Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Women's College World Series: ESPN Celebrates 20th Year in OKC With 80-Ft. Rail Cam, Cable Cam, Drone

08/06/2021

Women's College World Series: ESPN Celebrates 20th Year in OKC With 80-Ft. Rail Cam, Cable Cam, Drone Although most of the crew is onsite, on-air packages are being produced offsite By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor

Tuesday, June 8, 2021 - 10:19 am

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

After being canceled by the pandemic last year, the NCAA Women's College World Series is certainly making up for lost time, logging multiple upsets by the unseeded James Madison Dukes and the fifth perfect game in history by Alabama's Montana Fouts. Celebrating two decades covering the full tournament in Oklahoma City, ESPN has deployed some flashy tech in its return to the diamond, with an 80-ft. Rail Cam along the left-field and centerfield walls, a two-point cable camera system running down the third-base side, an aerial drone for breathtaking images, Ump Cam, and much more.

From the time UCLA won the [2019] national championship and the time we threw the first pitch during the first game, there have been 730 days, says Meg Aronowitz, senior coordinating producer, ESPN. We were really excited to gather together in that catering tent at 8:30 on that first morning.

Up in the Air: Cable Cam, Drone Give Large-Scale Looks at the Action The two-point camera system is catching viewings down the third-base line.

Two of the more noticeable tech implementations used throughout the eight-day tournament are above the heads of the spectators. High in the air, a drone has been capturing the surrounding areas as well as the packed crowds that are a welcome sight after a year without fans in stands. Closer to the ground, a two-point cable camera system is covering the area from the backstop down the left-field line.

The reason to deploy these two devices is two-fold. On the production end, each camera offers a different view of the action on the field. For example, the cable cam can show a ball hit into the outfield and a runner rounding third and heading home to score in one attempt. Also, during stoppages in play, it's able to show the crowd and head up the protective netting to show the broadcast team in the booth behind home plate. On the other hand, the two cameras showcase the last step of a four-phase renovation of OGE Energy Field, including upper-deck seating that pushes the venue's capacity to 13,000.

Our directors and I spent a lot of time thinking through what would add value [to the broadcast], says Aronowitz. We've always wanted to do some form of cable-camera system, but, before the upper deck was put in, the stadium was wide open, and the wind in Oklahoma is not your friend. Now the upper deck has helped us fight off that wind.

An aerial drone is highlighting the new renovations to OGE Energy Field.

In the bigger picture, the pandemic ripped the excitement of OKC away from fans last year, but, on the technological side, it forced ESPN to postpone the debut of this new cable system. The multimillion-dollar renovation reached its completion in time for the 2020 tournament, but the one-year-old upper deck has been retrofitted with the Supracam system. The drone, though, was something of a last-minute decision when the NCAA allowed more attendees.

We didn't know what the crowd was going to look like, Aronowitz notes, but we wanted to bring the drone and show off the size and the scale of the stadium. The lensing on the drone doesn't allow you to necessarily follow the ball, but we'll have a fixed-wing airplane for that during the finals.

At Ground Level: Rail Cam, Ump Cam, Ross PIERO Highlight Each Play An 80-ft. Rail Cam is positioned just behind the outfield wall.

Along with the two-point cable system and an aerial drone, there are other tech highlights that make up the 42 cameras in OKC. Rail Cam has attracted the attention of viewers watching the action from their homes. Constructed on an 80-ft. track that spans from left field to centerfield, a mounted Fletcher robo camera provides engaging replays of diving catches, balls hit into the gap, and other plays in the outfield. After internal discussions and collaboration with USA Softball to get the right amount of physical space, the network was able to find the perfect iteration of this technological innovation.

Doug Holmes, who directs the Little League World Series, had a robotic camera on a smaller Rail Cam system in the outfield at one point, notes Aronowitz. [Women's College World Series Director] Anthony DeMarco and I started talking about the vision for what the camera can do. If it's moving and we're able to move/tilt/zoom as the ball is coming into frame, it could be a really cool perspective.

Even before the Championship Series, the Rail Cam had become a resounding success. The current system features only one rail, one camera, and one portion of the wall, but Aronowitz and her team are already thinking of ways to incorporate multiple systems to cover the entire length of the warning track.

Returning to Oklahoma City is Ump Cam, a small POV camera attached to the helmet of each game's home-plate umpire. Also seen during the 2019 College World Series, the production crew has found the perfect iteration of this activation, which combines 3G Wireless's newest HD camera and a sturdy camera feed.

3G Wireless is providing this year's edition of Ump Cam.

We've had Ump Cam for a couple of years, Aronowitz explains, but the RF frequencies and the distance have always been a challenge for us. 3G has upgraded their system, and we've been able to give them line of sight between the umpire and the system, so we've had a lot of great replay angles of strikeouts.

Lastly, the network has been relying heavily on telestration for breaking down crucial plays and web gems throughout the telecast. Used during live coverage and instant rep
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2021/06/08/womens-college-world-series-esp...
See more stories from svg

More from Sports Video Group

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Aurora's Matt Beal on Taking Up the Broadcast Reins Alongside the FIA

Progressive realism: Aurora on taking up the broadcast reins for World RX alongs...

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Getting the Production Together With NEP Finland, Cloudbass Graphics

Great speed: New host broadcaster Aurora on getting the World RX 2025 season pro...

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Host Broadcaster Aurora Looks Ahead to This Weekend's Second Race of the Season in Hljes

Seat of its pants: Aurora boxes clever and looks ahead for the FIA as new host b...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: EBU, BBC Sport, Sunset+Vine Talk Coverage Plans, Distribution and Maintaining Momentum

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: EBU, BBC Sport and Sunset Vine talk coverage plans, ...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Women's Super League Launches New Content Series to Support Teams, Players Over Summer of Football

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Women's Super League launches new content series...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Ignite Puts Fans, Players Front and Center With Title Sequence for ITV

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Ignite puts fans and players front and centre with t...

02/07/2025

Storytelling in the Live Game Broadcast: ESPN Director Jimmy Platt Breaks Down the Craft

Storytelling in the Live Game Broadcast: ESPN Director Jimmy Platt Breaks Down t...

02/07/2025

CONCACAF's Miguel Angel Garcia on the Gold Cup's Enhanced 2025 Production Plan

CONCACAF's Miguel Angel Garcia on the Gold Cup's Enhanced 2025 Productio...

01/07/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Spyrosoft's Jonathan Witty on Futher Business Expansion in the U.S.

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Spyrosoft's Jonathan Witty on Futher Business Exp...

01/07/2025

The NIL Effect: How the Shifting Business of College Athletics Impacts On-Campus Video Production

The NIL Effect: How the Shifting Business of College Athletics Impacts On-Campus...

01/07/2025

Cherry On the Cake: Inside the Technical Production of the Tour de France 2025 with EMG / Gravity Media

Cherry on the cake: Inside the technical production of the Tour de France 2025 w...

01/07/2025

NESN's Josh Jun on Keeping Alternative Broadcasts Fresh for Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins Fans

NESN's Josh Jun on Keeping Alternative Broadcasts Fresh for Boston Red Sox, ...

01/07/2025

TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge

TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge Production approach emphasizes creative freedom, bold storytelling, casual-fan-friendly tone B...

27/06/2025

How Smarter Video Compression is Creating a Sustainable Future

How smarter compression is creating a sustainable future By Michael Burns Monday, June 23, 2025 - 14:13 Print This Story Live sport is especially vulnerab...

27/06/2025

RTL Group To Acquire Sky Deutschland

RTL Group To Acquire Sky Deutschland By George Bevir, Editorial Director, SVG Europe Friday, June 27, 2025 - 8:00 am Print This Story | Subscribe Story ...

27/06/2025

Frictionless, At Scale: The Current State of Live Video Streaming Techology

Frictionless, At Scale: The Current State of Live Video Streaming Techology Leaders from Bitmovin, Comcast Technology Solutions, Harmonic, IMAX, and Phenix brea...

27/06/2025

Marquee Sports Network's Nick Steger on Meeting the Moment of the Contending Chicago Cubs

Marquee Sports Network's Nick Steger on Meeting the Moment of the Contending...

27/06/2025

NHL Draft 2025: The League Is Primed for First Decentralized Draft in Non-Pandemic Era

NHL Draft 2025: The League Is Primed for First Decentralized Draft in Non-Pandem...

26/06/2025

10th-Annual SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Presents Useful Roadmap for the Future of the RSN, Local Media Business

10th-Annual SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Presents Useful Roadmap for th...

26/06/2025

The Big Cloud Debate: Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid

The Big Cloud Debate: Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid Tech leaders from CineSys, Diversified, and Net Insight breaks down all flavors of cloud By Jason Dachman, ...

26/06/2025

Program Productions' Jess Kowatch on Training the Next and Current Generation of Sports TV Technicians

Program Productions' Jess Kowatch on Training the Next and Current Gener...

25/06/2025

SVG College Summit 2025: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY

SVG College Summit 2025: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY Tackling the latest in college sports video: NIL, live production, virtual productio...

25/06/2025

ESPN Is Set To Bring AR Graphics to Wimbledon, Revamps Bunker and Studio 18 VO Booths

ESPN Is Set To Bring AR Graphics to Wimbledon, Revamps Bunker and Studio 18 VO B...

24/06/2025

2025 NBA Draft: ABC/ESPN Prepares for Two-Day Draft at Barclays Center

2025 NBA Draft: ABC/ESPN Prepares for Two-Day Draft at Barclays Center Partners Game Creek Video, CP Communications, NEP Specialty Capture will be on hand By M...

24/06/2025

Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: Google Cloud's Jane Day on the Impact of AI on Sports

Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: Google Cloud's Jane Day on the Impact of AI on ...

24/06/2025

Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: AWS's Dana LaGattuta on Data-Driven Innovation in Sports

Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: AWS's Dana LaGattuta on Data-Driven Innovation ...

24/06/2025

British & Irish Lions Men's Tour: Dublin Opener Sees Sky Sports Take Remote Route

Lions live: Dublin opener sees Sky Sports take remote route By Fergal Ringrose ...

24/06/2025

British & Irish Lions Men's Tour: Pumas Maul Lions as S4C and TG4 Deliver First-Ever Joint Host in Dublin

Pumas maul Lions as S4C and TG4 deliver first-ever joint host in Dublin By Ferg...

24/06/2025

ABC/ESPN Prepares for 2025 NBA Draft, the First at Barclays Center

ABC/ESPN Prepares for 2025 NBA Draft, the First at Barclays Center Partners Game Creek Video, CP Communications, NEP Specialty Capture will be on hand By Mark ...

23/06/2025

Adventures in Live Cloud Production: Stories From the Trenches with MLB, NHL, NBC Sports, Warner Bros. Discovery, and AWS

Adventures in Live Cloud Production: Stories From the Trenches with MLB, NHL, NB...

23/06/2025

Finding the Edge: How Badger & Combes Produces Live-Streamed Coverage of County Cricket for LancsTV

Finding the edge: How Badger & Combes produces live-streamed coverage of county ...

23/06/2025

Masters of Madness: New Football Format Shakes Up the Rules of Sportainment

Masters of Madness: New football format shakes up the rules of sportainment By Adrian Pennington Monday, June 16, 2025 - 11:38 Print This Story The ball i...

23/06/2025

New State-of-the-Art Mountain Media Center Launches in Former Starz Encore Building Near Denver

New State-of-the-Art Mountain Media Center Launches in Former Starz Encore Build...

23/06/2025

ESPN Says Goodbye to Seaport Studios, Hello to New State-of-the-Art Production Facility at Disney's 7 Hudson Square

ESPN Says Goodbye to Seaport Studios, Hello to New State-of-the-Art Production F...

20/06/2025

A True Test? Cricket's Growth on the Global Stage and the Role Broadcast Can Play

A True Test? Cricket's Growth on the Global Stage and the Role Broadcast Can...

20/06/2025

Sky Sports Goes Large for the British & Irish Lions Tour with AR Graphics, UHD and a Pop Up Channel

Sky Sports goes large for the British & Irish Lions Tour with AR graphics, UHD a...

20/06/2025

ESPN's Men's College World Series Finals Coverage Combines Innovation, Legacy

ESPN's Men's College World Series Finals Coverage Combines Innovation, L...

19/06/2025

SVG Rewind: PGA Tour Introduces Drone AR Smart Tracing, Reflects on Winning George Wensel Technical Achievement Award

SVG Rewind: PGA Tour Introduces Drone AR Smart Tracing, Reflects on Winning Geor...

18/06/2025

Technology Focus: Fan Expectations Drive Advances in the In-Stadium Experience

Technology focus: Fan expectations drive advances in the in-stadium experience By Jo Ruddock Tuesday, June 3, 2025 - 08:36 Print This Story For years, att...

18/06/2025

Making Connections: How Stadiums Are Meeting the Ever-Growing Demand for Data and Connectivity

Making connections: How stadiums are meeting the ever-growing demand for data an...

18/06/2025

SVG Venues & Teams Summit Keynote: RWS Global Powers the Stadium Environment at 2024 Paris Olympics

SVG Venues & Teams Summit Keynote: RWS Global Powers the Stadium Environment at ...

18/06/2025

SVG Rewind: Behind the Scenes of Producing Tottenham Hotspur's Europa League Victory Parade

SVG Rewind: Behind the Scenes of Producing Tottenham Hotspur's Europa League...

17/06/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Mercury Intermedia's Tom Richardson, Mike Ligon on Powering DTC Streams for Teams Reclaiming Media Rights

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Mercury Intermedia's Tom Richardson, Mike Ligon o...

17/06/2025

Total Sports Performance from Relo Metrics, VideoAmp, Offers Next-Level Media, Brand Measurement

Total Sports Performance from Relo Metrics, VideoAmp, Offers Next-Level Media, B...

17/06/2025

From Stage to Stream: Producing Live Esports Events in 2025

From Stage to Stream: Producing Live Esports Events in 2025 Leaders from ESL FACEIT Group, Riot Games, and more break down the latest trends By Jason Dachman, ...

17/06/2025

Inside FIFA 2025 Club World Cup Operations With FIFA's Oscar Sanchez, HBS's Stefan Wistuba

Inside FIFA 2025 Club World Cup Operations With FIFA's Oscar Sanchez, HBS...

17/06/2025

Production Ambitions: Over Exposed on Making the National League Promotion Final for DAZN as Spectacular as Possible

Production ambitions: Over Exposed on making the National League Promotion Final...