Little League World Series: Sports-TV Legacy Carries On With ESPN Bringing Big-Game Feel to Williamsport Live drone, addition of Fletcher Nucleus camera highlight a loaded production arsenal By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Thursday, August 22, 2024 - 2:50 pm
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One of sports television's great traditions rolls on this week in Williamsport, PA, as the Little League World Series nears its conclusion.
The Little League World Series (LLWS) is a true sports-television legacy. The event has been carried on ABC since 1963, making it the network's longest-running consecutive partnership with a sports entity. Since ESPN took over the event, its production quality has steadily improved, with this year's broadcast delivering a big-game atmosphere worth of a Major League Baseball show.
ESPN returns to Lamade Stadium in Williamsport, PA, for the Little League World Series. (Photos: Ben Cafardo, ESPN)
This year, ESPN has devised a robust camera plan that includes 12 hard cameras (five of which are super-slo-mos), six handheld cameras (three locked off, one cabled and following an on-field reporter, two shared RFs), and four Fletcher robotics. One addition this year is a second Fletcher Nucleus cameras at Volunteer Stadium. If the crew chooses to do so this weekend, those will be moved to the primary stadium, Lamade Stadium, for the championship games.
According to Paul Horrell, operations manager, remote production, ESPN, the crew is also experimenting with a pair of Apple iPhones for remote guest integrations.
MEXICO MAGIC
WIth 2 outs in the bottom of the 6th, Mexico hit 2 homers to win 6-4 #LLBWS pic.twitter.com/AYV0qobh4h
- ESPN (@espn) August 20, 2024
Despite the legacy of TV coverage, an event like the Little League World Series has unique elements. The smaller dimensions of the youth diamond, for example, require recalibration on positioning of resources.
The timing of a game is a little different, notes Phil Orlin, VP, production, ESPN. It's more like college softball. A field with 60 [ft. between bases] is two-thirds the size of a baseball field, and you are compressed into your high-home shots. By nature, the amount of space and time you have for cutaways within action is a little more limited than it is on an MLB game. I do think the action itself lends itself to a little less cutting while the ball's in play. That is a difference where we advise to be a little more conservative.
There's also figuring out how to cover youth athletes in an age when everything is about access, access, access. A lot of microphones are spread through the fields, and plenty of coaches are miked, but there is a line in getting too close to athletes this young.
There's always the delicate task of how to cover 11- to 13-year-olds in a positive but very important environment for them, says Orlin. It's a measured approach: you want to create a feeling of proximity and access, but you don't want to be intrusive.
A live drone has become a fixture at this event in recent years. Flown by ESPN's internal unit, the drone is permitted to fly over unoccupied areas - mostly a semicircle area just outside Lamade Stadium's perimeter and along the banks of the Susquehanna River. The way the grounds lay out on the Williamsport campus, that path still serves the drone shots well. It's clear of foot or car traffic but offers an eye-catching look at the event.
It's still close enough to get great-quality shots, says Orlins.
The Little League World Series compound is anchored by ESPN's regular Sunday Night Baseball trucks supplied by NEP.
ESPN's time in Williamsport is also highlighted by Major League Baseball's Little League Classic, which, this year, featured the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees. It's a Sunday Night Baseball-caliber operation in a much smaller venue, its stands filled with excited Little Leaguers. This year's game featured an extra-innings win for the Tigers and averaged 2,169,000 viewers across ESPN and ESPN2, making it the most-watched MLB Little League Classic ever. This was the seventh Little League Classic and the first appearance by the Yankees. In addition to the traditional Sunday-night telecast on ESPN, the KidsCast alternative broadcast aired on ESPN2.
The production compound houses ESPN's regular Sunday Night Baseball truck, NEP NCP 11 A and B units, supporting the show. NEP Supershooter 61 also was here to support the KidsCast broadcast during the Little League Classic on Sunday night.
The network is also deploying some cloud tools, including the Riedel All-in-One ViBox, which will be used at two of the sites and support more than 40 game productions over the course of the LLWS. Illumination Dynamics provides ESPN's generator primary and backup.
ESPN's exclusive production of the Little League World Series began on Aug. 14 and will conclude this Sunday (3 p.m. ET, ABC) with the Little League Baseball World Series Championship Game.
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Little League World Series: Sports-TV Legacy Carries On With ESPN Bringing Big-Game Feel to Williamsport Live drone, addition of Fletcher Nucleus camera highlight a loaded production arsenal By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
