
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 ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
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...
25/09/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
25/09/2026
Infront has named Ronald den Hollander as CEO of its Host Broadcast Services (HBS) subsidiary, effective 1 October 2026. The appointment follows the previously ...
25/09/2026
The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) will hold Cyber University 2.0, a full-day cybersecurity summit for the broadcast and media industries, on Tu...
25/09/2026
Alpha Networks and Ateme have delivered a joint video platform for the digital d...
25/09/2026
Encompass Digital Media has announced the migration of multiple Viaplay free-to-air channels - TV3, TV6, TV8, and TV10 - to its Altitude Scheduling platform. Al...
25/09/2026
NAB Show New York 2026 will take place October 21-22 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. Registration is open at nabshow.com/newyork.
Th...
25/09/2026
NHL Network has announced its studio programming lineup for the 2026-27 regular ...
25/09/2026
Clear-Com has announced that First Baptist Nashville has upgraded its production communications with a Clear-Com intercom system as part of a sanctuary technolo...
25/09/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has deployed EVS XT-VIA live video production s...
25/09/2026
BBright, a Hexaglobe Group company, has announced that dotCentral has joined as a sales and support partner in the United States.
BBright's portfolio cover...
25/09/2026
MeyerPro delivered audio, video, broadcast, and LED production for the Acumatica Summit 2026 at the Seattle Convention Center's Summit Building, January 25-...
25/09/2026
The Professional Women's Hockey League has announced its inaugural All-Star Weekend, to be held Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The...
25/09/2026
The 2026 Presidents Cup is underway at Medinah Country Club outside of Chicago with Team USA and an International Team of men's golfers facing off for four ...
25/09/2026
Warner Bros. Discovery's Atlanta hub hosted a day of discussion on REMI prod...
25/09/2026
Algorithm update & new DVA vibrato-detection engine
A new flagship version of Antares' iconic pitch-correction software has arrived, and along with a co...
25/09/2026
New flagship unit to arrive in early 2027
Two notes Audio Engineering have revealed that a new and improved version of their hugely popular reactive load bo...
25/09/2026
AI-free mixing tool gets an upgrade
Launched in October 2025, Tim Exiles Finalist is an algorithmic mixing tool that's been designed for those who don...
25/09/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Mobile Test Summit 2026 puts the spotlight on 6G - registrations...
25/09/2026
In our latest blog, Tim Pearson reflects on IBC 2026 and considers the main learnings against an industry that saw AI finally coming out of the labs and into pr...
25/09/2026
Digital Anarchy Releases Newest Version of its Real-Time Skin Retouching Tool fo...
25/09/2026
Blackmagic Design Used on More Than 50 Summer Films in 2026
Brie Clayton September 25, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image: Disclosure Day
Blackmagic Design p...
25/09/2026
How I Automated Social Media Resizing in After Effects - Free Script
Graham Quince September 25, 2026
0 Comments
If your text keeps getting cut off on...
25/09/2026
IBC has unveiled the winners of the prestigious IBC2026 Innovation Awards at an event held at the RAI Amsterdam on Sunday 13 September, honouring collaborative ...
25/09/2026
IBC2026 brought the global media, entertainment and technology community together for four days of business, innovation and collaboration at the RAI Amsterdam. ...
25/09/2026
Lightware testing has revealed that each USB-C port on Apple's new MacBook Neo consumes three of the seven USB tiers available under the USB specification, ...
25/09/2026
Lightware is supporting educational institutions in building modern learning environments by combining professional training with education-focused AV technolog...
25/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/09/2026
Long-Standing Customer Renews Multiyear Contract for VO's Secure Video Player, Content Security, and Device Monitoring Solutions
Viaccess-Orca (VO), a glob...
25/09/2026
Automate Video Progress Bars in After Effects - No Keyframes!
Graham Quince September 24, 2026
0 Comments
Learn how to create an automated video playb...
25/09/2026
Friday 25 September 2026
How to watch an unmissable weekend of women's football on Sky Sports and NOW
Sky Sports and NOW will broadcast seven live games f...
25/09/2026
Friday 25 September 2026
YAGA trailer released, coming exclusively to Sky and N...
25/09/2026
Watch this space: a new strategic direction for UK media. Arqiva has submitted its response to the Governments Green Paper on the future of television distribut...
25/09/2026
Want to be part of this year's Late Late Toy Show?
Final call for applications in search for this year's stars
The most wonderful night of the year is...
24/09/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) is supporting Virginia Public Media (VPM), the ...
24/09/2026
RED Digital Cinema's RED V-RAPTOR [X] and RED V-RAPTOR XL [X] cameras with the Phantom Track feature are the first cameras to receive GhostFrame Pro Certifi...
24/09/2026
Bringing together the full family of networks, FOX Sports is also adding Tubi, F...
24/09/2026
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) has unveiled...
24/09/2026
The blog collects SVG's reporting on AI across U.S. and European sports broadcasting
Since SVG launched the AI Innovation Lab in April to advance the devel...
24/09/2026
SVG's annual TranSPORT conference, which will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 20 in...
24/09/2026
The self-built Master Control Room has cut streaming operations incident-respo...
24/09/2026
Ortana Media Group, the software systems integrator behind the Cubix workflow platform, has connected AudioShake's audio separation models to ScorePlay thro...
24/09/2026
AudioShake has released Multi-Speaker 2.0, the company's newest Multi-Speaker model, which removes 75% more noise and offers 32% better separation of overla...
24/09/2026
By Jon Morgan, Founder and Executive Producer, Ryval Studios
For Major League B...