Live from London: EPCR takes over Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for European rugby finals weekend By Fergal Ringrose
Tuesday, May 28, 2024 - 09:46
Print This Story
Matthis Lebel scores what proved to be Stade Toulousain's match-winning try during last Saturday's epic final against Leinster Rugby [photo: EPCR]
The Hollywoodbets Sharks from Durban overcame Gloucester Rugby to take the Challenge Cup on Friday evening (May 24) and Stade Toulousain edged out Leinster Rugby after extra time on Saturday afternoon (May 25) to lift the Champions Cup at the European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) Finals Weekend in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
In my eyes this is the best stadium in Europe today, EPCR head of broadcast and media rights Carl Bengtsson told SVG Europe on Friday morning. We were supposed to come here some years ago and then COVID hit. The stadium then was brand new, and that would have been an event in itself as people would have come out of curiosity to see the stadium.
But operationally speaking maybe it's a good thing because the stadium team know their stadium a lot better now, they know what they can and cannot do, and I realise now that going to a brand new stadium would probably have been a bit challenging. We had this situation in Lyon a couple of years ago, when the football stadium was brand new; it's complicated to go to a new stadium.
So we were lucky in a way, and it's still the top stadium in Europe. All the facilities for hospitality are top of the line. It's quite easy for broadcasters to rig camera positions as the stadium had been designed with TV in mind. All the camera positions are catered for - obviously for football but we can still use them for rugby. You have a lot of positions on the gantry, commentators have a lot of space, it's completely pre-cabled as well which makes such a difference to older venues where you have to cable everything.
It's a very easy stadium to use, and the local team here is fantastic. They know how to host events outside of their own football team. We know it's an NFL stadium, and they're really working to be a great venue for anyone to come here and play.
The NFL have helped us as well as the team here is used to different requirements and routines. Sometimes you go to football stadiums and they say this is the way we've always done it' and they're not willing to change. Here they are happy to give us a hand and facilitate.
Carl Bengtsson, head of broadcast and media rights, European Professional Club Rugby
Buzz 16 leads production effort for EPCR host
Last year in Dublin saw a a complex production facilities situation with two separate host broadcasters, BT Sport and RT , for the Challenge Cup and Champions Cup finals on consecutive days. This year TNT Sports - the successor to BT Sport and Eurosport UK following the former's acquisition by Warner Bros. Discovery in 2022 - was EPCR's host broadcaster for both finals in London, with Buzz 16 providing the production team.
This time around TNT Sports is hosting both finals, which makes things a lot easier as they are in charge, said Bengtsson. And then we have add-ons, obviously, for the five other broadcasters present. On the English-speaking side we have RT and ITV for free-to-air in Ireland and the UK. And then we have France T l visions for French free-to-air and BeIN Sports for pay TV.
We also have ESPN for LATAM, who are here mostly to do interviews with the Argentinians playing for Gloucester and Toulouse. There's a huge interest in our competition in Latin America, and they have come to the quarter finals, the semi-finals and now to both finals this weekend. That's the general set-up, so it's quite busy.
The Buzz 16 team has been here already this season, covering the Saracens v Harlequins game in the Premiership in March. Obviously it's a bigger operation this time around, and they have gone with a very good camera plan for both games so we're well covered. We never take it less seriously for the Challenge Cup; we respect both competitions in the same way.
Before the merger Sunset+Vine provided the BT Sport production for our games and the Premiership as well. Then it changed to Buzz 16 and a lot of Sunset+Vine staff went over to Buzz 16, so it's familiar ground for us. They're still contracting EMG for facilities so it was extremely reassuring to know that we were dealing with people we knew with EMG behind them and we knew for sure they would do a great job.
ITV Sport and TNT Sports are working with EMG. RT only have a small add-on so they use facilities through EMG as well, and then both French broadcasters have a historical relationship with NEP Ireland, working with them for many years - and this makes things a lot easier here on-site as you basically have two facilities teams in EMG and NEP.
Richard Wright was unit manager for EMG and Jonathan Endley for NEP Ireland. NEP had two trucks on-site, one each for France T l visions and BeIN Sports, with seven iso cameras for each broadcaster pitch-side (one a radio camera for France TV) enabling pre-, half-time and post-game unilateral show presentation.
Gari Jenkins is executive producer for Buzz 16 and Dom McGuire is the production manager, continued Bengtsson. He's been the one coordinating these finals since we first came here almost a year ago, working on this project and the main man overseeing all the different needs from all broadcasters. It's a lot of responsibility, and he has done an incredible job.
You know what it's like; broadcasters all have their needs and they change their minds last-minute on everything from camera positions to commentary positions, catering, partner accreditation it's not an easy job to coordinate all this. And meanwhile Dom has to take care of his ma
Most recent headlines
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today! By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
22/12/2025
Workflows allow you to create a sequence of planned events which may be added to your template(s) or inserted directly into your sequential or background playli...
22/12/2025
Monday 22 December 2025
Sky extends PGA TOUR partnership until 2029, as Sky Spo...
22/12/2025
Back to All News
Global Anime Hits and New Releases Take Center Stage at Jump Festa 2026
Entertainment
22 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to clipboar...
22/12/2025
Siobh n McSweeney, Rory McIlroy, Elon Musk, Catherine Connolly, Jim Gavin, Ivan Yates and Traitor Paudie Moloney lead new characters for Callan Kicks the Year 2...
22/12/2025
Winner announced in the picturesque surroundings of Wicklow's Avondale Tower and Treetop Walk
Andrew Trimble wins the show in his first series as coach
Th...
22/12/2025
The 2025 winners have been announced today, Sunday 21 December, for Ireland's largest choral competition Choirs for Christmas hosted by RT lyric fm.
Ove...
21/12/2025
Back to All News
Legoshi and Haru's Story Reaches Its Finale: BEASTARS Fin...
Live from London: EPCR takes over Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for European rugby finals weekend By Fergal Ringrose 
