NEP Group Back for a Second Helping of MLS Season Pass on Apple TV NEP provides facilities, crew, and a variety of services coast to coast in Year 2 By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Friday, March 1, 2024 - 3:06 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The 2024 MLS season opener, for which a sold-out, star-studded crowd turned out to see megastar Lionel Messi and Inter Miami FC take down Real Salt Lake 2-0, served as yet another sign that the epicenter of U.S. soccer is securely rooted in South Florida. For NEP's Vista Worldlink, which proudly calls South Florida home, the setting could not have been more fitting. After all, Vista has served as one of the league's key production partners and an ardent supporter for more than two decades and has watched the MLS's monumental evolution firsthand.
NEP Vista Worldlink's Josh Liemer (standing) at the Dania Beach, FL, facility.
We've been working together for more than 20 years, says Josh Liemer, president, NEP Vista Worldlink. It really is a special relationship. We have seen this league grow by leaps and bounds, so being at the stadium [for the opener] and seeing the excitement right in our own backyard was special. And to be there with individuals from MLS that I've known for 20-plus years watching Lionel Messi and the stars coming out to support was pretty emotional and shows the amazing growth of this league.
As it did throughout the inaugural year of MLS League Pass on Apple TV, NEP Group is once again overseeing all broadcast services and providing all mobile units, technical crew, and operations; support for remote and decentralized production; studio facilities in NYC; and infrastructure and systems management.
NEP Goes Coast to Coast: Inside MLS Season Pass Production Operations To pull off this coast-to-coast effort, NEP is providing dozens of mobile units at MLS venues (both from the NEP fleet and contracted from third-party providers) and has built a connected ecosystem comprising centralized-production facilities and technological infrastructure in Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, South Florida, and Washington, DC.
First off, all MLS Season Pass studio productions - including the new Spanish-language version of the MLS 360 whip-around show - will be handled by NEP's Metropolitan Studios in New York City.
The MLS 360 whip-around show will also be produced in Spanish this year for the first time.
For live matches, NEP oversees production of a world feed and English- and Spanish-language feeds (and French when necessary) with announcers onsite. The 1080p feeds (along with 16 channels of embedded audio for 5.1 surround sound) are sent to NEP's data center in Dallas before being distributed to multiple locations: Vista Worldlink centralized-production center in South Florida, which is managing connectivity and distribution and is responsible for remote productions of MLS Next and MLS Next Pro games; Media NEP's Mediabank media-asset-management operation in Washington, DC; the NEP Production Center in L.A. (PCLA) for playout and commercial insertion; and Metropolitan Studios in New York City for shoulder programming.
It's pretty unbelievable just how far this whole operation has come, says Liemer. I remember the days of rolling up mobile uplink trucks to backhaul all the signals from the stadiums. Today, the league has installed its own private fiber network and is distributing all of their events in native 1080p onto the Apple platform.
Live coverage of all MLS and Leagues Cup matches will be produced at MLS stadiums, including onsite English- and Spanish-speaking talent, with NEP's fleet of mobile units - and trucks from other providers when necessary - deployed to produce simultaneous coverage of up to 14 matches each game day.
Finding enough trucks to cover all those [games] was one of the biggest challenges that MLS put in front of us from day one, says Liemer. The fact that we have been able to deliver speaks to the strength of NEP - not only the amazing fleet we have but also the relationships that we have with some of our strategic competitors that are also partners.
They support us through a variety of different projects and help us meet the challenge for MLS, he continues. That's what makes this industry so special: there are days when we're competing against each other; there are days we're supporting each other. I think it has always been a relationship-driven business, and we are lucky to work with great individuals.
More than 500 MLS Next Pro and MLS Next matches will be produced remotely at NEP's Vista Worldlink centralized-production facility.
In addition to MLS and Leagues Cup matches, the new service will carry 250+ MLS Next Pro regular-season matches, the MLS Next Pro Playoffs and Cup, and 100 MLS Next elite-youth tournament matches. These games will be produced in 1080p with full custom graphics packages (though not with enhanced data or Dolby 5.1 surround audio). More than 500 MLS Next Pro and MLS Next matches will be produced remotely at Vista Worldlink.
Creative Sandbox': MLS, Apple, NEP, IMG Work Together for a Common Goal Three years ago this week, NEP acquired Vista Worldlink, and, in addition to being a key asset in NEP's overall portfolio, the Dania Beach, FL-based outfit has been integral to the success of MLS Season Pass. Liemer describes NEP SVP/Head of Production Jeff Jacobs and Vista Worldlink Executive Producer Mike Freedman as the ringmasters of the sprawling operation.
One of the special things that NEP delivers day in and day out is the amazing people that manage this incredible puzzle and all of these logistical obstacles, says Liemer. They have been planning for months to get this equation solved. They are the ones who make this happen.
NEP Vista Worldlink's facility h
More from Sports Video Group
02/06/2026
Tennis Channel has completed a transition from satellite-based distribution to a...
02/06/2026
Daktronics has announced the 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day educational event for high school educators and student production teams, taking place Jun...
02/06/2026
Fandango will bring Telemundo's live Spanish-language coverage of the FIFA W...
02/06/2026
All Women's Sports Network (AWSN) has announced the live television schedule...
02/06/2026
Spalk, a cloud-based multilingual commentary and production platform, has announced three new partnerships: Ligue 1 (English and Portuguese highlights), Eurolea...
02/06/2026
NHL Network's 2026 Stanley Cup Final coverage began June 1 with NHL Tonight: Stanley Cup Final Media Day from the Carolina Hurricanes' Lenovo Center at ...
02/06/2026
Matrox Video has announced the Maevex MGX Series, a lineup of IPMX-ready video e...
02/06/2026
Marshall Electronics will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7521), showcasing a lineup of 4K and HD compact POV cameras for corporate, education, hospitality, wo...
02/06/2026
The Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA) and Shure Incorporated have...
02/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C50...
02/06/2026
Advanced Systems Group (ASG) has announced the promotion of Joe Marchitto to Western Regional CTO. In his new role, Marchitto will oversee system design across ...
02/06/2026
The NHL has announced that Brothers Osborne will headline a free outdoor concert...
02/06/2026
CP Communications has announced the appointment of its first two female executives in the company's 40-year history. Tabitha Coleman has been named Vice Pre...
02/06/2026
The Lighting Design Group (LDG) has announced the completion of Studio C at Yahoo's headquarters at 770 Broadway in Manhattan. The studio launched April 24 ...
02/06/2026
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (Z) has announced a partnership with FIFA to broadcast FIFA World Cup 2026, FIFA World Cup 2030, FIFA Women's World Cup 2...
02/06/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, including new deals, departures, and assignments compiled from press releases and repo...
02/06/2026
The department is broadcasting NCAA Baseball Super Regionals at Plainsman Park this weekend
Broadcast and production crews at Division I institutions are busy ...
02/06/2026
The initiative is extends beyond the league's arenas to team training rinks,...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
28/05/2026
FOX Sports' MLB coverage dominated the night at the 47th Annual Sports Emmy ...
28/05/2026
One of the most memorable postseasons in baseball history would have had no memo...
28/05/2026
NBC's Sunday Night Football is among the most-decorated and most-watched pro...
28/05/2026
The 2026 Sports Emmys marked a watershed moment for Prime Video Sports. After bu...
28/05/2026
Hosted by ESPN Senior Writer Ryan McGee, the ceremony honored winners from athletic departments, conference offices, professional networks, production companies...
28/05/2026
Major rights-holders rolled out their 2026 college football slates today, offering a first look at marquee windows, kickoff partners, and conference distributio...
28/05/2026
The 4 Nations Face-Off, an international competition that launched in February 2...
28/05/2026
Soccer is a truly global sport, and, to match the U.S. viewing audience's in...
28/05/2026
The NFL Today, CBS Sports' top-of-the-line NFL studio show, has a storied hi...
28/05/2026
Prime Video is no stranger to innovation, and, within the realm of live streamin...
NEP Group Back for a Second Helping of MLS Season Pass on Apple TV NEP provides facilities, crew, and a variety of services coast to coast in Year 2 By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S. 
