
MLB Postseason 2021: Turner Sports Tackles National League With New AR-Heavy Set, In-Game Graphic Animations Set built with Clickspring Designs, Zero Density makes augmented reality a star of game analysis By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Tuesday, October 5, 2021 - 3:36 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The Boys of Summer grow up into the Men of Autumn. The MLB Postseason begins this week, and Turner Sports is back to deliver the entire National League side of the bracket on TBS.
For the 2021 MLB Postseason, Turner Sports will debut a new set at its Atlanta headquarters. The set design features a large LED screen and two green screens. (Image: Turner Sports)
Given the rights extension with Major League Baseball that was signed in September 2020 and kicks in at the start of the 2022 season, Turner has put heavy work into upgrading the on-screen look of its MLB property with a new studio set and an in-game animation graphics package, both of which debut on-air Wednesday night during the network's coverage of the National League Wild Card Game (St. Louis Cardinals at Los Angeles Dodgers, 8 p.m. ET, TBS).
We re-looked at everything, says Steve Fiorello, VP, coordinating director, Turner Sports. We throw a lot of technology, people, and great new ideas at this property.
Studio Goes Green With Drive Towards Augmented Reality In its Atlanta studios, Turner is set to debut a brand-new MLB set that will anchor its coverage this postseason and carry on into the network's new weekly Tuesday-night game franchise next season.
With two green screens, Turner's new MLB studio allows more immersive use of an augmented-reality graphics package. (Image: Turner Sports)
Working with the popular set-design firm, Clickspring Designs, Turner's team has built out a big space, featuring one large LED screen and two green screens that will make the space reliant on a heavy complement of augmented-reality graphics.
According to Fiorello, Turner's on-air studio talent for MLB like to get up and break down plays rather than spend too much time behind the desk. Two green screens allow the graphics team to create a more immersive environment for their analysis. Fiorello points out that, although Turner has used AR elements in studio coverage before, this is a noted step forward, enabling the team to have AR elements both in front of and behind the talent simultaneously.
We are really going hard on innovating in the utilization of AR, says Turner Sports VP/Creative Director Jordan Shorthouse. We have two massive green screens, which are a challenge. You have to deal with reflections off the green screens, and you need to make sure that you always have content feeding to those areas. We welcome challenges, and we are fortunate to work for a company that welcomes new things. So we're going for it.
One of the cooler examples of the set's capabilities is a special animation in which a full body shot of a player walks from the LED screen on the set into the stage environment with the talent. Turner intends to play with this in a fun way, spotlighting star players while unveiling full batting lineups in pregame. To pull this effect off, Turner worked with Turkey-headquartered design firm Zero Density.
https://www.sportsvideo.org/new/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Batter_Walkup_ATL_Freddie_Freeman.mp4
Fiorello says that, toward the end of the regular season, the Turner crew met with many of the teams in postseason contention to shoot players for this specific green-screen activation, so that all the looks with be new and fresh.
The players were so geeked up about participating in this, says Fiorello. It was a great vibe and a lot of positive energy around it. They were coming up with ideas for movements and poses. We were worried about asking, during a pennant chase, to participate in this green-screen thing, but the teams were super helpful. It was cool to see the players really into it.
The set features six cameras, all of which are capable of tracking and displaying AR graphics, with the help of a solution from Mo-Sys. The set has a large JITACAM on the ceiling, a roving Steadicam on the stage, and four hard, operated pedestal cameras.
One of the things I love about this set is the way that it scales out, says Fiorello. When you walk into this set and the environment, it feels like you are in a baseball stadium. The structure and the architecture are so heavy that it feels like a dense, structural environment.
In-Game Animations Get a Refresh In addition to the strenuous augmented-reality work needed for the studio, the Turner graphics team has also designed a new look for its in-game animations and transitions for this postseason with the goal that they will be carried into next season and the new leg of the MLB rights deal in 2022.
The animations - which include team-based transitions and player-focused due up animations - are designed to provide a fresh look for Turner's product.
https://www.sportsvideo.org/new/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/MLB_TBS_Graphics.mp4
I wanted to do something that leaned into reaching a younger demo - something a lot more contemporary and fresher, says Shorthouse, whose team is also working on new NHL and NBA graphics packages debuting this month. There seems to be a design style right now that's inspired by social. We wanted to have fun with that and creatively skew a little bit younger.
He notes that the process on the new graphics began last February when the team first started taking pitches. The work on what viewers will see on screen this month began in June.
For design on these in-game animations, Turner Sports worked with design agency Big Block. The Turner graphics team comprises Marcus Arnold, Zach Bell, Daniel Chi, Eddie Gomez, Fred Haab, Dan LeRoux, Jerry Ma, Ryan McCauley, Chase Oliv
More from Sports Video Group
02/07/2025
Progressive realism: Aurora on taking up the broadcast reins for World RX alongs...
02/07/2025
Great speed: New host broadcaster Aurora on getting the World RX 2025 season pro...
02/07/2025
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 and Sunset Vine talk coverage plans, ...
02/07/2025
UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Women's Super League launches new content series...
02/07/2025
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 t...
02/07/2025
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 Exp...
01/07/2025
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 w...
01/07/2025
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 Production approach emphasizes creative freedom, bold storytelling, casual-fan-friendly tone B...
27/06/2025
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
Behind the Mic: FOX Sports Ratchets Up UEFA Women's EURO 2025 With Top-Class...
27/06/2025
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 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...
27/06/2025
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 th...
26/06/2025
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 Gener...
25/06/2025
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 B...
24/06/2025
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 ...
24/06/2025
Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: AWS's Dana LaGattuta on Data-Driven Innovation ...
24/06/2025
Lions live: Dublin opener sees Sky Sports take remote route By Fergal Ringrose ...
24/06/2025
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 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, NB...
23/06/2025
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 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 Build...
23/06/2025
ESPN Says Goodbye to Seaport Studios, Hello to New State-of-the-Art Production F...
20/06/2025
Feeling Unlimited, Part 1: Athletes Unlimited Softball League Deploys Remote Pro...
20/06/2025
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 a...
20/06/2025
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 Geor...
18/06/2025
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 an...
18/06/2025
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...
17/06/2025
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, B...
17/06/2025
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...
17/06/2025
Production ambitions: Over Exposed on making the National League Promotion Final...