Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

How Syracuse University Students Call Digital-Only Games From the Comfort of Home

25/11/2020

How Syracuse University Students Call Digital-Only Games From the Comfort of Home The athletics program is using Zoom to send camera feeds to talent By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor

Tuesday, November 24, 2020 - 7:30 am

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

Around the nation, professional broadcasters are adapting to the need to remotely call games from offsite locations. In the college ranks, Syracuse University is taking a play out of the networks' playbook, constructing an infrastructure that allows students to provide play-by-play commentary and analysis for digital-only games from their respective homes.

We rely on students to call our digital-tier telecasts, says Scott Hecht, executive producer/director, Syracuse University, but their safety is our top priority. We've created our own method to continue to televise games and develop the announcing skills of our students.

Dealing With Changes: As Pandemic Lingers, Athletics Program Devises a New Plan Despite the hopes that the COVID-19 pandemic would subside by the beginning of the 2020-21 academic year, the institution decided to suspend in-person classes for the remainder of the fall semester after initially inviting students to return to campus. With the general student population leaving the campus, the athletics program was losing a good chunk of its on-air talent. Hecht and Broadcast Engineer Tom White were forced to rethink their strategy and execution of live productions.

Play-by-play commentator Sam Oppenheim sits at his desk to call last Friday night's women's ice hockey game between Syracuse and Colgate University.

COVID-19 makes things a little more difficult for people to come back to call games, says Hecht. We saw the need to stretch our resources and try to find a way to do this. Tom, who always rises to these types of challenges, was able to come up with an idea and how to do it.

For televised football broadcasts, the program worked closely with ESPN in an effort to allow professional talent to call the games remotely. After producing more than two games, Hecht harkened back to this pre-existing plan and replicated the system to have students call games that run on the university's digital platforms.

Last week, we picked six announcers that we wanted to take this to the next level, and Tom went through the process with them, says Hecht. We conducted some tests with their computer setups and were able to make it work.

Bedroom Banter: Inside a Student's At-Home Broadcast Setup On a basic level, the setup includes a microphone, a computer or phone, a headset, a video-conferencing platform, and the student's knowledge of sports. At Syracuse University, the creative juices are always flowing. Whether inside or outside the brick-and-mortar classroom, aspiring broadcasters and journalists are busy producing podcasts or honing their craft with constant practice.

Sam Oppenheim's computer features the Unity Intercom system used to communicate with the control room.

Since the students are pursuing other projects on their own, the program didn't have to send industry-grade equipment to their homes. Although this saved a logistical step, the challenge came in harmonizing the workflows of students who use different types of devices.

Students are doing their own podcasts, so, luckily, they're all kind of set up with decent equipment, says White. The challenge was that everyone has different equipment because one kid has a Google Pixel, another two of have iPhones, and another has an Android.

On a more complex level, the setup requires real-time feeds returning to the home of each student, audio integration with the control room, and a simple way of communicating with the broadcast team with miles of separation in between.

We're using Unity Intercom and an Apple Mac Mini server sitting in our equipment room, he adds. The server is integrated into our Dante infrastructure, and, through an app on their phone, we're able to take their audio directly and route it to a channel out on the audio console. As far as IFB goes, we route that from our RTS audio system.

As for video, footage is sent through a capture device and fed through a Zoom call. The Zoom call also hosts camera feeds of the game clock and other important angles of the field of play that helps the students tell the game in a better way.

Back on Campus: Onsite Staff Handles Cameras, Graphics, Replay in Newhouse Control Room The system was first put into action for the women's ice hockey game vs. Colgate University on Friday, Nov. 20 at Tennity Ice Pavilion. Although the students provide color to the broadcasts, Hecht, White, and his crew are still handling operations onsite. In the arena, camera operators are positioned to handle the footage, and, inside the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications building, duties like graphics and replay are fulfilled by the onsite staff in the control room.

Analyst Gil Gross displays the high-quality equipment used by students at home.

Hecht is at the helm as the show's director and Kristin Hennessey is working as the show's producer for both linear and digital-only games. For these digital productions, the shows are scaled down a bit since the technology and equipment are fully funded by the university.

It's a little bit watered down from the capabilities that ESPN has because they can invest more money into it, says Hecht. In the end, [the broadcasts] will function pretty much the same exact way that ESPN is doing their shows.

Endless Possibilities: Productions Open the Door for Future Projects While the pandemic continues to disrupt the pace of daily life, a positive is that these students are learning to adapt to on-the-fly, learn-as-you-go scenarios that come with live event production. The quick thinkin
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2020/11/24/how-syracuse-university-student...
See more stories from svg

North America Stories

22/05/2026

Germanys Magenta TV Selects DMC to Provide FIFA World Cup Technical Support for Studios in Munich, New York City

Germany's Magenta TV, which will have 44 exclusive FIFA World Cup match broa...

22/05/2026

DAZN Grabs IFAF Flag Football Global Rights

DAZN, the world's leading sports entertainment platform, has acquired global broadcast rights to the International Federation of American Football's ( I...

22/05/2026

ATHLOS 2026 Season Set for October Debut in London; Aurora Media Worldwide Named Host Broadcast Partner

ATHLOS, the all-women's professional track and field league, has announced i...

22/05/2026

NATAS to Stream Sports, News, and Documentary Emmy Awards Live on YouTube

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) today announced that the 47th Annual Sports Emmy Awards and the 47th Annual News & Documentary Emmy A...

22/05/2026

Wooden Camera Rolls Out New Blackmagic URSA Accessories

Wooden Camera today announced the release of new accessories for the Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive. The new lineup includes a redesigned Top Plate and Side Rai...

22/05/2026

YES Network, OTT Advisors Extend Streaming Partnership for Sixth Season

YES Network and OTT Advisors have announced a sixth consecutive season of their streaming partnership, continuing their collaboration on the Gotham app. OTT Adv...

22/05/2026

NESN Monster Week' Returns With Full Red Sox Broadcast From Atop Green Monster

NESN, New England's premier sports network, will again turn its camera to Fe...

22/05/2026

Dale Pro Audio RF Over Fiber Webinar Set for May 28

Dale Pro Audio is hosting an RF over Fiber Livestream Webinar on May 28 from 1-2:30 pm EST. With major sporting events and large-scale productions putting incre...

22/05/2026

Audio-Technica Appoints Humrichouser, Schanz to New Roles

Audio-Technica has announced key leadership appointments designed to further strengthen its sales organization and drive continued growth across the Americas. M...

22/05/2026

Scott Coker Launches Global MMA League With $60 Million in Backing

After nearly four decades shaping the global combat sports landscape, Scott Coker has announced a powerful return as he looks to build a new international mixed...

22/05/2026

Skyline Launches xOps Vanguard Runway for Autonomous Era

Skyline Communications, the company behind the globally deployed DataMiner xOps platform, today announced the launch of xOps Vanguard Runway, a strategic accele...

22/05/2026

The American Rodeo Takes Over Globe Life Field for Championship Weekend

For the fully onsite production, 30 cameras - including a SkyCam and Megalodon - will capture the action in Texas One of the world's biggest rodeo producti...

22/05/2026

Argentinas Torneos Taps Imagine Versio for Playout Operations Upgrade

Leading Argentina-based sports media company Torneos y Competencias S.A. has modernized its playout operations, implementing a fully redundant, multichannel env...

22/05/2026

Owl AI and Major League Pickleball Go Live with First-Ever AI Officiating System Powered by Broadcast Cameras and the Cloud

As the 2026 Major League Pickleball season kicks off this weekend in Dallas, it ...

22/05/2026

Shure, Edge Sound Research Look to Innovate via Partnership

Shure has become a minority investor in Edge Sound Research, a start-up company that is developing new experiential audio technologies that redefine how many au...

22/05/2026

SVG Rewind: MLBs UmpCam AR System Puts Fans Inside the Strike Zone Like Never Before

In advance of this year's Sports Emmy Awards, SVG is taking a deep dive into...

22/05/2026

Jelly Roll Offers Up 2026 Stanley Cup Playoff Theme Song for NHL, Amazon Music

The National Hockey League (NHL) and Amazon Music announced that GRAMMY Award-winning superstar Jelly Roll will provide the official theme song of the 2026 Stan...

22/05/2026

David Pogue, Andy Beach Keynotes Highlight Silicon Valley Video Summer Camp, July 14 at De Anza College

David Pogue will keynote SVV Summer Camp and discuss Apple at 50: How the World...

22/05/2026

FOX Sports, IMS Productions Scale Up Indy 500 Production in Year Two With New In-Car Cameras, AR Graphics, and Cinematic Sets

In its second year as rightsholder, FOX Sports goes bigger across the board for ...

22/05/2026

FOX Sports' Indy 500 Director Mitch Riggin on the Tech and Storytelling for the Greatest Spectacle in Racing

Heading into FOX Sports' second Indianapolis 500, Lead Director Mitch Riggin...

22/05/2026

Polsat Reclaims Second Place and ByteDance Enters Top 10 as Polish Viewing Moves Beyond the Living Room in April

Latest data reveals steady distributor rankings, a seasonal shift toward digital...

22/05/2026

FCC Votes to Update Disaster Information Reporting System

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/05/2026

Amagi delivers 30 per cent revenue growth in FY26 Adjuste...

Amagi Media Labs Limited (NSE: AMAGI, BSE: 544679), a cloud-native SaaS platform providing AI-enabled solutions to global media and entertainment companies, tod...

22/05/2026

Annima Post Relies on Cintel to Revive Classic Mexican Films

An nima Post Relies on Cintel to Revive Classic Mexican Films Brie Clayton May 22, 2026 0 Comments Film scanner and DaVinci Resolve Studio help manage...

22/05/2026

Boris FX Sapphire Adds Optical Beauty and Hypnotic Textures

Boris FX Sapphire Adds Optical Beauty and Hypnotic Textures Jessie Electa Petrov May 22, 2026 0 Comments The 2026.5 release introduces advanced defocu...

22/05/2026

Deployment Preserves Trusted Workflows While Enabling a P...

Deployment Preserves Trusted Workflows While Enabling a Path to UHD and SMPTE ST 2110 Leading Argentina-based sports media company Torneos y Competencias S.A....

22/05/2026

Study: AI Labeling Does Not Hurt Video Ad Performance

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/05/2026

NAB Show Makes 200+ Sessions Available on Demand

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/05/2026

Torneos Upgrades Multichannel Playout with Imagine's Versio

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/05/2026

Ex-Husband, Current Husband, One Wild Rescue: Korean Action Comedy Husbands in Action' Premieres June 19

Back to All News Ex-Husband, Current Husband, One Wild Rescue: Korean Action Co...

21/05/2026

CBS Sports Expands WNBA Tip-Off Show To Cover Half of 20-Game, Regular-Season Package

Game Creek Video Columbia and Celtic, NEP Supershooter 8 will house onsite produ...

21/05/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Christina Zelin, Rowan University

Freshly graduated, this upstart producer, director, and camera operator is already working as an AP on videoboard shows for the Philadelphia Phillies In the li...

21/05/2026

Media Links Announces Channel Partnership with Clearcast Asia Ahead of BroadcastAsia 2026

Media Links has announced a channel partnership with Clearcast Asia, a broadcast...

21/05/2026

SiriusXM and NASCAR Announce Multi-Year Broadcasting Agreement Renewal

SiriusXM and NASCAR have announced a multi-year renewal of their broadcasting agreement. SiriusXM will continue to carry live broadcasts of every NASCAR Cup Ser...

21/05/2026

Audio-Technica Hosts High-Density Wireless Microphone Demo at Technica House in New York City

Audio-Technica held a demonstration event at its Technica House location in New ...

21/05/2026

RTL Deutschland Selects Ateme Frame-Rate Conversion Technology for Live Event Workflows

Ateme has announced that RTL Deutschland has selected Ateme's software-based...

21/05/2026

BCC Live Deploys LiveU LU900Q for Record-Breaking IRONMAN Texas Broadcast

LiveU has announced that BCC Live deployed the LU900Q intelligent production unit for the first time during the 2026 Memorial Hermann IRONMAN Texas North Americ...

21/05/2026

Mark Aitken to Receive 2026 ATSC Mark Richer Industry Leadership Medal

ATSC has announced that Mark Aitken, President of ONE Media and Senior VP of Advanced Technology at Sinclair Broadcast Group, will receive the 2026 Mark Richer ...

21/05/2026

BBright Outlines MXL Integration Strategy for Software-Defined Broadcast Workflows

BBright has published a technical analysis of the Media eXchange Layer (MXL), de...

21/05/2026

Esports World Cup 2026 to Be Held in Paris, France

The Esports Foundation has announced that the 2026 Esports World Cup (EWC) will be hosted in Paris, France, from July 6 through August 23. The event marks the f...

21/05/2026

Chyron Announces PRIME Scorebug and Expanded Chyron LIVE Scorebug Capabilities

Chyron has announced PRIME Scorebug, a scorebug solution built on the PRIME Platform for on-premises sports production, and has expanded Chyron LIVE with purpos...

21/05/2026

Media Links Integrates Xscend Platform with DataMiner at BroadcastAsia 2026

Media Links has announced the integration of its Xscend IP transport platform with Skyline Communications' DataMiner xOps platform. The integration will be ...

21/05/2026

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Nova Lume CEO Jim Casey on Bringing Flexible IP Intercom to Live Production

As live sports productions continue to demand more flexible, scalable, and cost-...

21/05/2026

SVG Rewind: ESPN's Use of POVORA Wireless Tilt Control CapCam Gives College Football Fans a First-Person View of the Game

In advance of this year's Sports Emmy Awards, SVG is taking a deep dive into...

21/05/2026

Join Shade in Miami and Atlanta for Post-Production Networking Events

Hey Miami & Atlanta post-production folks! Shade is hosting a free private suite at a Braves game (6/2) and Marlins game (6/5) and have about a dozen extra tic...

21/05/2026

Phoenix Suns, Mercury, and Gray Media Extend Broadcast Partnership Through 2030

The Suns and Mercury become the first NBA and WNBA teams to make games available under a single broadcast partner across both over-the-air and streaming....

21/05/2026

Apple TV, MLS to Produce First Major Pro Sporting Event Shot Entirely on iPhone 17 Pros

iPhones are part of the the regular production rotation for Friday Night Baseba...

21/05/2026

SVG Rewind: AIQ: Where Data Meets Dirt Technology Brings Real-Time Data Analysis to Rodeo

In advance of this year's Sports Emmy Awards, SVG is taking a deep dive into...

21/05/2026

Filmmakers' Favorites: Sundance Film Festival Alums on Welcome to the Dollhouse

Heather Matarazzo as Dawn Wiener in Todd Solondz's Welcome to the Dollhouse...

21/05/2026

Redefining Persistent and Affordable Airpower for Special Operations Forces

SKY RAIDER II INTERNATIONAL's modular open systems architecture delivers expanded operational reach and mission flexibility....