inglewood that we can leverage so [editors] can work from anywhere and people can even keep working on their projects from home, says Goldfeder. We did 40 TB of content in one day [Sunday of Week 1], and it went well. So now we're looking at archiving and how we can continue to grow and offload that content.

One of six production-control rooms at the NFL L.A. facility (Photo: Dan Steinberg/AP Images for NFL)

On the graphics side, NFL Media also has 70+ graphics-creation stations, including 35 high-powered 3D-graphics systems plus another 35 VDI thin clients.

In terms of audio, all six studios are equipped with SSL audio consoles that are Dante-connected. In all, NFL L.A. has 18,000 Dante connections, 16,000 MADI connections, and 2,048 Riedel intercom channels.

One of the biggest challenges we had with audio was the different timings between audio and video, but we were able to work through that while we were still in Burbank, says Goldfeder. We actually have two different types of PTP - one running the Dante network, the other one running our ST
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2021/09/21/nfl-los-angeles-spotlight-part-...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

02/07/2026

Imagine Communications Acquired by Lumine Group

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

02/07/2026

Rise AV APAC Brings Mentoring Conversation to InfoComm As...

Following the successful launch of its inaugural APAC Mentoring Programme last month, the Rise AV APAC Regional Council will bring the conversation around mento...

02/07/2026

Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out

Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out Brie Clayton July 2, 2026 0 Comments Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...

02/07/2026

Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, media and communications infrastructure

Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...

02/07/2026

Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversary Celebration of the Declaration of Independence

Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...

02/07/2026

Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE

Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...

02/07/2026

LiveMode builds agile content ingest with Cinegy

Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...

02/07/2026

Synamedia Appoints Dr Tzvi Gerstl CEO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

02/07/2026

Cobalt Digitals blueCORE Wins Futures Best of Show Award...

Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...

02/07/2026

Synamedia Appoints Dr Tzvi Gerstl as CEO as Company Enter...

Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...

02/07/2026

Screen Australia backs audience-led filmmaking with new insight-driven initiatives

Screen Australia backs audience-led filmmaking with new insight-driven initiativ...

02/07/2026

Screen Australia refines guidelines for Narrative Content Development and Documentary Development

Screen Australia refines guidelines for Narrative Content Development and Docume...

02/07/2026

Maxon Autograph: Introduction to working with Tables

Maxon Autograph: Introduction to working with Tables Simon Ubsdell July 1, 2026 0 Comments An overview of Autograph's ridiculously powerful tables...

02/07/2026

Boston Conservatory's Soire Breaks Records to Fund Student Scholarships

Boston Conservatory's Soir e Breaks Records to Fund Student Scholarships The event achieved 127 percent of its fundraising goal in an evening celebrating ...

02/07/2026

How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Med Tech Without Missing a Beat

How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Med Tech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might thin...

02/07/2026

Joyride Through July With 12 Games Coming to GeForce NOW

Summer is heating up - and GeForce NOW is taking players along for the ride. Start the month with Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains, bringing a galaxy fa...

01/07/2026

Broadcast Management Group Appoints Kathy Samuels as Director of Creative Services

Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has announced the appointment of Kathy Samuels ...

01/07/2026

Shade Launches Custom Objects and Automations

Shade has announced Custom Objects and Automations, a platform expansion releasing June 29, 2026, that adds database and workflow automation capabilities direct...

01/07/2026

FOR-A America Adds Two Regional Sales Leaders

FOR-A America has announced the addition of Jaz Wray and Fernando Cruz to its U.S. sales team. Both report to Ernie Leon, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Strate...

01/07/2026

NBC Sports To Present All 15 MLB Games Nationally on July 4 Weekend Star-Spangled Sunday'

NBC Sports will air all 15 MLB games nationally on Sunday, July 5, across NBC, P...

01/07/2026

Clear-Com Upgrades Wireless Communications for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune

Clear-Com has announced a wireless communications upgrade for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, deploying FreeSpeak II and FreeSpeak Icon systems across both prod...

01/07/2026

England Deploys Sony STATSports Live GPS Tracking at FIFA World Cup 2026

England's performance team will use Sony's STATSports APEX GPS tracking system to monitor player physical data in real time during FIFA World Cup 2026 m...

01/07/2026

Adder Technology Appoints Neil Hillier as CEO

Adder Technology has announced the appointment of Neil Hillier as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Hillier succeeds Adrian Dickens, who transiti...

01/07/2026

Bitcentral Splits Into Two Companies: Bitcentral and ViewNexa

Bitcentral, Inc. has announced a strategic transaction creating two separate companies. The Production and Playout business will continue as Bitcentral, now own...

01/07/2026

DAZN48 Creator Initiative Draws Global Participation for FIFA World Cup 2026

DAZN has announced results from DAZN48, its creator initiative for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Launched in April 2026, the program received thousands of applicatio...

01/07/2026

IDEA To Induct Daktronics Sarah Rose Into Hall of Fame

Sarah Rose, VP, global services, Daktronics (NASDAQ: DAKT), will be inducted into the Information Display and Entertainment Association (IDEA) Hall of Fame at t...

01/07/2026

Gravity Media Delivers Distribution and Streaming Services for World Economic Forum in Dalian

Gravity Media and the World Economic Forum's production team provided broadc...

01/07/2026

Insight Productions Launches Insight Storm, a 53-Foot Esports Broadcast Truck

Insight Productions has announced the launch of Insight Storm, a 53-foot mobile broadcast unit built for esports production. The truck is built around a Ross Vi...

01/07/2026

ESPN Announces America 250 Content Initiatives Across Platforms

ESPN has announced several content initiatives marking America's 250th anniversary, as part of The Walt Disney Company's Disney Celebrates America pro...

01/07/2026

At Cosm, FIFA World Cup 2026 Is a Coming-of-Age Moment as Shared Reality Becomes Bucket-List Entertainment

Eleven production kits, REMI workflows, and cloud distribution bring 40 World Cu...

01/07/2026

SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Draws Industry Leaders to Denver for Deep Dive on Evolving RSN Landscape

The conference also discussed the opportunities offered an industry that is endu...

01/07/2026

Mountain West Launches MW+ Streaming Platform Powered by Kiswe

The Mountain West Conference has announced the launch of MW , a direct-to-consumer streaming platform powered by Kiswe. The platform will carry live Mountain We...

01/07/2026

Tracktion unleash Waveform 14 DAW

New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...

01/07/2026

The Crow Hill Company release Brackish Pads

Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...

01/07/2026

Sweetwater & Andertons launch Darkglass Anagram Limited Edition Guitar Essentials

Exclusive run of limited-edition modelling pedals Sweetwater and Andertons M...

01/07/2026

Call for NFVF funding applications to attend Film Festivals and Markets taking place from 01 August 2026 - 31 October 2026

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...

01/07/2026

FCC Plans to Auction 160 MHZ of Midband Spectrum

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

CBS Miami Launches Hope 4 Venezuela' Relief Effort

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

Riedel, SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration With SimplyLive Integration

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

Gray Media to Buy American Spirit Media's TV Stations

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

Cascade PBS Launches App Solution Provider 'Local Public

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camerabag collection for modern hybrid creators

Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camera bag collection for modern h...

01/07/2026

Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition

Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition Brie Clayton July 1, 2026 0 Comments Volunteers use ATEM Mini Pro, Blackmagic Desig...

01/07/2026

Riedel, SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration WithSimplyLive Integration

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

PlayBox Technology Publishes State of Broadcast Infrastru...

PlayBox Technology has published State of Broadcast Infrastructure 2026, an in-depth industry research report examining the technologies, operational challenges...