
ESPN Navigates Ops Madness for Coast-to-Coast Productions of NCAA Women's Basketball Tourney A trio of production models are deployed to cover 16 opening-round sites By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Friday, March 21, 2025 - 2:07 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Few events personify the diversity of ESPN's remote-production methods more than the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. Each March, ESPN's remote-production operations team is tasked with assembling a jigsaw puzzle of solutions to produce more than 60 games around the country in less than three weeks. It all begins with the First Round for which - unlike with the men's tournament - the sites are not predetermined. The games take place at the home courts of the top four seeds in each regional.
ESPN director Jimmy Platt (center) along with producer Kaitlin Urka (left) during an opening round game at the 2025 NCAA Women's Basketball tournament.
To cover the 16 First Round sites this year, ESPN has deployed a mix of three production models: for A sites, traditional mobile units onsite; for B sites, REMI productions from control rooms at its Bristol, CT, and Charlotte, NC, facilities; and, for C sites, productions handled out of on-campus control rooms at SEC, ACC, and Big 12 schools.
Pulling off this tournament is the ultimate form of teamwork and collaboration, says Catherine Chalfant, manager, remote production operations, ESPN. Our success would not be possible without our partnership with production and the hard work of our functional teams - crewing, mobile units, remote traffic, REMI, our non-traditional-production operations teams, and many others who make this tournament the high-profile event that it is.
All About Preparation: Planning Pays Off for the Ops Team Chalfant, Operations Specialist Brock Wetherbee, Senior Operations Coordinators Abby Hurlbert and David Quintanilla, and Operations Coordinator Renee Greenwood started scenario planning for the tournament in January and gradually built a comprehensive package in the ensuing weeks.
To cover the 16 First Round locations, ESPN has a full mobile unit onsite in four cities, six REMI productions (three out of Bristol control rooms, three out of its Charlotte facility), and six productions out of ACC, SEC, and Big 12 on-campus control rooms.
NEP EN1 is parked at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, SC, for this afternoon's game between South Carolina and Tennessee Tech.
Making matters even more complex is the fact that Chalfant's team also handles operations for the NIT and supports ESPN's international coverage of the NCAA men's tournament. Thankfully, there were no overlapping sites for the NIT and the women's tourney this year, unlike in multiple cities last March.
We started working with our partners early on to put people and resources on hold so that, when it all hits on Selection Sunday, it's just executing our plan and we're not just figuring it out on the fly, says Chalfant. We don't know where we're going until the very last minute, so preparation is the key. Thankfully, since we had all these pieces in place, Sunday night wasn't that stressful.
ESPN frames BTG Marshall cameras for tomorrow night's Women's Basketball First Round game at the University of Texas at Austin.
In terms of mobile units onsite (for both traditional and REMI productions), ESPN is deploying NEP EN1 (at South Carolina), M14 (UCLA), and NCP10 (USC); F&F GTX 16 (Notre Dame); Game Creek Video Varsity (UConn); LMG MU3 (TCU), MU4 (Ohio State), and MU22 (Texas); and Raycom's HD1 (Oklahoma).
Our mobile-unit group did a great job of working with our vendors to position trucks across the country based on where we expected to need a full truck vs. a REMI, says Chalfant. We also spent a lot of time in the preparation stage evaluating the AP poll and the committee rankings, which helps us project and guesstimate where these resources may go.
Although different levels of equipment are deployed across the 16 opening-round sites, the operations team worked closely with ESPN production leaders - Senior VP Meg Aronowitz, Coordinating Producer Matt Leach, and Senior Director, Production, Integration, and Editorial Graphic Production Kate Leonard - to ensure that the broadcasts maintain the same level of production quality across the board.
Our key goal with production was to keep image quality consistent, says Chalfant. There was no reason that one site should look significantly different from the others, because all these games are equal and of the same value. Even though we are doing 16 sites, we need to give them each the level of coverage they deserve and make them look consistent across the First and Second Rounds. And we carry that same goal on to the regionals but with a beefed-up [camera complement].
In addition to the standard complement of game, tight, slash, and handheld cameras, ESPN will have at least one super-slo-mo on each game and deploy several Fletcher ATR (above the rim) robos and Marshal BTG (below the goal) PTZs across the various sites. In addition, the broadcaster is deploying the Dream Chip Atom One mini PTZ camera (provided by Fletcher), which allows the crew to color-correct the shot and frame up the ref on official replay calls.
Looking Ahead: Big Plans for Regionals and Final Four Sweet 16 and Elite 8 productions will add two super-slo-mos, a mid-court handheld, and a Sony FX6 cine camera to provide a shallow-depth-of-field look. The A game will also feature a Sony HDC-4800 4K super-slo-mo to capture dramatic high-speed shots for director Jimmy Platt. Other key adds include RF boom mics to capture sounds from the huddle, Viz Libero telestration system (operated remotely from Bristol), robust file-transfer capabilities with CMSI, and virtual shot
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...
24/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/09/2026
Music Supervisor, Composer, and Mixing Engineer Santiago Uribe has built a career around producing music for film and television, contributing to more than 40 p...
24/09/2026
The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) will hold a full-day cybersecurity summit focused on defending against growing cyber threats facing the broad...
23/09/2026
Four control rooms support B1G+ streams, videoboard shows, creative content, and...
23/09/2026
By Andrew Cohen, SVG Coorespondant
The Mountain West debuted its new Replay Operations Center at the start of this football season, bringing real-time collabor...
23/09/2026
The Taylorville, IL, native is pushing creative boundaries at Ball State, gaining reps across directing, technical directing, tape, and more than 100 ESPN+ broa...
23/09/2026
Alexander Heller, Nevada Jose, Will Brill, and Giselle Bonilla pose with cast members at The Musical premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at Eccles...
23/09/2026
Includes natural and processed patches
The Crow Hill Company's latest sample library captures a children's choir comprising a troupe of boys perform...
23/09/2026
Plug-in offers six bands of saturation
Kreuzberg Audio's product range includes a selection of plug-ins and virtual instruments aimed primarily at hard-...
23/09/2026
Latest DAW update now live
SoundBridge have announced that the latest update for the remote-collaboration-focused DAW is now available. The release of Sound...
23/09/2026
Koori Knockout returns home exclusively to NITV and SBS On Demand in 2026
11 September, 2026
Media releases
Fans can catch all the live action exclusively ...
23/09/2026
Rohde & Schwarz acquires NEOSAT and PHYTRONIC and strengthens its competencies i...
23/09/2026
1. ABOUT THE PROGRAMME
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) invites applications from experienced producers who own or manage a South African product...
23/09/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce the opening...
23/09/2026
Download Now!
To receive a short case study showcasing NHK Technologies, Inc. (NT) s audio setup, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* Fir...
23/09/2026
Nielsen CMI data reveals a changing fast-food landscape, with value, convenience...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
COW Jobs: Blender on Windows - Generalist - Remote
Brie Clayton September 23, 2026
0 Comments
Application Users - Blender on Windows - Generalist
Se...
23/09/2026
Version 1.8 recognised for new workflow tools, boosted control panel flexibility and ease of integration into IP networks...
23/09/2026
Hiltron Communications reports a successful 2026 International Broadcasting Convention, held at the RAI Amsterdam. Exhibiting on stand A37 in Hall 1, Hiltron ex...
23/09/2026
Reinforcing its long-term commitment to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) broadcast market, LiveU is presenting the Q Era at CABSAT 2026, on Stand H1-D35 ...
23/09/2026
Agence France-Presse (AFP), a global news agency, and Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced a partnersh...
23/09/2026
Berklee Connect Unlocks the Power of a Global Network Katie Vitolins BM '04 knows firsthand what Berklee's alumni community can make possible. Now she...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
Westminster Schools, a K through 12 school in Atlanta, Georgia with approximately 2,000 students, has transformed its student broadcast and digital storytelling...
23/09/2026
The 2026 edition of CABSAT and SATExpo may have a new home and dates in the diary, but it still retains a strong presence from UK companies in the GREAT Britain...
23/09/2026
Glensound will return to CABSAT with new developments in professional monitoring and Dante interfacing, alongside its established commentary, esports and parlia...
23/09/2026
A great watch - Radio Times
TV's most likeable proper bloke - Daily Telegraph
23rd September 2026, London: Guy Martin returns to free streaming service...
23/09/2026
Wednesday 23 September 2026
Sky Sports to show England Men's tour of South ...
23/09/2026
Comscore Partners with datafuelX to Bring Seamless Currency Adoption Into a Comp...
23/09/2026
Luxembourg, 23 September 2026 - SES today announced the appointment of Mr. Michel Scholer, Secretary General of the Luxembourg Government and Chief of Staff to ...
23/09/2026
RT One and RT Player, Friday 25 September
Ceol le Ch ile, a new series that follows Irish artists as they collaborate with musicians from diverse background...
23/09/2026
Available now on RT Listen
New information has come to light in the case of mi...
23/09/2026
When Sakeena Fiza describes her work as a validation engineer at NVIDIA, she does so in terms more befitting a detective story than a world-class engineering la...
22/09/2026
From Malaysia to Mexico and from DR Congo to Ukraine, this year's 12 finalists for the 2026 Thomson Foundation Young Journalist of the Year award tell extra...
22/09/2026
The annual preseason content-gathering event brought 36 NHL players to Las Vegas, where ESPN used 2.5 kilowatts of laser power and a motion-control camera syste...
22/09/2026
Neumann has introduced the KK 104 A (cardioid) and KK 105 A (supercardioid) wireless capsule heads, succeeding the KK 204 and KK 205. The new capsules are compa...
22/09/2026
The NFL and TMRW Sports have announced a new annual Pro Flag Showcase to be held during Super Bowl LXI week in Los Angeles. The event will feature top flag foot...