Turner Sports Shifts Into Overdrive for NBA All-Star Game Complicated by COVID, the event was reduced to one day and produced in only five weeks By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Friday, March 5, 2021 - 11:13 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
NBA All-Star Weekend has become a tradition for the NBA and Turner Sports, with events like All-Star Saturday Night and the skills competitions, a celebrity game, NBA Fan Fest, and, of course, the game. The 2021 edition will be much different: compressed into one day, March 7, and even moved from Indianapolis to State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
The compressed weekend also involved a compressed preparation window.
That, says Turner Sports VP, Sports Production Technology, Chris Brown, was the real challenge. The notion of completing an All-Star Game event with only one survey and then five weeks to put it together meant there was only so much we can do, he says. Production needed to know how they could wrap creative around what the NBA wanted to do from a presentation standpoint.
The NBA All-Star Game compound features NEP Group production trucks at the center of the action.
Not surprisingly, the compound is scaled down from the usual NBA All-Star Weekend. NBA Entertainment will not have a presence, and the NBA will produce the world feed with the help of its HSAN (high-speed area network).
We've gone from 17 or 18 trucks down to about seven, says Brown, but, if it was a non-COVID world, we would have been able to pack the operators down to about four trucks.
During the five-week preparation period, the production and operations teams worked closely to make sure the event feels as normal as possible for fans at home.
We're still trying to create as elaborate and robust a production as we can while also trying to take a minimalist approach, says Brown. The goal was to figure out how to integrate all these productions and achieve what production wanted from a show-flow standpoint without our traditional methodology, where we had a separate truck for Saturday, a game truck, and then a studio truck.
NEP Supershooter 4 will be at the center of the activities on March 7, producing both the skills-competition events and the game itself. NEP EN2 A and B will be onsite for studio-show needs; Super B, for overflow and transmission.
All the events on Sunday will be produced with the same crew, the only exception that All-Star Saturday Night producer Jeff Randolph will slide into the chair to produce those elements (and will occupy it on Sunday for the Taco Bell Skills Challenge, which begins at 6:30 p.m. ET).
It's the same technical crew for court coverage, Brown notes. It will be a long day for them.
He adds that the court coverage will be fairly traditional and 58 cameras will be in the mix. As for new enhancements, Canon is providing shallow-depth-of-field camera systems, which have become a hot trend in the industry.
We tested them last week and definitely want to use them, says Brown. The NBA has given their approval to see what [the cameras] will bring to the show.
A Rail Cam was also considered, but even the limited number of fans in attendance makes that unfeasible.
We are going to have a Jetta Towercam, which is a telescoping camera that will be behind the bench and is robotic, says Brown. That will provide a unique perspective.
Robotic cameras will also be used in the tunnels and hallways that the players use.
In recent years, the All-Star Game has leaned into player miking. This year, up to 11 players, along with coaches and officials, will be miked. It's part of the commitment to get the viewers as close to the court as we can, Brown notes.
The core production team will also be servicing other WarnerMedia entities, including Bleacher Report, which will be in the arena during practices. TNT Overtime needs, too, will be met by the production team.
We've added a few cameras for them to go along with the studio show, says Brown. We're also helping NBA TV for pregame and postgame coverage.
Postgame interviews continue to be a production challenge in the age of COVID-19. For the All-Star Game, Bluetooth headsets and a boom mic will be deployed.
We found a good deal of success with that in the bubble, Brown explains. We potentially could fold that into some pregame interviews for the studio show.
Inside the NBA will have a big presence with a set in the corner of the arena.
It's going to be neat because of the level of interaction they're planning, says Brown. Host Ernie Johnson will let Reggie Miller and company take over for the skills events, and that will make it pretty dynamic.
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...
08/10/2026
Modern venues have come a long way since the tinny, echoing audio of the mid 20t...
08/10/2026
ESPN's first Super Bowl production will stream in English and Spanish on Disney+, while the ESPN App carries the full slate of game, ManningCast, studio, an...
08/10/2026
From high-school videoboards to War Eagle Productions, the Opelika native is learning how to lead shows and capture big moments
The future of live sports produ...
08/10/2026
The Television Academy and Prime Video have announced a six-year agreement making Prime Video the exclusive global home of the Emmy Awards beginning with the 20...
08/10/2026
Techex will exhibit at NAB Show New York 2026 (Booth 623, Javits Center, October...
08/10/2026
X Games has announced the appointment of Steve Rogers as Chief Operating Officer. Rogers previously served as COO of World Supercross and spent nearly a decade ...
08/10/2026
Fonn Group has appointed Trevor Spielmann as Sales Director for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Spielmann joins from EVS, where he held sales and business de...
08/10/2026
The flagship program will originate from major PG events with a four-camera production, live distribution across PGTV, social platforms
Perfect Game is bringin...
08/10/2026
Innovation rarely happens in a vacuum. More often, it happens at the point of collision: when worlds that have run on separate tracks begin to converge. That is...
08/10/2026
For decades, the production and broadcast services business has run on a familia...
08/10/2026
Uplynk, Zixi, BroadView Software, and Grass Valley have published The IP Converg...
08/10/2026
The NFL has announced the return of the Big Data Bowl, the league's analytics competition, now in its ninth year and again powered by AWS. Registration is o...
08/10/2026
Eutelsat has renewed its partnership with T l diffusion d'Alg rie (TDA), Algeria's national broadcasting network operator, for continued distribution of...
08/10/2026
Disney will livestream Super Bowl LXI on February 14, 2027, alongside the game's broadcast on ESPN and ABC. All Disney subscribers in the United States wi...
08/10/2026
RHStv and Red House Streaming have announced an expansion of their partnership w...
08/10/2026
Gray Media has announced a distribution agreement with TEGNA and DAZN to simulca...
08/10/2026
SVG readers can save 10% on registration and receive a complimentary Solutions H...
08/10/2026
PROTON Camera Innovations GmbH has been named a recipient of a 2026 Technology a...
08/10/2026
Industry leaders discuss real-world cloud workflows for live game production, pl...
08/10/2026
The next-gen audio technology joins Dolby Vision as part of Apple TV's immersive F1 experience...
08/10/2026
David France, Jesse Short Bull, Mato Wayuhi, N. Bird Runningwater, Jodi Archambau, Jhane Myers, Paul McGuire, Amber Morning Star Byars, Holly Macarro, Nick Tils...
08/10/2026
Dynamic panning plug-ins get an upgrade
Sound Particles have just announced major updates for two of their popular dynamic panning plug-ins. Energy Panner 2...
08/10/2026
New expandable instrument boasts full DMNO engine
UDO Audio have just announced the upcoming release of a new, expandable synth that packs the power of the ...
08/10/2026
Two new subwoofers added to monitoring line-up
ADAM Audio's monitoring range has just been expanded with two new DSP-equipped subwoofers, the Sub8 PRO a...
08/10/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
08/10/2026
Calrec gives broadcasters freedom of choice at NAB Show New York We're looking forward to meeting up with you all at NAB New York on 21st-22nd October.
Cal...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, will showcase its next generation of media orchestration services at NAB S...
08/10/2026
Clear-Com played a critical role in the production communications infrastructure for Rock in Rio 2026, one of the world's largest and most recognized music...
08/10/2026
Sohonet Launches ClearView Rush: A Leap Forward in Studio Review, Built for Crea...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Ikegami announces a major expansion to its range of broadcast-quality live production cameras. Scheduled for introduction on Ikegami booth 708 at NAB New York, ...
08/10/2026
Calrec will be located at Booth 444.
Freedom to choose
The media landscape is evolving quickly, and the broadcasters best placed for what comes next will be...
08/10/2026
LiveU has announced that CRD Audiovisuel relied on LiveUs LU900Q intelligent production unit, with built-in native LiveU IQ (LIQ ) connectivity, to deliver live...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Marshall Electronics, a globally recognized provider of high-performance video solutions for broadcast, streaming, AV and professional production, will exhibit ...
08/10/2026
Latest Innovations Extend Fiber to Any Location and Elevate Subscriber Quality o...
Turner Sports Shifts Into Overdrive for NBA All-Star Game Complicated by COVID, the event was reduced to one day and produced in only five weeks By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
