Road Warriors 2019, Part 1: The Top Sports-Production Highlights of the Year Behind the Scenes at CFP Championship, Super Bowl LIII, NBA All-Star, NCAA Final Four, NFL Draft, Indy 500, and U.S. Open By SVG Staff Friday, December 27, 2019 - 11:02 am
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Following on the heels of a year that saw both the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics Games and the 2018 FIFA World Cup, one might have expected the 2019 sports-production calendar to be a bit quieter. As this year draws to a close, it's clear that that could not be farther from the truth. Broadcast networks and digital distribution platforms alike were busy from January on, upping the production ante on every event from the College Football Playoff National Championship Game to the Super Bowl to the Indianapolis 500 and more. In addition, 2019 saw the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team once again emerge victorious at the FIFA Women's World Cup.
Here is a look back at many of the events where SVG was onsite, including both traditional tournaments like the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four and the US Open, as well as esports tournaments like Overwatch League Finals and the ESL One New York. Read on and remember the new technologies and production workflows that were introduced this year, and - most importantly - the people behind the scenes who brought these productions and many more to life. Also check out PART 2 and PART 3 of Road Warriors.
CFP Championship Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA
January 7
At the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship, ESPN once again went all-in for the big game, deploying more than 310 cameras to cover all the action at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, CA, and providing 17 viewing options via the MegaCast over 11 TV and radio networks and via the ESPN app.
The thing that makes this event is the volume and magnitude of what we put behind it but also the time frame, said John LaChance, director, remote production operations, ESPN, prior to the January 7 game. [There are] other marquee events, which stand alone, but, with the volume and viewer enhancements being done here in a 72-hour window to get everything installed, this event [is] in a unique classification. Trying to integrate everything into place was a herculean effort.
The core of ESPN's production efforts were done out of Game Creek Video's 79 A and B units with Nitro A and B handling game submix, EVS overflow, 360 replay, robo ops, and tape release. ESPN's team that created 17 MegaCast offerings was onsite, housed in Nitro and Game Creek's Edit 3 and Edit 4 trailers and TVTruck.tv's Sophie HD. Game Creek Video's Yogi, meanwhile, was on hand for studio operations, and Maverick was also in the compound. All told, 70 transmission paths (50 outbound, 20 inbound) flowed through the compound, and 40 miles of fiber and cable was deployed to supplement what already exists at Levi's Stadium.
Also on hand was Fletcher, which provided robotics; BSI, which handled wired pylons and RF audio and video; 3G, which was in charge of the line-to-gain PylonCam and the first-and-10-marker camera; Vicareo, with the Ref Cams; and CAT Entertainment, for UPS and power. SMT was on board for the 1st & Ten lines; PSSI, for uplink; Bexel, for RF audio and other gear; and Illumination Dynamics, for lighting. - Ken Kerschbaumer
Super Bowl LIII
Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA
February 3
Super Bowl LIII is in the books and, for the production team at CBS Sports, it was the culmination of years of work, site visits, and planning. As usual, it was a massive effort and provided plenty of innovation, including a one-of-a-kind show open that featured an impressive technical undertaking.
Out in the truck compound, NEP's SSCBS A, B, C, and D units were at the center of the effort. The A unit housed game production, game graphics, and goalpost-robo-camera operation. The B unit had game audio and IPG distribution headend; the C unit housed the majority of EVS game replay operators, ChyronHego operations, and SMT first-down-line operations. The D unit, meanwhile, handled tease edits.
Game Creek Video's Encore A unit was on hand for additional game video, pre/postgame audio and video, and 8K operations; the B unit handled pre/postproduction, graphics, and C360 operations. The C unit was home to pre/post EVS, the Sony server operators who worked with the Fletcher-provided HDC-4800 4K cameras, and 8K operators.
F&F Productions' GTX17 handled tape-release production, backup production, additional game EVS, and additional game video, and GTX18B was home to comms, Pico replay operators, a second pylon operator, augmented-reality operations, and EA Sports.
Game Creek Edit 3, 4, and B-5 also played key roles. Edit 3 handled ingests, game and pre/post editing, color tease, game After Effects operations, and MAM. Edit 4 housed pre/post After Effects, pre/post Duets, and graphics management. And B-5 was home to pan-bar robotic operations and all other Fletcher robos except for those on the goalposts, which were handled in NEP SSCBS A.
NEP's TX/ESU trailer was onsite for router distribution, transmission control, and distribution to the world feed, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, halftime show, and all other outside vendors. And the AVS RF truck managed all RF cameras for game and pre/post as well as camera-feed distribution to SSCBS B, Encore A, and video-paint control in those trucks. KK
NBA All-Star Spectrum Center, Charlotte, NC
February 17
The 2019 NBA All-Star Game in Charlotte, NC, ushered in the use of Skycam as a production tool deployed to cover game action. It was used first on Friday for the Rising Stars game at the Spectrum Center and then during last night's Skills Challenge. For the main event, Skycam coverage was not only integrated into the main broadcast on TNT but
