Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Live From FIFA World Cup: Fox Sports Spreads Impressive Studio Presence Along the Doha Bay

03/12/2022

Live From FIFA World Cup: Fox Sports Spreads Impressive Studio Presence Along the Doha Bay Four separate sets are churning out prematch, halftime, and postmatch content at the Doha Corniche By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor

Saturday, December 3, 2022 - 8:45 pm

Print This Story

There's the idea that studio coverage needs to create its own environment, and then there's the philosophy of Fox Sports' remote studio operations at the FIFA Men's World Cup in Doha, Qatar. Blending together unique applications of creativity and technology along with the natural and man-made beauty of the city, the broadcaster has developed four sets along the Doha Corniche - the 4.4-mile waterfront promenade that hugs Doha Bay.

We put a lot more attention into not only being correct or architecturally appropriate into the area, but making [our sets] shine, says Rod Conti, VP, remote studio operations, Fox Sports. It's definitely become the star of our shows.

Doing Their Homework: Fox Sports Spends Two Years Charting Out Every Detail Host Rob Stone sitting at the main desk in front of the Doha skyline.

Despite fans at home being mesmerized by the bright lights, swooping shots, and bursting energy seen on their television sets, making this layout become a tangible reality took two years to complete. As the city of Doha slowly began to rise to meet the gargantuan expectations of hosting a large-scale festivity like the FIFA World Cup, Fox Sports devoted a ton of time into the pre-planning, planning, and execution process. Based on years past, the mentality of Conti and his team was to choose a location that viewers would automatically know what city the tournament is being played in. This mean choosing St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow's Red Square for the 2018 FIFA Men's World Cup or the Eiffel Tower in Paris for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. Unlike the legacy and lineage of two well-known metropolises, the capital of Doha is only 127 years old. Still being developed and built into the modern age, the crew had some searching to do.

The pentagram-shaped set is littered with LED displays supplied by Creative Technology.

When we came to Qatar, they really didn't have [an iconic location] that stood out since it's a fairly new country, says Conti. When we were looking around for different options, which involved the Souq Waqif, Al Bidda Park, and the museums, we understood that this is a country on the move when we saw the downtown skyline. We've seen it grow incredibly, and everything started to come to life very quickly.

Pieces like Persian pillows, hand-made pottery, and desert rose crystals are representing Qatari culture.

Working closely with the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, a Qatari-run group that oversees deliver the planning and operations of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Fox Sports zeroed in on the Doha Corniche: a popular meeting place for locals and tourists alike that provides tantalizing vistas of the skyscrapers and the Doha Bay section of the Arabian Gulf. Since the skyline is continually growing vertically, Conti and VP, Field Operations and Engineering, Kevin Callahan wanted to marry this burgeoning town with its roots.

A digital-only set is opposite of the main structure.

We took the Dhow boats, which we noticed were an older part of their pearl diving history, and we said, You know what? The contrast of the old and the new might be the backdrop,' adds Conti. We saw this picture in our heads, and knew that we wanted to have this spot.

Pen was put onto paper, and conceptualizations became drawings. Collaborating with Los Angeles-based |drive| studio, EVP and Creative Director Gary Hartley and Art Director Johnny Cho turned into the final blueprint for the project. Aiming to showcase the culture and daily life of the host nation, the pairing made sure to feature work of local artists on the building's exterior and integrate symbols and iconography. This includes rectangular flags on the ceiling to honor the Qatari passion for falconry, Persian pillows and tapestry, hand-made pottery, and desert rose - a rose-like crystal that can be found in country.

A Flycam and Technocrane 22 are present at the Doha Corniche.

Planning transitioned into real-world building in the latter part of 2022. Pre-building the set in Fox Sports' Charlotte facility and shipping it overseas in 46 containers, operations shifted to Doha in mid-September. As the sets were installed and put into place, the home of the onsite production team - a control room positioned within a temporary compound a few hundred feet away from the sets - needed to be brought into existence as well. That project started on Oct. 1 and was completed on November 10, 10 days before the inaugural match of the competition between Ecuador and Qatar.

Inside the Design: Settings Account for High Winds, Mesh Augmented Reality With LED Floor The Dhow boats floating in Doha Bay.

With a beautiful vision in tow, the broadcaster had to consider potential challenges that this locale presents. Surrounded by massive expanses of desert, rain hasn't and will not be part of the weather forecast in Doha, but the true bugaboo is high-intensity winds. Although the windiest part of the year is February at an average speed of 10.9 mph, average speeds from Nov. 14 to April 15 can reach 9.3 mph. Pair that with breeze from a large body of water and loose sand from parts of the country, Conti deemed it necessary to have fail-safes in case the circumstances warranted a quick audible. That's when he called in Filmwerks, their reputable partner that was used for other remote builds throughout the year including, the NASCAR Clash at the Coliseum in February, the 2022 Daytona 500 two weeks later, and MLB at Field of Dreams. Responsible for the overall build of the full 148 x 33 ft
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2022/12/03/live-from-fifa-world-cup-fox-sp...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 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 Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

02/04/2026

Scripps Completes Sale of WRTV to Circle City Broadcasting

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

02/04/2026

GoVertical! AiDi Powers Real-Time 9:16 Autocropping for I...

Already deployed extensively by NBC Sports, FOR-A Corporation will demonstrate GoVertical! AiDi, the real-time 9:16 autocropping feature of viztrick AiDi, durin...

02/04/2026

Elite Media Technologies Selects Interra Systems BATON Fi...

Interra Systems, a provider of end-to-end quality assurance solutions for the digital media industry, announced that Elite Media Technologies has selected its B...

02/04/2026

TDF Expands Broadcast Channel Lineup with Harmonic

Harmonic's Media Processing Solutions Maximize Bandwidth Efficiency for Terrestrial Broadcast Delivery Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that TDF, a...

02/04/2026

FOR-A's Software-Defined, AI-Powered Development Advances...

NBC Sports Deploys viztrick AiDi to Stream Live Events in 9:16 Mobile-First Formats with Auto Tracking, Development Signals Strategic Shift for FOR-A Long reco...

02/04/2026

Evergent showcases innovations in sports streaming and mo...

Evergent will showcase new innovations in subscriber lifecycle management and monetization at NAB Show 2026 (Las Vegas, April 18 22), including: New advances i...

02/04/2026

Binghamton University Strengthens Student Run Productions...

Riedel Communications is proud to be part of Binghamton University, State University of New York, Athletics' milestone year, celebrating the university'...

02/04/2026

Techex and Encompass Launch Industry-Leading Cloud-Based...

Encompass Digital Media and Techex have today announced new, fully managed, cloud-native Master Control services designed to meet the growing operational demand...

02/04/2026

Winning in the new media economy - Avid debuts fully avai...

Avid today announced it will showcase new innovations designed to help media companies win in the new media economy at NAB Show 2026 (April 18 22, Las Vegas Co...

02/04/2026

PlayBox Neo reinforces MIMO Tech with new Playout capabil...

PlayBox Neo helps AIS PLAY kick-off premier football content direct to fans PlayBox Neo has provided MIMO Tech with a brand-new major installation to extend it...

02/04/2026

Globo transitions primary distribution to SRT over IP wit...

Globo has transitioned its primary content distribution to Secure Reliable Transport over a fully IP-based managed backbone using Synamedia's Quortex PowerV...

02/04/2026

Nexstar Says Pausing Tegna Merger Creates 'Impossible' Challenges

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

02/04/2026

FCC Launches Efforts to Strengthen U.S. Drone Ecosystem

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

02/04/2026

WAPA+ to Launch on Dish, DishLatino, Sling TV and Sling Freestream

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

02/04/2026

Student Spotlight: Al-Fadl Salem

Student Spotlight: Al-Fadl Salem The Danish singer recently performed for the queen of Denmark. April 1, 2026 By Editorial Staff Image by Junia Morrow Wh...

02/04/2026

Taku Hirano's Career Is Defined by Identity

Taku Hirano's Career Is Defined by Identity Whether he's performing, composing, teaching, or developing instruments, the do-it-all percussionist sees ...

02/04/2026

Continuing to connect with Young Ireland: 2FM Announces Brand-New Daytime Schedule

2FM Breakfast to extend on weekday mornings from 6am to 10am Doireann Garrihy m...

02/04/2026

RT NEWS ANNOUNCES BARRY LENIHAN AS NEW POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

RT News & Current Affairs is pleased to announce the appointment of RT Radio 1 reporter, Barry Lenihan, as Political Correspondent. Barry has reported across...

02/04/2026

Press Start on April: GeForce NOW Brings 10 Games to the Cloud

No joke - GFN Thursday is skipping the tricks and heading straight into the games. April kicks off with ten new titles, bringing fresh adventures to GeForce NOW...

01/04/2026

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Flowstate AI's Sahil Shah on Transforming Video Content with Intelligent AI Agents

As sports media organization continue to seek out new ways to streamline their p...

01/04/2026

SVG GFX Forum 2026: Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY

The SVG GFX Forum hit New York City earlier this month for a day packed with sessions focused on the creative strategy and technology behind today's cutting...

01/04/2026

From Buenos Aires to Mexico City, EQUAL Days Bring Latin America Together for Women in Audio

This year, Spotify celebrates the five-year anniversary of EQUAL, our global pro...

01/04/2026

FourFingers announce Tape Splice Pro plug-in

Analogue-style tape splicing in the digital domain In this era of digital recording and multiple layers of Undo, it seems that the fading art of tape splici...

01/04/2026

Zero G introduce Morphology Evolved

Latest release introduces new Orbita Engine Zero G's latest release marks the start of a new series of libraries, as well as introducing an all-new engi...

01/04/2026

Warm Audio introduce the WA-8TRX

Until now, one format has largely been left behind Warm Audio's extensive product range includes modern-day recreations of all manner of sought-after s...

01/04/2026

The Crow Hill Company announce Crystal Pianos

A piano with glass vessels for strings! The Crow Hill Company's recently released Gong Piano offered a refreshing new take on piano libraries, harnessin...

01/04/2026

ESSENCE RS from Aim Audio

Remote Streaming Studio Condenser Aim Audio have just revealed their latest creation, the ESSENCE RS Remote Streaming Studio Condenser, which becomes the wo...

01/04/2026

Call for NFVF funding applications to attend Film Festivals and Markets taking place from 08 - 31 May 2026

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...

01/04/2026

AgileTV powers Liwest's next-generation TV experience with the launch of next IPTV platform in Austria

Bilbao, April 1st, 2026 - AgileTV, a leading provider of end-to-end TV technolog...

01/04/2026

Green Hippo Debuts Hands on Hippotizer Media Server Train...

Green Hippo is excited to announce the launch of its new Hippotizer Media Server training courses at Pixel Academy, a purpose built AV learning hub combining ha...

01/04/2026

TAG Video Systems and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Partner...

TAG Video Systems, a global leader in IP-native broadcast monitoring, multiviewing, and quality control, today announced a collaboration with Oracle Cloud Infra...

01/04/2026

Professional Wireless Systems PWS Takes on Intercom and R...

Professional Wireless Systems (PWS), a leading provider of wireless audio solutions and RF management, was on site at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, wher...

01/04/2026

AgileTV powers Liwest next generation TV experience with...

AgileTV, a leading provider of end-to-end TV technology solutions, has deployed next , the new IPTV platform of the Austrian telco LIWEST, marking the first st...

01/04/2026

LTN and Ateme partner to deliver integrated video process...

LTN, a leader in fully managed IP video transport, and Ateme, a global leader in video compression and delivery solutions, today announced a collaboration integ...

01/04/2026

Adobe Unveils Powerful New Innovations for Creative Pros in Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Unveils Powerful New Innovations for Creative Pros in Adobe Illustrator Deepa Subramaniam April 1, 2026 0 Comments I'm excited to share that...

01/04/2026

Boland Communications Introduces QD4K315HDR10 QD-OLED Series Monitors for Live Production, Film, Post, and Broadcast

Boland Communications Introduces QD4K315HDR10 QD-OLED Series Monitors for Live P...

01/04/2026

2026 NAB Show Exhibitor Insight: Evertz

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/04/2026

Judge Blocks Order Barring NPR and PBS From Funding

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/04/2026

Nikon to Sell Mark Roberts Motion Control

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/04/2026

Mediagenix Showcases Semantic Intelligence-Powered Title Management, Schedule Optimization, and Personalization at NAB 2026

Mediagenix Showcases Semantic Intelligence-Powered Title Management, Schedule Op...

01/04/2026

FCC Approves WJAX-TV License Transfer to Cox

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/04/2026

Scripps Sports Ink Deal for Ion to Air 2026 Teal Rising Cup

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/04/2026

UK Group Companies Unveil NAB Show Plans

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/04/2026

Victoria Mont Brings the Multi-Hyphenate Mindset to Career Jam 2026

Victoria Mon t Brings the Multi-Hyphenate Mindset to Career Jam 2026 The Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and producer shared how versatility and self-inves...

01/04/2026

UKTV announces expanded remit for Jonathan Newman and appoints David Swetman as Director of Content Partnerships & Sales

UKTV today announces that Jonathan Newman has formally stepped into the role of ...

01/04/2026

Rite of Spring - Save on Ivory 3 German D and American Concert D

A New Season of Expression: Save 30% On Ivory 3There are moments in music when everything changes-when new ideas break through and redefine what's possible....