
NBA Returns: ESPN, Turner, NBA Team Up for Sprawling, COVID-Safe Production at Wide World of Sports Broadcasts will include national telecasts and world feeds for RSNs By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Thursday, July 30, 2020 - 2:36 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The long wait is over, and the NBA returns to the hardcourt tonight with a Jazz-Pelicans and Clippers-Lakers doubleheader from the league's bubble at Disney's Wide World of Sports (WWoS) complex in Orlando. The pair of telecasts on TNT will tip off one of the largest undertakings in NBA broadcast history with the NBA, ESPN, and Turner Sports teaming up to produce not only national telecasts but also world feeds for hundreds of regional-sports-network broadcasts across the country.
An aerial view of the NBA production compound at ESPN Wide World of Sports. (Photo courtesy of Chris Calcinari/ESPN)
A nearly 200,000-sq.-ft. broadcast compound has been built and follows strict health and safety guidelines, and the three WWoS arenas have been transformed into one-of-a-kind venues chock-full of LED screens, robotic cameras, embedded microphones, and other state-of-the-art tech.
This is a high-level overview of plans for production operations in Orlando. Stay tuned for more in-depth SVG coverage of NBA, ESPN, and Turner Sports operations at the Wide World of Sports in the coming days.
Inside the Compound: A Baker's Dozen Trucks, Plenty of Safety Measures The 194,920-sq.-ft. broadcast compound is equal to roughly three football fields and serves as home to 13 production trucks and 31 trailers.
ESPN is using NEP's EN3 and EN2 mobile units and Game Creek Video's Victory (all with A and B units). Turner Sports has rolled in NEP's Supershooter 8, TS2, and M14 (all with A and B units). In addition to the trucks and trailers, the compound features six mobile-unit cover tents, two catering tents, two field-shop tents, and multiple cooling stations.
Three sides of the court have 17-ft. LED videoboards.
Powering the compound are 20 generators provided by CAT Entertainment Services: 12 500-kVA units, two 300-kVA units, two 400-kVA tow plants, and four 175-kVA tow plants. Also on hand are 32 HVAC units.
ESPN and Turner have laid more than 436 miles of fiber to tie together the compound, the three arenas, and various areas throughout the WWoS complex.
On the transmission side, there are 65 outbound paths and 14 inbound paths for ESPN, which is relying on The Switch and its ESPNet company-wide infrastructure.
Positions within the trucks have been reorganized to ensure social distancing, with most A units housing just six crew members. Many of the replay operators and robotic-camera shaders have been outboarded to the B unit or other locations in the compound. In addition, ESPN is using its GREMI model for all its telecasts, with three or four replay operators and graphics and scorebug positions operating out of its Bristol, CT, headquarters.
The Arena will serve as Court 1, hosting the Conference Finals and NBA Finals.
The crew has been divided into functional groups, with the majority of the production and operations staff in the yellow zone and commuting solely between their hotel on Disney property and WWoS. Individuals are also limited to specific trucks and trailers to minimize cross-contamination among the crew. Crew members are required to wear face masks and maintain social distancing at all times. All onsite staff are tested regularly for COVID-19 and have daily temperature tests upon arrival at the facility.
NBA Entertainment EVP, Media Operations and Technology, Steve Hellmuth is leading the charge for the league's broadcast plans. The ESPN operations team onsite is led by SVP, Remote Production Operations, Chris Calcinari; Senior Operations Manager Patty Mattero; and Senior Remote Operations Specialist Eddie Okuno. Turner Sports ops are headed by VP, Operations and Technology, Chris Brown.
Inside the Venues: RailCam and Robos Galore HP Field House will serve as Court 2 from the regular season through Round 2 of the NBA Playoffs.
NBA games will be played across three venues at the WWoS: The Arena (Court 1, the main national-telecast court and site of Conference Finals and NBA Finals), HP Fieldhouse (Court 2 for the regular season to Second Round), and the Visa Athletic Center (Court 3, primarily for games broadcast exclusively by RSNs).
RSNs will receive a world feed produced by either ESPN or Turner, along with a dedicated iso camera (with full comms to the camera operator) and access to several other camera feeds. The final telecast will be integrated at the RSN's home control room/truck.
The mobile units are assigned to one venue apiece: The Arena is covered by EN3 (ESPN) and Supershooter 8 (Turner); HP Fieldhouse, Victory and TS2; and Visa Athletic Center, EN2 and TS2. In addition, ESPN is producing a large chunk of the RSN games from Visa as REMI (remote-integration) shows, sending camera/audio feeds to control rooms in Bristol to be integrated for the final production.
At least 258 cameras have been deployed across the WWoS complex, including more than 60 robos. Each venue is equipped with 30+ cameras for game coverage, with The Arena and HP having roughly the same camera complement and Visa a slightly smaller one.
Chief among the new production elements is the RailCam system at both The Arena and HP Fieldhouse, which will glide along the court at floor level to create a valuable new shot for ESPN and TNT coverage.
Visa Athletic Center will host the majority of the RSN-exclusive games.
Nearly all court-level cameras, normally manned positions, have been converted to robos. Seven cameras (depending on the venue and the game) continue to be manned: one center-court handheld (the only court-level unit), three up cameras (game, tight, and second tight), left
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
14/04/2026
ToolsOnAir and Omnistream Bring Mobile SRT Contribution into Professional 24/7 P...
14/04/2026
Haivision has announced the Falkon X4, a 5G mobile video transmitter for live broadcast and remote production. The device will be showcased at NAB Show 2026.
...
14/04/2026
Founded by veterans of the production-truck world, Stripe TV was born out of a d...
14/04/2026
Grass Valley has expanded its partnership with Studio Berlin, supplying 12 LDX 135 UHD/HDR camera systems and 12 LDX 180 Super 35mm cinematic cameras, including...
14/04/2026
LTN has announced two senior appointments ahead of NAB Show 2026: Mark Romano as Vice President, Multichannel Platforms, and Edward Cox as Vice President, Sales...
14/04/2026
Sennheiser and Italian rental company Agor have begun preparations for their Eu...
14/04/2026
DAZN and ADI Predictstreet have announced a partnership to integrate ADI Predict...
14/04/2026
Deltatre has announced the completion of a direct-to-fan website and app for Leg...
14/04/2026
Daktronics, will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 in partnership with Grass Valley at Booth C2408, Las Vegas Convention Center, April 19-22.
Daktronics will showcase a...
14/04/2026
Backblaze will host a series of partner presentations at NAB Show 2026 (Booth N1259, North Hall), open to all exhibition hall badge holders. Showcase partners i...
14/04/2026
BRAHMA AI will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2415, West Hall), demonstrating its Enterprise AI Content Platform for media, entertainment, sports, and technol...
14/04/2026
Bridge Technologies has announced that its VB440 production probe has been integrated into NEP Platform, NEP Group's software orchestration system. The inte...
14/04/2026
Clear-Com will introduce new products and demonstrate its communications ecosystem for broadcast and live production at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C5807, April 19-22)...
14/04/2026
EZDRM will use NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2260) to introduce the Revenue Security Prism, a framework for combining multiple security technologies to protect streamin...
14/04/2026
Telos Alliance will introduce the following products at NAB Show 2026:
TV and Media
Telos Infinity MK2 Panels: A new generation of hardware control panels for...
14/04/2026
Panasonic Video and Audio Systems North America will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C3509), demonstrating IP- and IT-based production solutions for sports, bro...
14/04/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
14/04/2026
Blackmagic Design will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth N2502). CEO Grant Petty s product announcement livestream is available at youtube.com. The company announ...
14/04/2026
The deal establishes a close strategic alignment' between the iconic cinema...
14/04/2026
BIGSHOT Media, with support from Teradek, produced untamed African mountain-bike race' with daily coverage and highlights show
The 2026 Absa Cape EPIC, an...
14/04/2026
The Sports Video Group (SVG) today announced the launch of the SVG AI Innovation...
14/04/2026
Captures a trio of renowned polysynths
The latest software to join AIR Music Tech's extensive catalogue captures the sound of three sought-after polysyn...
14/04/2026
Free offering includes 10 powerful plug-ins
United Plugins have announced the launch of a new bundle that brings together 10 of their pro-audio plug-ins, an...
14/04/2026
Julian Coryell joins virtual session player line-up
Announced at NAMM 2026, Celemony's Tonalic kits DAW users out with real performances by world-class ...
14/04/2026
WESCAM MX -Series EO/IR Systems Provide Critical Visibility During NASA Re-Entry Operations....
14/04/2026
DiSCO reduces uncertainty during the fog of war in modern threat environments an...
14/04/2026
GOES-19 imagery captured by L3Harris-built Advanced Baseline Imager technology helps forecasters issue life-saving weather warnings. Credit: NOAA/NASA...
14/04/2026
For decades, understanding the physical world from space has required a trade-of...
14/04/2026
Ruiz has helped fuel growth for both client-side and media companies, including, most recently, TelevisaUnivision.
He will spearhead transformation, innovatio...
14/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/04/2026
Shotoku Introduces the World to Aura P2 PTZ Prompter Panner at NAB 2026
New system removes PTZ pan restrictions for teleprompter-based productions
Shotoku US...
14/04/2026
Integration of Vantage, Pulse, and Telestream UP with Grass Valley AMPP Ecosystem enables scalable, interoperable workflows spanning live production and file-ba...
14/04/2026
Enterprise growth leader to scale Dalet's next phase of innovation and global expansion
New York, NY April 14, 2026 Dalet, a leading technology and ser...
14/04/2026
Berklee Celebrates Prince's Legacy in Two-Night Signature Series Event Directed by Tia Fuller, the Prince Project (April 16-17) brings together more than ...
14/04/2026
Arooj Aftab Is Anything but Predictable The singular artist explores the juxtaposition of grief and joy, dark and light, in her distinctive sound.
April 14, ...
14/04/2026
Appear launches include XM estate management and new X Platform processing enhancements to add density for next-generation hybrid & IP workflows, X5 is also now...
14/04/2026
Addressing the needs of a new generation's viewing habits, Synamedia launches GO Shorts. The AI-powered module turns existing catalogues into TikTok-style ...
14/04/2026
Vubiquity, an Amdocs company and global leader in technology-led media services, will be showcasing a new end-to-end streaming solution in collaboration with El...
14/04/2026
LiveU today announced a significant expansion of its collaboration with Sony Corporation, introducing integrated support for Sony's file-based workflow solu...
14/04/2026
Open Broadcast Systems (https://www.obe.tv/) has announced that BBC World Service has selected its decoders for IP Television distribution. The high-quality, lo...
14/04/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces DaVinci Resolve 21
Brie Clayton April 14, 2026
0 Comments
Major update adds new Photo page bringing Hollywood's most a...