World Series Preview: After Breathtaking NLCS, TXR Productions Generates Hometown Flair in Globe Life Field Bubble Rays, Dodgers will leverage the Rangers' in-venue team for a pseudo-remote production By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor Tuesday, October 20, 2020 - 2:30 pm
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Major League Baseball has rolled with its fair share of punches this season, including a delayed start date and multiple COVID-19 outbreaks, but the past three weeks of playoff baseball has surely made up for any misfortunes. In tandem with the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers production crews, TXR Productions will continue the fun at the Texas Rangers' Globe Life Field with hometown, in-venue shows for the World Series.
Brian [O'Gara, VP, special events, MLB] realized that a World Series wasn't going to be played in home ballparks, so he wanted to find a way for home teams to feel like they were a part of [winning a championship at home], says Chris DeRuyscher, senior director, ballpark entertainment and production, Texas Rangers. Now the home team is responsible for a game log where they dictate what the in-venue show looks like from the time gates open until the end of the game.
In the Cloud: Franchises Upload Videoboard Content Through Google Drive TXR Productions is executing a semi-remote production with in-venue crews to display content for the home team during the World Series.
Although this approach will kick into overdrive this week, the idea was put into place long before the final two teams qualified for the ultimate leg of the playoffs. When the league announced that Globe Life Field would host the National League Championship Series and the World Series, O'Gara and DeRuyscher pondered how a home-field advantage could be created in a neutral site.
As we got closer to playing in a bubble, DeRuyscher says, Brian knew that the host bubble was going to be under a lot of pressure to produce and pull off these games. He wanted a show to be done without having multiple layers of producers.
The production plan was put into place in theory, but, with many organizations fighting for the right to make it to Arlington, TX, the league and TXR Productions allowed all participating franchises - including teams that played in the Division Series without any fans - to submit content through a Google Drive folder prior to qualifying for the next round.
All of the teams that we've hosted - the San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves, the Dodgers, and even teams that thought they were going to be [in the NLCS or World Series] - uploaded elements like headshots and hype videos, DeRuyscher explains. Phase 1 was the NLDS without fans, but players still wanted to get pumped up with their walk-up songs.
The remote production has added an extra element to this peculiar postseason, but, with franchises' production teams operating in different time zones and creating content before games have been played, there is a large margin for error. Each side is reducing that margin by following a relatively strict deadline.
It has been awesome to work with people that know 100% what my team and I are up against, says DeRuyscher. We're going to make every effort we can to get [a late submission in]. We at least get it into the system, watch it, and make sure that the audio and video are good. If I can do those things, then we're good to go.
Similar to the setup for these National League teams, the Petco Park bubble in San Diego also executed this tag-team production, especially for the American League Championship series between the Rays and Houston Astros.
Here's a little behind the scenes look at my production setup producing Astros playoff home games out in San Diego while I'm still inside Minute Maid Park. Been so great working with the Padres amazing production staff executing all our elements! Excited for Game 5 today! pic.twitter.com/nKRjRQbhED
Garret Young (@GarretYoung13) October 15, 2020
Virtual Collaboration: Teams Use Zoom for In-Game Communication Texas Rangers' Chris DeRuyscher (foreground) and his team work from their positions in the control room.
With tough COVID-19 protocols in place, there was no way of having both DeRuyscher's crew and the acting home team's staff in the same space. To overcome this logistical issue, both parties are synchronizing their run of show via the virtual workflow of Zoom. For example, the TXR crew will be in close contact with the LAD Productions crew of Executive Producer Greg Taylor; Game Day Producer/Editor Marty Messer; and Senior Director of Broadcast Engineering Tom Darin for Dodgers home games as well as Rays' Director of Game Presentation and Production Michael Weinman and his staff for their home contests. DeRuyscher will be dividing his attention between the teams in their own control rooms and his own squad working alongside him.
I'll set up a Zoom call with those guys, he says. I'll have them in one ear and my staff in my other ear. It's stressful enough [to produce your own show], but there has been really good back-and-forth communication, and there hasn't been a whole lot of consternation.
Despite the distance between the two venues, both crews will take the time between innings to further harmonize the production and make any last-minute adjustments depending on the course of the game.
We'll take [the Dodgers' or Rays'] run of show, put it in our format, and then, during the game, they'll simply say, This person is coming up so we have that great video that we downloaded and sent over.' And we say, Okay, we've got it,' and then we roll it, says DeRuyscher. If they know they have a Will Smith video and the Dodgers know that it'll be perfect in this situation, we'll make that
