Detroit Lions Tap Former Players, NFL Analysts for Preseason Alternative Broadcast Kiswe-powered live stream took place during Lions-Giants on Aug. 11 By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor
Thursday, September 21, 2023 - 12:03 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Heading into the NFL season, many live-event and team-based production professionals use the preseason to work off the rust and get ready for the 17-week-long sprint. The Detroit Lions used their first preseason game, against the New York Giants on Aug. 11, to present a new alternative broadcast marked by special guests and technology provided by Kiswe.
This production was an evolution from what we did last year for the first time, says Carl Moll, director, broadcasting, Detroit Lions. We wanted to take this idea to a new platform and offer a different product around the traditional broadcast.
Extending the Digital Reach: Team Gains Traction on Website, Social-Media Platforms Looking to not just duplicate the broadcast, Moll and his team went to work on creating a new run of show for digital-centric fans. To amplify the traffic on the team website and attract more followers to the team's numerous social-media channels, the Lions' production team brainstormed ideas to come up with the new alternative broadcast. Once the idea was conceived, Moll worked closely with COO Mike Disner and SVP, Revenue, Kelly Kozole, and the executives were all-in on the new activation during an NFL preseason that allowed all 32 clubs more broadcasting freedom.
Lions GM Brad Holmes joined host Peter Schrager on the live stream from a physical setup at Ford Field.
Everybody jumped on board with this new idea, says Moll. Preseason provides a very team-centric broadcast, so it gave us the opportunity to do something that we wouldn't be able to do in the regular season, when national networks are producing games.
The final plan that was put together placed Good Morning Football's Peter Schrager as main host with a slate of celebrities and pundits intermittently joining the live stream. To pull off this feat, Kiswe was recruited as the team's new video-conferencing provider. Given Kiswe's experience on live-streaming projects, including the Washington Capitals' Virtual Gameday during the COVID-impacted NHL season in 2020-21 as well as NBA TV's daily programming during the worldwide stoppage of sports broadcasts in early 2020, it was a fitting choice. From Kiswe's perspective, Chief Strategy Officer Mike Schabel; Head of Business Development, Sports, TK Gore; and Producer Corey Smith played an important role on the platform's creation.
Aligning Schedules: Crew Balances Time for Various Personalities Golden Tate joined the alternative broadcast from his home.
One of the hardest parts about doing a discussion-based alternative broadcast is keeping fans entertained and engaged, but, from a behind-the-scenes point of view, the hardest aspect of the show was figuring out free time on a variety of schedules. To diversify the guests, Moll and company opted for individuals from different backgrounds: from the Detroit Lions family, EVP/GM Brad Holmes, Special Assistant to the President/CEO and Chairperson Chris Spielman, former safety Glover Quin, and former wide receiver Golden Tate; from other sports, former NBA point guard Jalen Rose, former Detroit Tigers outfielder and Bally Sports Detroit analyst Kirk Gibson, and Detroit Red Wings right winger Darren McCarty; and from the media, Detroit Free Press beat writer Dave Birkett and NFL reporter Stacey Dales.
Director, Football Communications, Eamonn Reynolds and Director, Marketing, Samantha Barney took the lead in sending out invitations and organizing the timing on their respective itineraries. As for bringing the guests into the actual platform, a pair of Lions employees - Senior Director, Digital Operations, Todd Marcy and IT Manager Mark Wilke - pulled the strings on the backend.
Glover Quin was another former Lions player to participate in the alternative broadcast.
Kiswe Provides Cloud-Based Video Conferencing; Lions Produce Linear Broadcast When it was time for the kickoff at Ford Field, the Lions' production team was ready to handle two shows at once: Moll oversaw the linear show on the local Fox affiliate in an onsite mobile unit, and the tag team of Marcy and Smith led the alternative broadcast. Kiswe was in control of the guests' joining the show remotely, including Schrager, and Moll set up a physical spot with a computer, microphone, and headset for Holmes, Spielman, McCarty, and Birkett at Ford Field. Speaker connectivity was established via a rehearsal prior to the game, and the feed shown on the alternative broadcast was a dirty feed sent from the truck to Kiswe.
Jalen Rose (bottom) was among local celebrities from other sports to appear on the live stream, here with Peter Schrager (top) and Golden Tate.
As for the flow of the show, Moll wanted the interaction between Schrager and the guests to be organic and free-flowing: We tried to not have any cold out with any of our guests. We also wanted to make sure we had time for the guests to interact with each other.
Prior to the production, the graphics department developed a special template and other visuals to commemorate the club's 90th anniversary season. We wanted to make sure that we incorporated that look into the overall main screen, says Moll. [These graphics] were very much in line with our branding for this season, and our creative team assisted with those elements.
What's Next: Positive Feedback Makes Future Editions a Possibility After the production, both executives and fans alike were in favor of what Moll and his team had pulled off. From Moll's vantage point, the retention rate for the live stream was the most impressive statistic fr
North America Stories
09/05/2025
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Studio Technologies said the Harvard University athletics department has integrated Dante-enabled equipment from the vendor into its broadcast ...
09/05/2025
NEW YORK ITN, a provider of a local linear supply side platform, and Magnite, a independent sell-side advertising company, have announced that they working toge...
09/05/2025
LEEDS, U.K. Nugen Audio has launched a new speech intelligibility plug-in, DialogCheck and offered up quotes from technologists working at places like Netflix p...
09/05/2025
AJA I/O Gear: The Heart of Broadcast Solutions' VEGO Mobile Editing Solution
Brie Clayton May 8, 2025
0 Comments
When working remotely on broadcas...
09/05/2025
What do they teach in an Advanced Adobe After Effects Course?
Roland Kahlenberg May 8, 2025
0 Comments
There aren't many advanced After Effects co...
09/05/2025
Larry Jordan Sits with Trevor Morgan of OpenDrives at NAB 2025
Brie Clayton May 8, 2025
0 Comments
Trevor Morgan, COO of OpenDrives, shares how the co...
09/05/2025
Berklee Popular Music Institute Announces UK Festival Debut and Tour Dates For the first time, BPMI will bring Berklee-affiliated artists and students to the ...
08/05/2025
A sinister fairy infiltrates a desperate family in Kenneth Dagatan's In My Mother's Skin, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Photo co...
08/05/2025
For skyward-bound operators, training focuses on the unique aspects of flying ISR missions, including the management of onboard surveillance equipment and the e...
08/05/2025
The cable industry has told the Federal Communications Commission it supports the National Association of Broadcasters' proposal to allow broadcasters to us...
08/05/2025
WASHINGTON The Consumer Technology Association has continued its opposition to mandates requiring that NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0 tuners be included in new TV sets, sa...
08/05/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real time visualization, has named Paul Maroni as Vice Pres...
08/05/2025
This year's UK Pavilion in hall 5, once again managed by Tradefair, will provide visitors with the unique opportunity to discuss and be involved in cutting ...
08/05/2025
Rohde & Schwarz will showcase its latest energy-efficient transmitters and 5G Broadcast technologies, designed to support network operators and content provider...
08/05/2025
IRVING, Texas Nexstar Media Group has tapped Bill Nardi as vice president of station operations, responsible for overseeing the day-to-day broadcast operations ...
08/05/2025
SEATTLE LumaTouch is partnering with CNN Academy to improve mobile storytelling techniques and support training across all of CNN Academy's training simulat...
08/05/2025
WASHINGTON The Society of Broadcast Engineers has filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission that support a proposal by the National Association ...
08/05/2025
Senior adviser to the United States Agency for Global Media Kari Lake has announced that One America News Network (OAN) will provide newsfeed services for fre...
08/05/2025
EdMon Expands as AI-Driven Post Production Workflows Gains Traction in Sweden an...
08/05/2025
Using Luma Mattes in Adobe Premiere Pro
Graham Quince May 7, 2025
0 Comments
This very quick tutorial shows you how to take an RGB clip and apply its ...
08/05/2025
OpenDrives Unveils Free Your Data' Initiative with New Astraeus Cloud-Nativ...
08/05/2025
Student Spotlight: Grigori Balasanyan The Armenian composer, who was named Boston Conservatory at Berklees 2025 student commencement speaker, talks about his ...
08/05/2025
May 8th, 2025 Press Materials Available Here
Tribeca Festival 2025 Unveils New Premieres Spanning Film and Music
Slick Rick's Victory with Idris Elba a...
08/05/2025
May 8th, 2025 Press Materials Available Here
Tribeca Festival 2025 Announces Lineup for Inaugural Storytelling Summit
11-Day Industry Event Launches with Tal...
08/05/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Vizrt's Nicholas Jameson on AI in Workflows, Pushing Boundarie...
08/05/2025
Creating Alternative Brand Experiences: Live Sports in the Age of Fortnite, Meta...
08/05/2025
PGA TOUR's David Piccolo: Advanced Graphics and Virtual Production Tools are...
08/05/2025
Tech Focus: Advancing Immersion in Sports Broadcasting with AR and Virtual Produ...
08/05/2025
Back to All News
Now in Production: Comedy Action Film Husbands in Action'...
08/05/2025
Artificial intelligence is helping identify and treat diseases faster with better results for humankind. Natural disasters like wildfires are next.
Fires in th...
08/05/2025
Calling all wiseguys - 2K's acclaimed Mafia franchise is available to stream...
08/05/2025
As AI use cases continue to expand - from document summarization to custom software agents - developers and enthusiasts are seeking faster, more flexible ways t...
07/05/2025
Warsaw, Poland - April 28, 2025 - Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, has released its latest March All Screens Video Landscap...
07/05/2025
LONDON Movie fans hoping to save money by waiting until their favorite new films appear on streaming services will have to wait a bit longer now, according to a...
07/05/2025
MECCA, Saudi Arabia Saudi Broadcasting Authority (SBA) has selected Grass Valley to provide a major technology upgrade of its broadcast facility here....
07/05/2025
Sony and Nevion provide guidance on IP network architecture options for live pro...
07/05/2025
Media Pioneer Publishing AG Expands Editorial Capacity
Brie Clayton May 7, 2025
0 Comments
Pioneer 2 boat production environment powered by Blackmagic...
07/05/2025
LONDON Movie fans hoping to save money by waiting until their favorite new films appear on streaming services will have to wait a bit longer now, according to a...
07/05/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau is seeking public comment on a Petition for Rulemaking from HC2 Broadcasting Holdings asking...
07/05/2025
WASHINGTON Following a decision by U.S. Department of Education to terminate its 2020-2025 Ready To Learn to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, CPB has in...
07/05/2025
NEW YORK Fox's ad-supported streaming Tubi made a series of product and partnership announcements during IAB NewFronts in New York, including the launch of ...
07/05/2025
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. Google Fiber (GFiber) has announced a redesigned app that the company said will simplify how customers set up service, manage devices, and...
07/05/2025
WASHINGTON NASAs on-demand streaming service, NASA+, has launched a FAST (Free Ad-Supported Television) channel on Prime Video....
07/05/2025
NEW YORK The WNET Group, parent company of the PBS station Thirteen, has announced the appointment of Randall T. Decker to senior director, technology, effectiv...
07/05/2025
Atomos announced an executive leadership transition as the Company continues to evolve and expand its strategic focus.
Peter Barber, currently serving as Chie...
07/05/2025
Steve Wagner, Jerry Holway and Robert Orf at the 2024 Scientific and Technical Awards at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Tuesday, April 29, 2025.
The ...
07/05/2025
nxtedition, the Swedish company behind the leading integrated platform for news and program production, and TASCAM, the iconic Japanese manufacturer of professi...
07/05/2025
Signiant is bringing its Camera-Raw-to-Any-Cloud workflow to the UK for the first time at the Media Production & Technology Show 2025 (Booth# M69) with a live d...
07/05/2025
MNC Software Inc., a global leader in software and network solutions tailored to the broadcast and media industry, has appointed Gencom Technology as an officia...
Detroit Lions Tap Former Players, NFL Analysts for Preseason Alternative Broadcast Kiswe-powered live stream took place during Lions-Giants on Aug. 11 By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor 
