FloSports Debuts The Athlete's Lounge' Alternate Broadcast for Wanda Diamond League Track and Field

FloSports Debuts The Athlete's Lounge' Alternate Broadcast for Wanda Diamond League Track and Field Olympic-caliber commentary is paired with remote workflows By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital

Friday, May 16, 2025 - 3:11 pm

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As the 2025 Wanda Diamond League season gets underway, FloSports is shaking up the way fans watch track and field. Today marks the debut of The Athlete's Lounge, a new alternate broadcast streaming live on both FloTrack and the FloTrack YouTube channel.

Designed to blend the relaxed tone of a ManningCast -style broadcast with deep Olympic-level insight, the companion stream represents a bold step into enhanced storytelling and viewer engagement.

With Olympic medalists Matthew Centro Centrowitz Jr., Trey Hardee, and English Gardner anchoring coverage alongside FloTrack hosts Demitra Carter and Nia Gibson, The Athlete's Lounge is engineered to be a candid, personality-driven way to experience the sport.

There are multiple events happening at once in a Diamond League meet, and the traditional broadcast has mostly focused on the track, says coordinating producer Don Cardona. With this format, we can give fans who care about specific disciplines - like pole vault, shot put, or triple jump - a place to engage in a more direct and entertaining way.

The Model Reimagined: Not Just Another Call of the Race FloSports' approach builds on familiar trends in sports broadcasting, following in the footsteps of successful alternative streams in the NFL, MLB, and NBA. But it's also tailored to the needs of track and field. With dozens of simultaneous events, the sport's multi-layered structure makes it ripe for this kind of innovation.

When we got the rights to the Diamond League, says Cardona, it was exciting for me personally because I used to produce it for NBC. Back then, we had only one feed. Now, with streaming, we're not locked into that. We have access to the world feed and three super feeds focused on field events. That opens up the storytelling potential tremendously.

Although FloTrack relies on Infront's host production for the primary world-feed coverage, The Athlete's Lounge is produced entirely in-house out of FloSports' Austin, TX, studios. The show deploys remote-production workflows and vMix technology to blend feeds from the world feed and field-event-specific streams with in-studio and remote talent commentary.

We anchor ourselves on the world feed, Cardona explains, but we strip the English commentary and replace it with our own. We might show a men's 200-meter final, then immediately cut to live pole-vault coverage if Katie Moon is about to jump, then come back to the studio for analysis. It gives us total control to shape the narrative.

Built for Flexibility: Control Room and Remote Engineering Behind the scenes, The Athlete's Lounge is a showcase of remote-production engineering and creative control. The show is directed and produced by Greg Sandercox, with Amanda Byars serving as producer for graphics and visual elements.

Incoming SRT signals from Infront's host feeds are decoded and routed into FloSports' REMI-capable control room in Austin, where they are layered with studio cameras, remote guest video, and a new custom graphics package.

The technical team includes Senior Director, Live Production, Lou Pantoja; VP, Production, Joe Baker; Streaming Engineer Byron Rape; Production Engineer Iggy Cantu; Senior Manager, Stream Engineering and Quality, LJ Helbig; Director Dennis LeMire; GM, Global Stream Technology, Ryan Fenton; and Manager, Crewing, Mike Anthony.

The hybrid model also allows Flo's editorial and social-media teams - some onsite at the Diamond League events - to dial in remotely via cell or vMix, contributing live reactions, athlete interviews, or behind-the-scenes insights.

Building the Show: Rehearsals, Demos, and an Agile Format Although this is not Flo's first studio show, it is the most technically ambitious, requiring tight integration of remote feeds, multiple control sources, and live commentary. To prepare, the team ran full rehearsals that not only stress-tested the workflows but also shaped the show's creative format.

There were a lot of takeaways from rehearsal, Cardona explains. We tested how to use our multi-box configurations - one box, two box, three box, different camera angles - and how to seamlessly incorporate remote commentators. One big lesson was that we don't need to structure the show around a rigid preview format. Instead, we focus on the stories and conversations that unfold naturally.

Those segments include on-screen demonstrations that break down the biomechanics of elite athletes, using graphics overlays and slow-motion replays. In one rehearsal example, Hardee dissected Armand Duplantis's pole-vault technique using stop-motion video and telestration, offering insight even longtime fans might miss.

The show is also debuting a custom insert-graphics package with integrated sponsor branding, aligned with the Fleet Feet x Tracksmith partnership that headlines FloTrack's 2025 Diamond League coverage.

More Than Just Talk: Authenticity and Athlete Connection At its core, The Athlete's Lounge is about shifting the viewer experience from passive observation to active connection.

We're not just adding commentary, says Cardona. We're bringing in guests - coaches, former athletes, maybe even someone who just won an event - to give live, unfiltered reactions. It's like sitting on the couch with a group of Olympians while the meet unfolds.

The format invites real-time analysis, side stories, and playful banter, blurring the line between sportscast and podcast. Because of its flexible format, it can respond to the moment - whether that'

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2025/05/16/flosports-debuts-the-athletes-l...
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