Live From MLB All-Star 2024: FOX Sports Feels Right at Home at MLB's Newest Ballpark More than 50 cameras are scattered around Globe Life Field for upconverted 4K broadcast By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital Tuesday, July 16, 2024 - 2:48 pm
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Opened in 2020 during the era of sports bubbles and cardboard cutouts in the stands, Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX, is Major League Baseball's newest venue. And yet, FOX Sports couldn't feel more at home at the site of the 94th MLB All-Star Game.
In the bowels of Globe Life Field, FOX Sports has Old-Time Texas-themed areas where players can carwash through for fun shoots and interviews to be sprinkled throughout tonight's broadcast of the MLB All-Star Game.
This stadium feels like home to us, Mike Davies, EVP, technical and field operations, FOX Sports, said on Sunday afternoon standing in the stadium's truck dock, which is mercifully out of Arlington's over 100 heat.
In its first (half) season, Globe Life Field served as the neutral site for the entire National League Championship Series (a seven-game classic between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves) and the World Series (won by the Dodgers in six). FOX Sports was there to broadcast every one of the games, residing in a semi-permanent home at the park for more than a month.
Then, as the hometown Texas Rangers went on a run to win the franchise's first-ever World Championship last year, FOX Sport was, once again, there to chronicle it. Couple all that experience in a short time with a strong relationship with Rangers brass - most notably, Angie Swint, VP, broadcasting and communications, Texas Rangers, a veteran of the ballclub's broadcasting ranks since 2005, and her team - and the FOX Sports team feels that they are practically broadcasting from the comfort of their own couch.
Working with the Texas Rangers has always been a close relationship for FOX, says Brad Cheney, VP, field operations and engineering, FOX Sports. As they built this ballpark, they listened to all the constituents and built it for events like these. They were a postseason team before they built this building, and they continue to be one. It only benefits them as they go forward to have a building that's ready for broadcast and ready to grow. It's exciting to be back here and working with the team at the Rangers as well as being in a facility that's extremely well connected to the outside world and inside to the venue itself.
Robust Audio Plan Gives Access Boost to Cameras Tonight's MLB All-Star Game is the 25th in the history of FOX Sports, which carried its first Midsummer Classic in 1997 in Cleveland.
FOX Sports PR put together a fun thread on X (formerly Twitter), tracing some of the crew and broadcast team's favorite All-Star moments:
On Tuesday, July 16, @FOXSports celebrates a major milestone with the broadcast of its 25th #MLBAllStarGame!
To help celebrate, members of the @MLBONFOX family share their favorite memories from over the years PLUS we're diving deep into the archives with highlights that date pic.twitter.com/QWcW96dqF0
- FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) July 10, 2024
Much has changed since that first All-Star experience 27 years ago: most notably, tonight's broadcast will be produced in 1080p HDR and upconverted to 4K for distribution to selected partners. To properly cover this year's event at Globe Life Field - which will have its roof closed throughout - FOX Sports has deployed approximately 50 cameras for game and studio coverage. Six cameras will be shooting in 6X, and there are two RF M VI units (one on the field, the other roaming the stadium for venue and fan shots).
It's a nice collection of visuals at the ready for the front bench of Game Producer Pete Macheska and Game Director Matt Gangl, who have been sitting together on this game since 2017.
Another highlight here in Arlington is the continued use of live drones by FOX Sports' MLB crew. In the past year, the broadcaster has deployed live drones from third-party partner Beverly Hills Aerials at this stadium during the postseason, at the special MLB at Rickwood Field event last month, and at Yankee Stadium for a marquee series between the Dodgers and the New York Yankees.
If you were watching @foxsports this weekend you probably saw our drone footage. We are proud to say we had 4 simultaneously teams transmitting live for MLB, UFL, NASCAR and the Belmont stakes. 4 different cities, 4 different sports, same level of excellence pic.twitter.com/93GJexLElI
- Beverly Hills Aerials (@bevhillsaerials) June 10, 2024
To bring drones back into this facility again, like we had in the postseason, is a lot of fun, says Cheney. Every time we spend more time in a venue, the better we get and the better angles we find. The more we do it and the more that we prove that, with the right people and the right attitude, you can meet the safety level for the venue and exceed it beyond anyone's expectations. That allows us to do more each and every time. That's what we look to do. In a closed venue, you have a lot more control, a little less wind, and fewer variables in some cases, so you get to do a little more.
Something else that has become a huge piece of the MLB All-Star Game storytelling puzzle over the past couple of years is FOX Sports' placing microphones on more players. That could mean conversations between the broadcast booth and the players on the field.
It's all part of a complex plan laid out by FOX Sports Senior Mixer/Audio Supervisor Joe Carpenter, who leads the game-audio production for tonight's broadcast.
MORE: Live From MLB All-Star 2024 With New Technologies, Audio Production Gets Complicated
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