
Lomachenko vs. Lopez Sets Up as One of ESPN's Biggest Boxing Productions of the Year In the latest of a series of Top Rank events in Vegas, ESPN continues to excel with bubbled crew By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Friday, October 16, 2020 - 2:18 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Since the start of the coronavirus-driven shutdown of live sports in March, boxing has been one of the live events that has helped ESPN get back on the air.
In fact, it was a Top Rank Boxing event in June that was the first on-site live production of a sporting event for the ESPN operations team post-COVID.
Now, following a series of successful fight nights over the summer in a COVID-safe bubble environment at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, ESPN is gearing up for a card on Saturday night that ESPN Senior Remote Operations Producer Lynne West calls the biggest fight we've had in the bubble so far and one of our bigger fights this year.
ESPN will broadcast the World Lightweight Championship from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Saturday evening.
A card highlighted by the World Lightweight Championship between WBA, WBO, and The Ring lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko and IBF lightweight champion, Te fimo L pez (10 p.m. ET, ESPN) will get the big show treatment from ESPN this weekend.
The complement of production tools is impressive as ESPN has filled the MGM Grand Conference Center Grand Ballroom with more than 20 cameras, including two super slow-mos, two ringside handheld cameras (that have been moved off of their traditional position on the apron to standalone camera platforms to ensure safe social distancing), a roving RF handheld, a cabled roving handheld, an RF Steadicam, a jib, and numerous POVs throughout both the ballroom and the casino as a whole.
West noted that there's a heavy presence of RF in the facility as ESPN is choosing to use wireless technology to allow for easier and more comfortable execution of social distancing measures. For example, there's an expanded studio desk for pre- and post-fight programming to air from and announcers at that desk utilize wireless headsets so they don't feel tethered to a specific place and can remain safely apart from each other.
Also, on the audio front, ESPN will be placing microphones on each fighter's trainers throughout the fight card. Safety precautions have required the crew to overload on those tools, bringing in nearly 15 lavalier units. Those devices are placed in a UV locker to sanitize them after each use and are placed in a sealed plastic bag prior to distribution to anyone in a fighter's camp that might be wearing them during the broadcast.
In regards to the venue, the on-site ESPN crew which has included key contributions from VP of Production Mike McQuade and Remote Ops producers Meg Messmer and Mike Krivens has been making the most of a small space in this series of Top Rank events that have been hosted at the MGM Grand. Naturally, with no fans in attendance, the hotel's 17,000-seat arena is not being utilized as it would be in normal circumstances. Instead, ESPN and Top Rank have jacked up your standard hotel ballroom and turned into a high-energy fight fan's haven. Ten massive LED screens surrounding the ring to build a prize fight-like atmosphere for the fighters and spice up the space on screen for viewers at home.
This is such a large undertaking and it has been a huge success, says West. Everyone here is proud of what they're doing and Top Rank has been a phenomenal partner to us. It's been a positive experience in a very awkward time. So, if you have to do it, this is absolutely the best way to do it. We're all very proud of it.
ESPN's on-site operations team has also remained vigilant in regards to its safety precautions on site. There are three production trucks in the compound at the MGM Grand (NEP Broadcasting's NCP 10 A, B, and C units) largely to ensure that enough socially distancing can be safely made among the crew. That includes the front bench where director Aladdin Freeman, producer Jim Zirolli, and AD Michael Mascaro will call the shots during the live broadcast.
Back when the Top Rank series was at its peak and ESPN was producing two fight nights a week in June and July, a crew was set up in a bubble environment for more than seven weeks according to Manager, Remote Operations Kim Bloomstone. Since then, events have become more sporadic, but the commitment to following a COVID-safe bubble has been effective.
We haven't been loosening up on our protocols and we're proud of that because truthfully, I think that people feel safe, says Bloomstone. The crew feels safe. We talked about this again this week, we were talking about bringing the camera platforms a little bit closer to the ring. We've kind of eased back off on that again. We're going to keep them back where they are right now just to keep people safe and keep them back far enough away from anybody in the ring.
Bloomstone also praised West's dedication to her crew, shining a light on the extra mile she's gone to make the bubble an enjoyable experience for all involved behind the scenes.
We've been lucky to have her on this package this whole time, Bloomstone says, noting that West puts together activities for the bubbled crews ranging from pizza nights to football watch parties and cornhole tournaments in order to keep morale up. No one's asked her to do it, she does that all above and beyond on her own. I can't say enough about her commitment to this sport and our efforts out there. She's the glue that holds the crew together. We're very appreciative and I hope that the crew realizes how much she does for them.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
13/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced its participation in the IBC2026 Accelerator Media Innovation Pro...
13/08/2026
dzjinius, the all-in-one production management platform for the media and entertainment industry, will showcase its new application, dzjinius on-set , at IBC20...
13/08/2026
Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE), a leading European provider of media services, system integration and product development, will demonstrate an end-to-end sove...
13/08/2026
Clear-Com is returning to IBC 2026, taking place September 11-14 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. At Stand 10.D29, Clear-Com will spotlight the award-winning FreeSpe...
13/08/2026
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics of Europe, will showcase its comprehensive portfolio of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement ...
13/08/2026
KRK Brings Advanced Wireless Control to Professional Monitoring With New V Serie...
13/08/2026
Anthony Noack Captures Artist's Journey in Estonia with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton August 12, 2026
0 Comments
Solo filmmaker documents concept...
13/08/2026
ARRI Image Science makes its mobile debut in the HONOR Robot Phone
Brie Clayton August 12, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image displays the HONOR Robot Phone, ...
13/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/08/2026
Suitest's Test Automation Platform Simplifies Video Quality Assurance, Monitoring, and Device Certification Across the OTT Ecosystem
At IBC2026, Suitest, a...
13/08/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, will have its key software solutions ready to demonstrate at SET Expo 2026 (18 20...
13/08/2026
Scripps Research has established the Peter K. Vogt Endowed Chair, a new faculty ...
13/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-A vaccine's molecular structure plays a key role in determining how the immune system responds and prepares to protect the body from future exp...
13/08/2026
GeForce NOW is giving cloud gaming an extra-credit upgrade just in time for back-to-school season.
The native Linux app for GeForce NOW is officially out of be...
12/08/2026
Traditional live sports production has focused on creating the best possible pro...
12/08/2026
FOR-A will showcase a range of broadcast and production products at IBC2026 (Stand 2.B53, Amsterdam RAI, September 11-14), including software-based switching, A...
12/08/2026
The Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) and EBU will host live demonstrations of NMOS BCP-008 Minimum Status Reporting at IBC2026 (September 11-14) on th...
12/08/2026
Dalet has announced Dalet Solution Suites, a portfolio of cloud-native solutions...
12/08/2026
Net Insight has announced that DMC Production Norway has selected its Open Live ...
12/08/2026
Zixi has appointed Alyson Stewart as Senior Director of Sales. Stewart will be responsible for direct sales and partnerships, with a focus on broadcasters, medi...
12/08/2026
LiveU's LU900Q intelligent production unit was deployed as part of the host broadcast operation for the Games in Glasgow (July 23-August 2, 2026). Host broa...
12/08/2026
Disney , ESPN, and Formula E have announced a multi-year deal bringing all Formula E races to Disney and ESPN in the U.S. and to Disney in most international...
12/08/2026
PSSI has launched X-LIVE, a managed service offering dedicated engineering resources and Appear encoding infrastructure for live event signal processing and tra...
12/08/2026
The inaugural MoonPay X Games League Summer Season reached 18.3 million unique live viewers across three stops on ABC and ESPN, a 78.5% increase compared to the...
12/08/2026
BBright will showcase an expanded IP-Gateway at IBC2026, adding support for all RIST profiles to its existing support for MPEG Transport Stream over IP with SMP...
12/08/2026
BBright will demonstrate EBU OGraf animated graphics support in its software-bas...
12/08/2026
Interra Systems will demonstrate its ORION, BATON, BATON Captions, and VEGA solutions at SET Expo 2026 (August 17-20, Distrito Anhembi, S o Paulo) at partner Li...
12/08/2026
DPA Microphones has appointed Raul Contreras as West Coast Regional Sales Manager. In the role, Contreras will oversee sales and customer relationships througho...
12/08/2026
Live spectacles ranging from the Super Bowl and FIFA World Cup to the Oscars and...
12/08/2026
Writer-Director Andrius Bla evi ius and crew attend the premiere of How to Divorce During the War at The Ray Theatre on January 26, 2026, in Park City, UT. (P...
12/08/2026
Enhanced DAW & plug-in control for the UC1, UF8 and UF1
The software that powers SSL's range of control surfaces has just received a major update that d...
12/08/2026
In-line preamp features one-knob EQ
In addition to their range of in-line preamps, Triton Audio recently managed to squeeze a compressor into an enclosure t...
12/08/2026
Captures system audio with or without a DAW
Depending on your setup, capturing system audio in a DAW can be a tedious process, so much so that Arvital Audio...
12/08/2026
2026 NATIONAL NAIDOC AWARDS TO BROADCAST ON NITV LIVE AND DIRECT FROM MPARNTWE
12 August, 2026
Media releases
First Nations excellence will be celebrated l...
12/08/2026
More than six million sports fans stay with SBS for Tour de France and Tour de F...
12/08/2026
Nielsen is cementing Digital Ad Intel as the new go-to currency for digital ad intelligence in Brazil-now with streaming monitoring in the mix.
S o Paulo, Augu...
12/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/08/2026
As Matrox Video celebrates 50 years of trusted innovation, the company will showcase its portfolio of interoperable IP technologies and software-defined innovat...
12/08/2026
SMPTE, the home of media professionals, technologists and engineers, today announced a program of expert-led sessions, professional workshops and networking eve...
12/08/2026
Berklee Announces Full Details for Inaugural Block Party, a Music Festival Next ...
12/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...