Inside ESPNs US Open Effort: Embracing the Cloud and a New 20,000 Sq. Ft. Broadcast Center

The 2026 US Open Tennis Championships marked a year of change with respect to TV coverage. And for ESPN it meant a new 20,000 sq. ft. home as well as the culmination of a multi-year project which Jarrett Baker says involved everything from dealing with super late nights (that were almost early mornings) as well as a Red Zone product that was well receive.

This year, our focus was really navigating all the operational adjustments that came with essentially a new stadium, a major renovation, and new people in new roles across the project, says Jarrett Baker, Sr. ESPN, senior manager, remote operations. And in our specific area it came down to the familiarity we've built up over the years - and looking to keep building on that.

The changes were jump started by the USTA's decision to have HBS take over host broadcast duties, a move that required ESPN to move to a new temporary three-story-tall production center that had three production control rooms, two audio control rooms, and operational space for the entire ESPN team as well as the technical infrastructure supplied by Gravity Media.

The real work has been communicating with our internal teams about the nuances of the temporary building, and we went through numerous layouts for that building, says Baker. It was about a six-month process working with our team, the USTA, and their vendors. Alongside that, we thought through what our technical infrastructure needed to look like for this event compared to others.

From left: ESPN Remote Operations Specialist Ryan Dobesh; Remote Operations Director Jarrett Baker, Sr.; Remote Operations Specialist Sam Olsen; Sr. Remote Operations Coordinator Antonio Apicella, Sr.; and Remote Operations Producer Traci Flohr.Gravity Media, which has been a key technology partner for ESPN tennis efforts around the globe and at all four tennis majors, was at the center of the technology side.

All of our kit from Gravity came to us from Wimbledon, with some additional equipment sent in separately, says Baker. Some of it is heading to China for the ATP Tour, some is already back in London for the Laver Cup, and some is still on-site. It was really our normal event-planning process, just at a much larger scale because of how big our domestic execution is here.

The US Open is the longest event of the year where ESPN has an on-site presence and this year the team began to arrive on July 29 and the last of the team members leave today, Sept. 17. And a production at that scale requires super-deep planning and coordination, especially given that they had to move to new digs.

We had to figure out all the operational support items that people don't normally think about and consolidate everything with an army of runners who move it trip by trip from the old building to the new one, adds Baker. We've been intentional about how we store things, using roll packs instead of 5,000 sq. ft. of space.

Baker credits ESPN Senior Remote Operations Specialist Sam Olsen and Senior Director, Operations Dennis Cleary with pulling together the RFP that eventually say Gravity Media stay on board as a key partner.

We've worked with them since we took over US Open rights and we made a few adjustments for our domestic setup, says Baker. We now run three full PCRs, two for domestic and one for international, compared to just a single domestic PCR in the past. We also had a control room for the Red Zone and another for supplemental coverage like news hits. And we also added two additional ACRs and a whip-around space for our studio coverage. The whole approach is really built on how we cover the Australian Open, which then scales up for Wimbledon, and scales up again for the US Open. Having Gravity with us across all four Slams, even for our international coverage at Roland Garros, means there's a lot we don't even have to ask or explain: the institutional knowledge just makes it happen.

ESPN's domestic and international operations were located in a new 20,000 sq. ft. temporary roomWhile ESPN was dealing with its own build up and RFP the USTA was going through a similar process and ESPN and the USTA would meet regularly during the year.

It really just comes down to communication and staying updated on things, adds Baker. I'm grateful for the USTA's effort and communication, especially given the massive construction project happening alongside everything else. We know the USTA team well, and we were able to work closely with them from well before we arrived on-site through tomorrow, when we leave, to make sure everyone had what they needed.

Changes to Arthur Ashe Stadium also impacted ESPN's operations, resulting in a new enclosed commentary booth that moved up a little higher due to renovations in the lower bowl.

We also still have several unilateral positions, explains Baker. Two slash positions over the vomitorium's on the right side of the court, down low; a super slo-mo camera in the far-left corner of the dugout looking at the court from the Camera 1 position; a robo camera behind the umpire's chair up on the suite facade; and our own net camera between host cameras 3 and 4, down at the net.

ESPN's production efforts also were highlighted by Girraphic AR elements that were leveraged throughout the tournament.

There were often two outputs from the Spidercam, one with our own creative AR treatment and then a clean output to the host feed, adds Baker. Occasionally we could also coordinate Spidercam coverage of our booth.

And then there is the bistro desk at Arthur Ashe which captures the energy of a night session.

We've been doing that for years and everyone knows how to pull it together quickly with RF cameras, mics, and battery-powered lights, says Baker.

Embracing the Cloud

ESPN's US Open efforts also built on the initial use o

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