Mediapro manages UEFA Champions League Final last-minute location change in just 15 days By Heather McLean, Editor
Tuesday, June 8, 2021 - 09:31
Print This Story
Mediapro switched its entire production from Istanbul to Porto with only moments to spare on behalf of UEFA
Mediapro turned around the last minute location change for the UEFA Champions League Final between Chelsea FC and Manchester City FC from Turkey to Portugal only 15 days before the match, providing a seamless and successful broadcast for the highly anticipated event.
Mediapro, the host broadcaster and technical facilities provider contracted by BeIn Sports, the rights holder for the UEFA Champions League final in Turkey, switched its entire production from Istanbul to Porto with only moments to spare on behalf of the federation.
Managing this feat of logistics and organisation were project manager for the event, Mediapro Turkey CEO, Rodrigo de Araujo, plus Marc Caeymaex, EMEA sales director for broadcast and media services division, in collaboration with the company's head of global sales and operation, Francisco De la Fuente.
Just one day before Mediapro's three OB trucks were due to leave Spain to travel to Istanbul for the final, they were rerouted as part of the new plans to Porto
Speaking to SVG Europe, Araujo says: For me the biggest challenge was to move all the facilities from Istanbul to Porto, the other side of Europe, eight days before starting with the setup installation. We were eight days to Istanbul, when we were told let's go to Porto, and in that eight days we changed all the logistic plans.
UEFA had big concerns, but the trust we had from UEFA in us was very good as we have already been working on several UCL finals with them. The UEFA team has a great experience of such an invent and we worked like partners, not client and supplier.
When the venue was changed to Portugal, with no rights holder for the final in Porto, UEFA took the responsibility to produce the final with Mediapro taking responsibility for the whole broadcast.
Araujo adds: It was very easy for UEFA to say, let's change the country [for the final] but let's keep what we have planned [for the broadcast].
The Mediapro team ready for kick off in Porto
Achieving the impossible
For UEFA, being able to keep the same services provider for the final rather than trying to switch to another that was not already geared up for it not only made sense, but saved the day. Caeymaex adds: The UEFA event team was really happy that in the end the final moved to Porto as they were able to keep the same services provider [Mediapro] and team as was appointed for Turkey, as [we were able] to provide exactly the same service in Portugal.
Just one day before Mediapro's three OB trucks were due to leave Spain to travel to Istanbul for the final, they were rerouted as part of the new plans and went to Porto instead. Notes Caeymaex: It was just in time, so all the equipment was not yet installed in Istanbul, so we just had time to send them West [instead of East].
The trucks sent from Spain for the event were Mediapro's OB 89, the biggest and newest, the most advanced that we have in our fleet, says Araujo. OB 69 was sent as the main backup truck for OB 89, and OB 52 went for UEFA's services, including world camera services and multilateral positions for visiting broadcasters; in Porto Mediapro had to take on the commentary positions and unilateral feed facilities for four broadcasters - RMC Sport from France, Eleven Sports Portugal, Movistar from Spain and TNT WarnerMedia, Brazil on top of the international production for UEFA.
It was very challenging with these [extra responsibilities], but it was a challenge that we met at the end, notes Araujo.
When the UEFA Champions League Final switched location from Turkey to Portugal, Mediapro had to source a total of 200 crew members quickly from Portugal and Spain
Switching plans
The original plan made by Mediapro would have seen part of its team on the ground in Istanbul coming from the wider European team, and around 50 people from Turkey. When plans were suddenly changed, the company had to source a total of 200 crew members quickly from Portugal and Spain. Luckily it has extensive trusted contact lists in both countries so was able to source people and sort out travel arrangements very quickly.
Says De la Fuente: This kind of switchover in just a few days, thanks to our own travel and logistics agencies inside Mediapro, was smooth.
Mediapro was able to fulfil all the requirements for the event internally, with special cameras coming in from Spain and Portugal, plus those two countries also providing all assets and crew.
The Champions League final was finally played in Portugal at FC Porto's Estadio do Dragao
The entire production was carried out on site according to UEFA's requirements, using strict social distancing rules. Adds Araujo: Everyone from the team was tested beforehand, as required by both UEFA and the Portuguese authorities, to avoid any kind of contamination in the TV compound.
De la Fuente concludes on the broadcast of the final: I believe it was very good! UEFA gave us feedback that everyone was very happy with the final result, because of the original plan and also the resulting preparation for the fast response that Mediapro delivered to UEFA; it's not easy to produce a final, but it's not easy to produce a final in 15 days.
Our capacity to adapt and react is, with no doubt, one of reasons that makes Mediapro one of biggest players in the market with capacity to provide any solutions in difficult situations. I'm very happy!
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Mediapro manages UEFA Champions League Final last-minute location change in just 15 days By Heather McLean, Editor 
