WWE Welcomes Back Fans With Colossal WrestleMania Production in Tampa
13/04/2021
Tuesday, April 13, 2021 - 3:00 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
WrestleMania 37 hosted a total of 51,350 socially distanced fans over two nights at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa over the weekend, marking WWE's first in-person crowds in more than a year. In true WWE fashion, the production team pulled out all the stops to deliver a bombastic show, enhanced by the addition of augmented reality into the broadcast along with WrestleMania's signature mix of LED-laden and pyro-fueled staging.
The fans' being there had a huge impact on everyone - from the talent to everybody in the truck, says Duncan Leslie, SVP, event technical operations, WWE. It was so gratifying to see how excited our fans were, because we do everything we can to give them the best show on earth.
The two-night event aired on Peacock, the first WrestleMania not to air on the WWE Network since 2013, given the new rights deal with NBCUniversal.
Two Jam-Packed Weeks for WWE Ops Team WWE's main set piece at WrestleMania centered on the famous pirate ship inside Raymond James Stadium.
WrestleMania 37 marked the culmination of a frenetic couple of weeks for WWE. In addition to the massive setup at Raymond James Stadium, WWE loaded out of its Thunderdome residency at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL, and loaded into USF's Yuengling Center in Tampa, where the third Thunderdome iteration kicked off last night for WWE Raw. We loaded into Raymond James Stadium. On top of that, WWE supported a two-night takeover of the NXT brand in Orlando on Wednesday and Thursday (one night on Peacock and USA, the other exclusively on Peacock).
There were a lot of moving parts, says Leslie. Obviously, at all of those locations, we also had to maintain our medical protocol of testing and screening. So, outside of just Mania of this year, there were a lot of logistics involved. We couldn't do it without the great staff, vendors, and freelancers that we have, and I leaned heavily on other supervisors to keep all those different venues on track.
AR Takes on Major Role at WrestleMania 37 The most notable technological addition to this year's production was WWE's extensive use of augmented reality throughout the broadcast. Three cameras - a high 50-yard-line angle, an end-zone angle, and a mobile jib on the floor - were outfitted with AR systems based on Brainstorm software and stYpe camera-tracking systems.
WWE rolled out 10 semis full of LED product to create the in-stadium experience.
This year, instead of adding a lot of extra cameras [the way] we normally do - helicopters, Spider Cam, and all that - we decided to lean more heavily on upgrading our AR presence, says Leslie. AR has such a great pop to it creatively, so that really helped us brand the arena in a new and very potent way.
And, with socially distanced fans, he adds, we wanted to ensure that there weren't spots that didn't look full. With AR, we could bring the whole bowl alive with our messaging - on top of all the fans that were in attendance in person.
Although AR played an integral role in the look of this year's broadcast, it would be WrestleMania without eye-popping stages and set pieces. Not surprisingly, WWE opted to center this year's design on the famous pirate ship inside Raymond James Stadium with a main set piece longer than an NHL hockey rink.
The cornerstone of the design motif was the pirate ship, says Leslie, which was loaded with pyrotechnics and really impressive.
WWE also rolled out 10 semis full of LED product to create the in-stadium experience, using it both for staging and around the stadium to make the bowl look as full as possible despite the reduced capacity.
Upgraded NEP Trucks Serve as Familiar Home for WWE WWE deployed its dedicated IP-based mobile units - NEP WWE 1, 2, and 3 trucks - at Raymond James Stadium to drive the show.
Dedicated IP-based mobile units - NEP WWE 1, 2, and 3 trucks - were rolled out at Raymond James Stadium to drive the show. Last month, WWE worked with NEP to upgrade all replay systems to EVS XT VIA production servers and all broadcast cameras to Sony HDC-5500's. Although WWE deployed roughly the same camera complement for a Raw production, it created plenty of flexibility with 50 camera drops throughout the stadium.
We're really good at hoofing it and making it look like we have a lot more cameras than we do with all those drops, says Leslie. Also, this was the first Mania where we used our new 5500's, and we really saw a difference because they're so quiet. I think it helped enhance the product. And the new XT VIA's gave us a huge upgrade in terms of speed and multiple access, so that also helped with the internal workflow.
WWE deployed 300 synchronized drones for the always dramatic WrestleMania talent entrances.
The pirate ship main set piece at WrestleMania was longer than an NHL hockey rink.
All WWE shows are extremely audio-intensive, given the various production elements involved in the show and the large number of crew that have to be integrated into the comms infrastructure. This was particularly true for WWE's biggest production of the year: WrestleMania had a whopping 2.9 million Dante audio crosspoints.
Inclement weather wreaked havoc during the two-day event, but WWE experienced minimal delays to the actual WrestleMania programming.
A sellout of 25,675 fans (with reduced-capacity rules in place) attended WrestleMania on Saturday and Sunday, totaling 51,350 overall.
The weather was obviously a wildcard, but we got lucky that the bulk of our downtime due to storms was before the event, says Leslie. The first night, we had
LINK: | https://www.sportsvideo.org/2021/04/13/wwe-welcomes-back-fans-with-col... |
See more stories from svg |
More from Sports Video Group
19/04/2024
NAB 2024 in Review: West Hall - SportsTech Buzz From AWS, Appear, Ateme, The Switch, TATA Communications, Telstra, TVU Networks, Verizon, and More
NAB 2024 in Review: West Hall - SportsTech Buzz From AWS, Appear, Ateme, The Swi...
19/04/2024
NAB 2024 Draws 61,000+ Attendees With More Than Half Attending the Show for the First Time
NAB 2024 Draws 61,000+ Attendees With More Than Half Attending the Show for the ...
18/04/2024
Ping Pong for the Masses: Bringing an Old Sport to a Brand New Audience With World Table Tennis
Ping pong for the masses: Bringing an old sport to a brand new audience with Wor...
18/04/2024
Fanatical Fans: IMG on Bringing the World of Table Tennis to a New Global Audience for WTT
Fanatical fans: IMG on bringing the world of table tennis to a new global audien...
17/04/2024
Live From NAB Show 2024: Zixi CEO Gordon Brooks on Live Cloud Production with the NHL and Version 17 of the Zixi Platform
Live From NAB Show 2024: Zixi CEO Gordon Brooks on Live Cloud Production with th...
17/04/2024
SportsTechBuzz at NAB 2024: Wednesday's Latest From Vegas
SportsTechBuzz at NAB 2024: Wednesday's Latest From Vegas By SVG Staff Wednesday, April 17, 2024 - 3:00 am Print This Story The NAB Show is in full sw...
17/04/2024
Live From NAB Show 2024: Zixi CEO Gordon Brooks on Live Cloud Production with the NHL and Version 12 of the Zixi Platform
Live From NAB Show 2024: Zixi CEO Gordon Brooks on Live Cloud Production with th...
16/04/2024
SportsTechBuzz at NAB 2024: Tuesday's Latest From Vegas
SportsTechBuzz at NAB 2024: Tuesday's Latest From Vegas By SVG Staff Tuesday, April 16, 2024 - 3:15 am Print This Story The NAB Show is in full swing,...
16/04/2024
Live From NAB Show 2024: Calrec's Henry Goodman, Solid State Logic's Tom Knowles on Audio in the Cloud
Live From NAB Show 2024: Calrecs Henry Goodman, Solid State Logics Tom Knowles o...
16/04/2024
Live From NAB Show 2024: The Switch's George Lopez on Remote Production, The Cloud, and the Future of Connectivity
Live From NAB Show 2024: The Switchs George Lopez on Remote Production, The Clou...
16/04/2024
Live From NAB Show 2024: LiveU's Steve Wind-Mozley on IP, REMI Solutions for Light Weight Production
Live From NAB Show 2024: LiveUs Steve Wind-Mozley on IP, REMI Solutions for Ligh...
16/04/2024
Live From NAB Show 2024: Blackmagic Design's Bob Caniglia on Upgrades to ATEM Production Switchers, Recent Work in Replay and IP
Live From NAB Show 2024: Blackmagic Designs Bob Caniglia on Upgrades to ATEM Pro...
16/04/2024
Live From NAB Show 2024: Canon's Staff Gives a Tour of New Lenses, Multi-Camera Control App, Enhanced Use of Free Viewpoint
Live From NAB Show 2024: Canons Staff Gives a Tour of New Lenses, Multi-Camera C...
15/04/2024
SportsTechBuzz at NAB 2024: Monday's Latest From Vegas
SportsTechBuzz at NAB 2024: Monday's Latest From Vegas By SVG Staff Monday, April 15, 2024 - 3:00 am Print This Story The NAB Show is in full swing, a...
15/04/2024
Live From NAB Show 2024: Vizrt's Nicholas Jameson on the Democratization of High-End Graphics Tech
Live From NAB Show 2024: Vizrts Nicholas Jameson on the Democratization of High-...
15/04/2024
Live From NAB Show 2024: Sony's Hugo Gaggioni on the Power of Sharing and Connecting Live Production Resources
Live From NAB Show 2024: Sonys Hugo Gaggioni on the Power of Sharing and Connect...
15/04/2024
Live From NAB Show 2024: Lawo's Andreas Hilmer Walks Through HOME Apps, Dishes Latest on IP
Live From NAB Show 2024: Lawos Andreas Hilmer Walks Through HOME Apps, Dishes La...
15/04/2024
Live From NAB Show 2024: AWS' Julie Souza on the Maturation of Live Sports Production in the Cloud
Live From NAB Show 2024: AWS Julie Souza on the Maturation of Live Sports Produc...
15/04/2024
Live From NAB Show 2024: FUJINON Lenses' Stosh Durbacz on the Debut of the Duvo HZK14-100mm Lens, Adding Cinematic Feel to Broadcasts
Live From NAB Show 2024: FUJINON Lenses Stosh Durbacz on the Debut of the Duvo H...
14/04/2024
SportsTechBuzz at NAB 2024: Sunday's Latest From Vegas
SportsTechBuzz at NAB 2024: Sunday's Latest From Vegas By SVG Staff Sunday, April 14, 2024 - 12:41 am Print This Story The NAB Show kicks off today, a...
14/04/2024
Live From NAB Show 2024: Program Productions' Bob Carzoli on Investment Growth and Supporting Freelancers with the ProCrewz App
Live From NAB Show 2024: Program Productions Bob Carzoli on Investment Growth an...
14/04/2024
Live From NAB Show 2024: Appear's Thomas Bostrm Jrgensen, Alex Pannell, and Ed McGivern on Backing the Continued Growth of Live Sports
Live From NAB Show 2024: Appears Thomas Bostr m J rgensen, Alex Pannell, and Ed ...
14/04/2024
Live From NAB Show 2024: Amagi's Dan Marshall on Migrating On-Prem Data Centers to The Cloud and the Exciting Growth of FAST Channels
Live From NAB Show 2024: Amagis Dan Marshall on Migrating On-Prem Data Centers t...
14/04/2024
Live From NAB Show 2024: Ross Video's David Ross on Celebrating 50 Years with Major Product Intros
Live From NAB Show 2024: Ross Videos David Ross on Celebrating 50 Years with Maj...
14/04/2024
NAB 2024: NHL, Verizon Business, and AWS Roll Out 5G-enabled Cloud Broadcasting Solution
NAB 2024: NHL, Verizon Business, and AWS Roll Out 5G-enabled Cloud Broadcasting ...
12/04/2024
Inside the MultiVersus NHL Face-Off' Live Animated Broadcast With the NHL's David Lehanski and Keith Horstman
Inside the MultiVersus NHL Face-Off' Live Animated Broadcast With the NHL...
12/04/2024
NAB 2024: Suppliers Continue To Expand Networked-Audio Offerings
NAB 2024: Suppliers Continue To Expand Networked-Audio Offerings New and updated products boast IP and ST 2110, software systems, virtual control By Dan Daley,...
12/04/2024
Amazon Prime Video Chooses Onsite Production Path for Its 27 NWSL Matches
Amazon Prime Video Chooses Onsite Production Path for Its 27 NWSL Matches The streamer made its league debut with the 2024 NWSL Challenge Cup on March 15 By Kr...
12/04/2024
ESPN Rides Wave of Women's-Hoops Momentum Into WNBA Draft Production at Brooklyn Academy of Music
ESPN Rides Wave of Women's-Hoops Momentum Into WNBA Draft Production at Broo...
12/04/2024
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Mimir's Andr Torsvik on Enabling Remote Collaboration Through the Cloud
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Mimir's Andr Torsvik on Enabling Remote Collabor...
12/04/2024
Inside the MultiVersus NHL Face-Off Live Animated Broadcast With the NHL's David Lehanski and Keith Horstman
Inside the MultiVersus NHL Face-Off Live Animated Broadcast With the NHL's D...
11/04/2024
Case Study: Inside ESPN's Monday Night Football AR Graphics Launch
Case Study: Inside ESPN's Monday Night Football AR Graphics Launch By SVG Staff Thursday, April 11, 2024 - 8:18 am Print This Story | Subscribe Stor...
11/04/2024
All Love: Creative Media Producer Jhalen Wingate on Capturing South Carolina Women's Basketball's National Championship
All Love: Creative Media Producer Jhalen Wingate on Capturing South Carolina Wom...
11/04/2024
Miami Marlins Leap Into Artificial Intelligence With 2024 Team Open
Miami Marlins Leap Into Artificial Intelligence With 2024 Team Open The Famous Group played a pivotal role in its third consecutive project with the club By Kr...
11/04/2024
SPORTEL Rendez-vous Buenos Aires Four Weeks Away!
SPORTEL Rendez-vous Buenos Aires Four Weeks Away! By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director Thursday, April 11, 2024 - 10:46 am Print This Story | Subscribe...
11/04/2024
Sinclair Turns to Generative AI for Language Translation in Original Content
Sinclair Turns to Generative AI for Language Translation in Original Content Audio for Tennis Channel's Petko Unfiltered will be translated into Spanish By...
11/04/2024
In Final Masters for Sean McManus and Verne Lundquist, CBS Sports Aims To Provide a Grand Sendoff
In Final Masters for Sean McManus and Verne Lundquist, CBS Sports Aims To Provid...
10/04/2024
Viva Las Vegas: Inside the Design of CBS Sports' Super Bowl LVIII Graphics Package
Viva Las Vegas: Inside the Design of CBS Sports' Super Bowl LVIII Graphics P...
10/04/2024
WWE 30,000-Sq.-Ft. Studio Complex Opens; Sony Verona LED Wall Is Deployed for Virtual Production
WWE 30,000-Sq.-Ft. Studio Complex Opens; Sony Verona LED Wall Is Deployed for Vi...
10/04/2024
Inside Look at Sony's NAB 2024 Booth and What Advances To Expect in Cameras, Switchers, the Cloud, and More
Inside Look at Sony's NAB 2024 Booth and What Advances To Expect in Cameras,...
09/04/2024
2024 NCAA Women's Championship Blows Away Ratings Records, Is Most-Watched Hoops Broadcast of Any Kind Since 2019
2024 NCAA Women's Championship Blows Away Ratings Records, Is Most-Watched H...
09/04/2024
2024 Sports Emmy Nominations: ESPN Leads the Way With 58 Nominations; CBS Sports Nabs Four Nods for Outstanding Live Special
2024 Sports Emmy Nominations: ESPN Leads the Way With 58 Nominations; CBS Sports...
09/04/2024
Canon's Newest Portable Lens Sets New Zoom Standard for Form Factor
Canons Newest Portable Lens Sets New Zoom Standard for Form Factor By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director Tuesday, April 9, 2024 - 9:35 am Print This Stor...
09/04/2024
Setting the Foundation: How College Football Is Driving the Next Generation of Network Graphics Package
Setting the Foundation: How College Football Is Driving the Next Generation of N...
09/04/2024
ShotTracker Helps Big 12 Make Data Fun for Fans; Voice Commands Bring New Level of Control
ShotTracker Helps Big 12 Make Data Fun for Fans; Voice Commands Bring New Level ...
09/04/2024
SVG College Sports Media Awards 2024: Today is the Final Deadline to Submit Entries!
SVG College Sports Media Awards 2024: Today is the Final Deadline to Submit Entr...
09/04/2024
2024 NCAA Women's Championship Blows Away Ratings Records, Is Most Watched Hoops Broadcast of Any Kind Since 2019
2024 NCAA Women's Championship Blows Away Ratings Records, Is Most Watched H...