University of Iowa Centralizes Video Production With Dual Control Rooms at Carver-Hawkeye ArenaCapacity, flexibility, quality are enhanced for HawkVision videoboard shows, BTN StudentU broadcastsBy Brandon Costa, Director of Digital Wednesday, November 5, 2025 - 9:55 am
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The University of Iowa's live-video operation, HawkVision, has a new home - and twice the horsepower.
This past summer, the athletic department opened two adjacent production-control rooms steps from staff offices inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena, centralizing in-venue videoboard shows and BTN StudentU B1G broadcasts. The build replaces a smaller, aging room at Kinnick Stadium and delivers major gains in capacity, workflow flexibility, and everyday quality.
The University of Iowa Athletics Departments has opened two new video production control rooms inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena, centralizing in-venue videoboard shows and BTN StudentU (Big Ten ) broadcasts. (Photos: Stephen Mally, University of Iowa Athletics)
It has been a long time coming for us, says Trisha Stortz, Director, HawkVision, University of Iowa. We're pretty lucky it's all down the hall from where we currently sit. Having two brand-new control rooms has been an awesome experience for us, working with our in-house shows and with our StudentU group.
Collaboration, Proximity, and ScaleFor HawkVision, the move from Kinnick to Carver is as much about proximity as it is about power. We expanded our capacity, and it has been nice, notes Steve Hart, Engineer, HawkVision, University of Iowa. It has added a ton to our production, and it has given some people that have been with us a long time the ability to spread their wings and show what we can do.
Each control room is powered by a Ross Carbonite Ultra production switcher.
Control Room A drives videoboard shows for Carver-Hawkeye Arena and Kinnick Stadium, covering football, men's and women's basketball, wrestling, gymnastics, and volleyball. Control Room B handles BTN StudentU/Big Ten productions for volleyball, field hockey, soccer, softball, baseball, and more via campus fiber. The StudentU team currently produces roughly 89 events annually, with a staff model blending one full-time lead, a full-time intern, and a 30-plus student crew; freelancers anchor the videoboard shows.
A key quality-of-life upgrade: dedicated space. In the previous room at Kinnick, operators were shoulder-to-shoulder with racks and aggressive air-handling. The first thing everybody noticed when we moved into this new room is how much quieter it was, Hart says. We don't have to keep the room cold for the equipment anymore.
A Technological Leap (With Headroom)Designed to interoperate, both rooms are built around 1080p59.94. Iowa doubled core resources, especially replay. Natively in Control Room A, we have 12 channels of replay, up from six, Hart explains. If the StudentU control room is not being used, we can network in their replay system [and have] 18 channels. That flexibility pays off on football: four house cameras combine with up to 11 truck feeds and a program return to populate suites and concourse TVs, even on streaming-exclusive telecasts.
Iowa added Evertz DreamCatcher for replay (12 channels native in HawkVision A).
On the creative side, the additional horsepower shows up everywhere, Stortz says. We had four channels of server; now we have eight. It's something as simple as cueing up headshots faster or fan prompts. We had two replay operators previously; now we have three; they're working on instant replays but also making replay packages at the same time. Across the board - Daktronics comms to replay - we're communicating a lot more effectively, and everything we're doing is just looking a lot better.
Inside the RoomsThe backbone combines proven baseband with networked audio, leaving room to grow. Routing centers on an Evertz NEXX core; production switching is powered by a Ross Carbonite Ultra, with Ross XPression driving scorebugs and insert graphics. Replay relies on Evertz DreamCatcher (12 channels native in HawkVision A, expandable by tapping the StudentU room). Evertz Clips handles playout. Adder KVM ties positions together, and Forecast Consoles outfit operator positions.
Audio throughout the house is Dante-based, with a Yamaha TF5 console in each room and campus-wide Dante transport. StudentU shows ride fiber using AJA Fidos and media converters, including two sets of Joseph fiber muxes to reach remote venues; the majority of videoboard/cable transports are Evertz. Monitor walls comprise 20 55-in. Sony displays. Four confidence cameras - including a PTZ dedicated to scoreboards - provide oversight, and a new PTZ supports Carver press conferences. Records are captured on a pair of AJA Helo Plus units with a four-channel AJA Ki Pro, and an EditShare networked server underpins asset management.
Strategically, the team chose a hybrid path to keep operations nimble and future-proof. We did not go full 2110; we are hybrid baseband and IP router, Hart says. Believe it or not, the baseband saved me twice already. We went 1080p knowing that was the easier route to upgrade to 4K eventually. We built this with growing in mind: it's never finished, and we want to keep moving forward.
Alpha Integration and the Build TimelineLongtime partner Alpha handled systems integration, working with Iowa through construction, space reconfiguration, and commissioning inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Iowa is a longstanding customer, says Jeff Volk, EVP, strategic accounts, sports and live events, Alpha, noting that Iowa was one of the company's first clients, in 2005. The project had a reasonably short timeline with some construction delays thrown in. Having an engineering team and a client that understands their long
