Live From NBA Finals: ESPN Operations Weathers South Florida Storms, Cross-Country Travel for Heat-Nuggets Title Bout Covering games 2,000 miles apart requires both a strategy and flexibility By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor
Friday, June 9, 2023 - 12:15 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The Denver Nuggets played the role of spoiler and ruined the party for Miami Heat fans at Kaseya Center in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. With one more game to go in Southern Florida before shifting back to the Mile High City, ESPN's operations team has withstood the challenges of this nation-spanning championship with logistical know-how and arduous planning.
[The Finals] have gone very smoothly, but a lot of our job is about reducing risk, says Eddie Okuno, senior remote operations specialist, ESPN. We always have to keep an eye on the calendar and the standings to see which cities we'll be going to.
Game of Logistical Chess: Team Maps Out Potential Sites Prior to Finals From an operational perspective, one of the hardest parts about the job is foreseeing where the action will end up. At the beginning of the NBA Playoffs, many teams and their home cities were in the mix to host the NBA Finals, and the crew adjusted its plans as the postseason went along. By the Conference Finals, the potential sites had been reduced to four: Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles and Ball Arena for the Western representative, TD Garden in Boston and Kaseya Center in Miami for its Eastern counterpart. At that stage, Okuno deployed a strategy to alleviate some of the stress that comes with the unknown.
Eddie Okuno is at the helm of ESPN's remote-operations team for the 2023 NBA Finals.
Our strategy is to build City 1 and City 2 infrastructures that are identical between our two mobile-unit providers, NEP Group and Game Creek Video, he says. We stayed with our regular ABC Saturday Primetime strategy for the first two rounds, but, when we got to the Conference Finals, we just didn't have time to set up everything for a big show in one day.
Luckily, the team on the NEP trucks knew fairly quickly that they'd be going to Denver when the Nuggets made relatively quick work of the Los Angeles Lakers. If the Lakers had made a dramatic comeback and the Heat finished off the Boston Celtics, the scenario would have changed, with the West Coast crew having to scramble to Los Angeles since the Lakers would have been the higher seed. When the Heat-Celtics series became a lot more interesting with a winner-take-all Game 7, the East Coast-based team knew that they'd be traveling regardless of the winner. As Boston gained momentum from a 3-0 hole, Okuno and company had to consider both cities as a possibility.
When we got to Game 6, he says, we had to start building out for Boston because the series would have ended on Monday, May 29 and we would have to be ready to go there for Game 1 on Thursday, June 1. Ultimately, Boston lost, and we headed out to Denver.
Game Creek Video 79, Victory, and Gotham are driving productions in Miami.
Sifting through cities and laying out scheduled departures requires moving a lot of parts, and each city has a unique venue. For example, the Milwaukee Bucks play in the four-year-old Fiserv Forum with an updated and broadcast-ready infrastructure. On the other hand, all the teams in the Conference Finals play in venues that opened before 2000.
We needed to know how much land or space would be given to us for our compound [at each venue] and when it would be available to us, Okuno explains. Between the NBA and the venues, there were multiple things that we had to coordinate.
Quick Thinking: Miami Thunderstorms Flood the Compound Playing ball in the Sunshine State comes with a hefty number of unexpected thunderstorms. Typically going as quickly as they come, these pockets of rain can still pack an aggressive punch. When you place these torrential downpours over a broadcast compound with equipment that isn't compatible with water, producing games in Miami can be physically and figuratively slippery. Arriving at Kaseya Center May 30, the operations crew had a few days to construct a compound on a grass field before the surrounding area became too muddy. Although rain is always expected, it's difficult to know when these storms hit, how much of a deluge they will bring, and how long they'll stick around.
The operations crew had to contend with flooding in the broadcast compound.
When we first came here, says Okuno, the entire compound was flooded, and we were pretty much underwater by about almost 2 ft. We had to install pumping stations at the center of our compound and move the trucks out of that area.
Among other efforts to combat the problem, the temporary floor of the compound was built on a slant to enhance runoff and drainage.
[Unforeseen events] like that unfortunately happen, he notes. Fighting Mother Nature at this time of the year is always part of the challenge.
Production Standouts: Broadcast Includes Sony HDC-4800 Cinematic 4K Cameras Inside the venue, the team has a total of 55 camera feeds to choose from for the 1080p broadcast. Leading the way, the Sony HDC-4800 cinematic 4K camera is providing super-slow-motion shots at 8X speed. Sony has a large presence in the productions, with more than 30 cameras deployed in the lower bowl and around the arena, including 18 HDC-4300's (five handhelds at speeds from 4X to 6X), two P-43's above-the-rim robos, two HDC-5500's, and two PXW-Z450's. More important, the camera manufacturer plays a part in the Skycam system with a Sony HDC-P50 and in ESPN's preferred shallow-depth-of-field rig with a Sony Alpha 1.
Kaseya Center and the Miami skyline provide the backdrop for the compound.
In the compound, the efforts of the 85 credentialed personnel is centered
North America Stories
29/10/2025
MLS, EDGE Sound Research To Debut Immersive Embodied Sound' at LAFC vs. Aus...
29/10/2025
SVG Remote Production Forum 2025: All Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLA...
29/10/2025
World Series 2025: How Audio Is Transported Around the Sites and BeyondThe signals also move not just between two countries but around the globeBy Dan Daley, Au...
29/10/2025
A still from 306 Hollywood, a film by sibling filmmakers Jonathan Bogar n and El...
29/10/2025
WUPPERTAL, Germany Riedel Communications has hired Ulrich Voigt as director, live production solutions, taking over the leadership of its SimplyLive business fr...
29/10/2025
OKLAHOMA CITY and TULSA, Okla. Sinclair has named Mark Martin as vice president and general manager of KOKH-KOCB Oklahoma City and KTUL Tulsa....
29/10/2025
BELLEVUE, Wash. Julie Van Ullen has joined cross-platform TV ad measurement company iSpot as president and chief revenue officer....
29/10/2025
Brutal g et, a Swiss broadcast services provider, has rolled out a state-of-the-art outside broadcast (OB) vehicle built on a Lawo AoIP (audio-over-internet pro...
29/10/2025
WASHINGTON FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty has announced a temporary staff change in her office....
29/10/2025
Berklee Valencia Talent Helps Score Alejandro Amen bar's El cautivo Faculty and alumni from Berklee Valencia's scoring for film, television, and video...
29/10/2025
The Walt Disney Company today announced they have closed their transaction to combine Fubo's business with Disney's Hulu + Live TV business....
29/10/2025
WUPPERTAL, Germany Riedel Communications has hired Ulrich Voigt as director, live production solutions, taking over the leadership of its SimplyLive business fr...
29/10/2025
LOS ANGELES Major League Soccer will introduce a broadcast audio enhancement tonight during the LAFC vs. Austin FC playoff match....
29/10/2025
ESPN said it will produce animated telecasts for NFL, NHL, NBA and WNBA games across The Walt Disney Co. and ESPN platforms during the 2025-26 season under an a...
29/10/2025
WASHINGTON Despite the government shutdown, the Federal Communications Commission has passed, with some revisions, a previously announced Notice of Proposed Rul...
29/10/2025
Back to All News
Start of Filming for Daniel S nchez Ar valos New Netflix Movie
Entertainment
29 October 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
The fil...
29/10/2025
Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on ...
28/10/2025
ESPN Announces Monsters Funday Football', Its Latest Real-Time Animated Bro...
28/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Catherine Chalfant, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPNThe Ole Miss alum is an operational force behind ESPN's extensive college-football catalo...
28/10/2025
Elevating the experience: AI and data take Ryder Cup to the next level By Joe OHalloran
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 - 10:25
Print This Story
NBC produced th...
28/10/2025
Conquering the Air (waves): Taking a close up look at the IBC Accelerator Priva...
28/10/2025
World Series 2025: Spectrum SportsNet LA Brings Dodgers Fans Closer to the Actio...
28/10/2025
Dylan Southern and Benedict Cumberbatch at the premiere of The Thing with Feathers (photo by George Pimentel / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
28/10/2025
Disney, NBCUniversal, FOX, Paramount Each Achieve Double-Digit Monthly Growth
...
28/10/2025
CINCINNATI The E.W. Scripps Company has announced an agreement to sell WRTV, its local ABC-affiliated station in Indianapolis, to Circle City Broadcasting for $...
28/10/2025
Berklee College of Music and Berklee Valencia Named to Billboards 2025 Top Music...
28/10/2025
NEW YORK As AI usage continues to spike, a new study from IAB delves into an important aspect of how AI is transforming the advertising business with new data s...
28/10/2025
Charlie Jablonski, a broadcast tech pioneer who helped shape the modern era of Olympics television coverage, died Oct. 25 at his home in Lake George N.Y., the N...
28/10/2025
VIENNA, Austria Bitmovin has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insights into video playback. The so...
28/10/2025
LOS ANGELES LucidLink, the file streaming platform, has announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities at Adobe Max....
28/10/2025
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced that it has joined the Ama...
28/10/2025
Lightware, an industry leader in connectivity and signal management solutions, has announced a major update to its Taurus
platform, which now delivers flawless...
28/10/2025
Following a successful mid-September International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam, Hiltron Communications will promote its full range of satellite communi...
28/10/2025
Open Broadcast Systems has chosen MC&S (Media Consulting & Services) as a reseller to help strengthen its presence in France.
With over twenty years of experi...
28/10/2025
Bitmovin, leading provider of video streaming solutions, has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insi...
28/10/2025
Ease Live, the leader in interactive TV technology, today announced the successful launch of interactive graphical overlays for UEFA Champions League matches fo...
28/10/2025
LucidLink, the file streaming platform, today at Adobe MAX announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities, streamlining collaboration and hel...
28/10/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has promoted Nick Hasenecz to general manager of WNDU, its NBC affiliate in the South Bend-Elkhart, Ind., market....
28/10/2025
Applications Open for Berklee Fenway Neighborhood Improvement Grant Boston nonprofits can apply by December 12 for funding to support community projects that ...
28/10/2025
From live broadcast innovation to post-production intelligence, NAB New York 2025 showcased how rapidly media workflows are evolving toward AI-driven, hybrid, a...
28/10/2025
Governments everywhere are racing to harness the power of AI - but legacy infras...
28/10/2025
AI is moving from the digital world into the physical one. Across factory floors...
28/10/2025
NVIDIA is delivering the telecom industry a major boost in open-source software for building AI-native 5G and 6G networks.
NVIDIA Aerial software will soon be ...
28/10/2025
The race to bottle a star now runs on AI.
NVIDIA, General Atomics and a team of international partners have built a high-fidelity, AI-enabled digital twin for ...
28/10/2025
Along the Pacific Ocean in Monterey, California, the Naval Postgraduate School (...
28/10/2025
To democratize access to AI technology nationwide, AI education and deployment c...
28/10/2025
Leading technology companies in aerospace and automotive are accelerating their ...
28/10/2025
Scripps Research awarded $4 million to advance platform for neurodevelopmental disorders The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) grant support...
27/10/2025
You can touch this: Haptics becoming central to the virtual live experience By Adrian Pennington
Friday, October 24, 2025 - 09:12
Print This Story
The vid...
Live From NBA Finals: ESPN Operations Weathers South Florida Storms, Cross-Country Travel for Heat-Nuggets Title Bout Covering games 2,000 miles apart requires both a strategy and flexibility By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor 
