MLB Returns: ESPN Preps Normal Sunday Night Baseball Graphics Package for Enhanced World Feed' At the mercy of local RSNs, the network will produce games via a clean feed By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor
Thursday, July 23, 2020 - 10:40 am
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It's going to be great, but, man, there have been a lot of Zoom calls and a lot of hours of work.
In 22 words, Phil Orlins, senior coordinating producer, ESPN, summarizes the current era in live event production. After a fair amount of preparation in a time of much uncertainty, the broadcaster is fielding a full-fledged plan that features one of the largest REMI efforts out of its Bristol, CT, facility, complete with K-Zone and Statcast graphics and other technologies to improve a clean feed supplied by local regional sports networks.
Under One Roof: Production, Ops Teams Share Space in Bristol Throughout the shortened, 60-game regular season, ESPN's headquarters facility will be littered with personnel on both sides of the broadcast. On the operations side, a full crew usually seen in a mobile production unit in the compound will be housed in multiple control rooms. Even at the Bristol campus, broadcast teams will need to adhere to stringent health and safety guidelines to curb the spread of COVID-19. For example, one room may house only a TD, Producer Jeff Dufine, and Director Jeff Evers.
Working from their respective homes for ESPN's coverage of KBO and MLB Summer Camp, Jon Sciambi (left) and Chipper Jones (center) interview Chicago Cubs star Anthony Rizzo.
On the production side, the main personalities typically seen in the booth will be located in Bristol. Play-by-play announcer Matt Vasgersian and analyst Alex Rodriguez will be using real-time monitors to call the action. Analyst Buster Olney will be in a very different environment if the stadium is relatively close to his home. When appropriate and in close proximity, he will drive to the stadium and find a safe location to report on the proceedings; if it's not in driving distance, he will join the profusion of talent working remotely from home. For the non-exclusive games during the week, Baseball Tonight host Karl Ravech and play-by-play announcer Jon Sciambi will be on the call from Bristol.
If talent onsite or in the studio is not enough, other analysts will join from their homes, including Tim Kurkjian in Baltimore, Chipper Jones in Atlanta, Jessica Mendoza in Oregon, Rick Sutcliffe in San Diego, and Eduardo Perez in Miami. At-home commentators will be brought to the live broadcast via a TVU camera that is sent to Bristol on a one-second delay.
We've had Major League Baseball on ESPN for a long time, and we are really excited to get going, says Mark Gross, SVP, production and live events, ESPN. We feel confident about the system and plan that we have in place.
One Way Street: ESPN To Rely on Local RSNs for World Feed The COVID-19 pandemic has forced baseball stadiums across the nation to shut their doors and permit only extremely essential personnel inside, including a limited number of onsite production folks. With local RSNs getting the green light from the league, other national broadcasters are left on the outside looking in and relying on a clean video feed. This world feed will come with a complement of 12 cameras, including four with super-slow-motion capability, but, for what will most likely be the first time that MLB games are done via an enhanced world feed, the real ingenuity is in how the offsite team will see all aspects of the field through multiviewers created by Jason Hedgcock, director, remote technical operations, MLB Network.
[Using a world feed] is not new to the broadcast industry, says Orlins, but it has crossed my mind that there could be some logic to having a primary broadcast for each game, relying on one set of coverage, and enhancing it from there. What's new is trying to do it with 30 different RSNs.
The process of getting on the same page with the participating networks was an entirely other challenge. For a team normally concerned with figuring out how logistically to showcase a game from different venues, ESPN will be working in conjunction with a new crew for every single telecast.
It has taken an awful lot to build out, plan, and organize in what amounted to two weeks' time, Orlins explains. We've conducted separate Zoom calls, once or twice every week, with Eastern, Central, and Western teams, and we've also done separate technical-only calls that have had anywhere from 250 to 300 participants.
Nationwide Attention: Opening Day To Get Extra Treatment A regular since the 2015 regular season, K-Zone 3D will return to display the location and trajectory of every pitch.
Without an onsite crew, Orlins, Gross, and the team are bullish on the Sunday Night Baseball plan. Notable enhancements to the clean feed include three-dimensional K-Zone and Statcast AI technology powered by AWS. To further enhance the national telecasts, extra EVS servers will be on hand for additional replays. Other graphics efforts, such as specific placement of virtual advertising, are moving forward in standard fashion.
There are plans to have some virtual advertising, but not necessarily in the seats, notes Gross. It's comparable to what we've done regularly on a Sunday Night game.
ESPN's MLB coverage has become well-known for pushing the technological envelope every season. For this particular season, the biggest tech highlight is the installation of two cameras that will be controlled exclusively by ESPN on all non-exclusive weekday games.
We can cut back and forth from [our two cameras] to whoever - manager, hitter, or pitcher - is being talked about, says Orlins. Then, we would essentially go back to the world feed to watch the game bei
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MLB Returns: ESPN Preps Normal Sunday Night Baseball Graphics Package for Enhanced World Feed' At the mercy of local RSNs, the network will produce games via a clean feed By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor 
