On the Hardwood: Minnesota Timberwolves Feature On-Court Media Day With Drone Flyover at Target Center Even without fans onsite, game-day experience offers usual intro video, mascot antics By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor
Friday, January 22, 2021 - 9:17 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The doldrums of 2020 may be in the past, but 2021 is still presenting challenges to in-venue production teams. Now out of the Orlando bubble, NBA organizations are hosting games in their home arenas and navigating the continuing difficulties of the pandemic. Like SVG's At the Ballpark and On the Gridiron series, On the Hardwood will take a look the hardships, creative ideas, and teamwork of NBA franchises.
Basketball fans around the country were already excited about the 2020-21 regular season, but, 24 hours before tipoff, anticipation increased for Minnesota Timberwolves supporters when the franchise released a cinematic drone flyover of the interior and exterior of Target Center. As one of the video's highlights, the production team conducted a new version of its Media Day, which has become a microcosm of in-venue operations this year.
Media Day was really strange this year, says Alyse Danikowski, manager, game presentation, Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx. We usually have a whole round-robin with local and national media there, but, this year, it was just our in-house team.
MORE ON THE HARDWOOD INTERVIEWS:
After Assisting Fox Sports Sun, Miami Heat Retrofit Control Room for Games in AmericanAirlines Arena
Denver Nuggets Repurpose RSN Broadcast With Some In-Venue Flavor
Atlanta Hawks Honor Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. in First of Season-Long Unity Nights'
Player-Generated Content: Inside the Timberwolves' Preseason Media Day Prior to the start of the regular season, the production crew put in a lot of energy and effort putting Media Day together. In prior years, each player and a team representative would meet with each national and local media outlet for about 10 minutes. With the external organizations kept away from the venue by the COVID-19 pandemic, Danikowski's in-venue team and other departments collaborated on a safe yet efficient plan.
Inside the Minnesota Timberwolves control room
We had four total stations: two on the court for some intro videos with dramatic lighting, another with a green-screen station, and one with a gray screen for interviews, she says. Our RSN [Fox Sports North] had a station as well as two photo stations and a couple of Zoom stations that no one manned.
Other than the players, only 15 people at a time were allowed inside Target Center. Throughout the two-hour period, the Timberwolves' production staff coordinated with the players when they had free time after practice. Since personnel within the organization are all tested and abiding by safety protocols, the staffers were able to direct each player as to what station to go to next. Since this operation had some new workflows and elements, the crew wanted to make sure that they grabbed what they needed while they had premium access to the players.
At the end of Media Day, you're always asking, Did I get what I needed?' but it was even more so this year, says Danikowski. Even though it was definitely different, it went pretty smoothly.
Maintaining Energy: In-Venue Show Includes Intro Video, Pregame Light Show Since fans aren't experiencing the game in person this season, many production crews are forgoing the traditional videoboard show and game-day experience. This isn't the case in Minnesota: the team is opting to continue elaborate pregame festivities. Even so, the staff is adjusting the run of show to omit content that would be geared toward patrons onsite.
Mixers provide fake crowd noise at Target Center.
We're pumping in music since we still want to create that home-court advantage, Danikowski explains. We're also producing our intro sequence with a video and lights, but we're not necessarily running the different player features or the Military Member of the Game that we usually would.
The team is having some fun with the empty arena, including humor that features Crunch the Wolf. The goal is to fire up the players with some of the stimuli they're accustomed to.
We don't have the fans necessarily cheering along with our videoboard prompts, notes Danikowski, but we want to keep the energy high for the guys on the court. We're still getting used to the [fake] crowd noise in terms of keeping it realistic, but it has been interesting to find that balance when you're the one actually controlling it.
Connecting the Lynx: WNBA Bubble Gives Much-Needed Practice Minnesota Timberwolves' Alyse Danikowski in front of the videoboard during the season opener vs. the Detroit Pistons on Dec. 23
Preparations for the 2020-21 NBA season began months ago during the WNBA bubble in Bradenton, FL. Working with the four-time-champion Minnesota Lynx, Danikowski and company showcased their creativity with content shown in the confined space during the three-month Wubble.
They had a couple of screens for sponsorship and corporate partners, but we created an intro video, various noise prompts, and Lynx Win' graphics, she says. We also produced pregame shows for these games on our website, Twitter, and Facebook that presented player and coach interviews as well as player features.
This content allowed the team to take a different approach and become a little more comfortable with what has become the standard over the past 10 months.
Getting that sort of experience was a good way to build up to the Wolves' season, Danikowski adds. We were able to get into that headspace of bringing this entertainment to a fan-less arena and engaging our fans that are at home. A lot of other teams
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
06/04/2026
Michigan legends bring a new voice to the broadcast as TNT Sports and CBS Sports...
06/04/2026
From high school sports all the way up to the major leagues, building high-quali...
06/04/2026
Quickplay, an AI company for the media and entertainment industry, has been accepted into the Advanced tier of the TwelveLabs Ecosystem Partner Program. Quickpl...
06/04/2026
Grass Valley has announced the Future Playmakers Program, a global initiative to...
06/04/2026
El l der de operaciones impulsa la producci n en estudio mientras encuentra insp...
06/04/2026
The ops leader helps lead the charge in studio for the Spanish-language broadcas...
06/04/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
06/04/2026
The National Hockey League (NHL), in partnership with Verizon and the New Jersey Devils, today announced the opening of the NHL Innovation Lab powered by Verizo...
06/04/2026
Rock League, a new professional curling league, has announced that ESPN+ will stream its inaugural 2026 season for fans in the United States. The first Rock Lea...
06/04/2026
Advanced Systems Group has announced the appointment of Andrea (Andy) Cummis as Vice President of Systems Design and Engineering. In this role, she will lead de...
06/04/2026
Backed by Bolt Ventures, the venture brings Bryson DeChambeau, Grant Horvat, and...
06/04/2026
With this environment we can start that collaboration even earlier because we ca...
06/04/2026
Like the immortal lives of vampires, some stories never really end. That's t...
06/04/2026
As podcasting continues to evolve, growth increasingly means building beyond aud...
06/04/2026
Multiband dynamics plug-in enhanced
California-based developer FSK Audio have released a significant update for their innovative multiband dynamics processo...
06/04/2026
Share official & user-created full-rig presets
IK Multimedia's latest TONEX update makes it possible for users of the popular amp and effects modelling ...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Dalet Showcases Dalia Agentic AI and End-to-End Media Workflows at NAB Show 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Dalet, a leading technology and...
06/04/2026
OpenDrives Shows Off Sports Expertise in Sports Business Hub located in NAB Show...
06/04/2026
Proton to Demonstrate 3D Application at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Yet further creative potential unleashed through innovation in ...
06/04/2026
Autoscript Highlights Voice-Driven Prompting and PTZ Solutions at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Experience Autoscript Voice, PTZ prom...
06/04/2026
Mediaproxy Highlights Significant Enhancements to its LogServer suite at NAB Sho...
06/04/2026
Wayne, N.J., April 6th, 2026 Phantom High-Speed announces the release of PCC 4...
06/04/2026
April 6th, 2026
TRIBECA STUDIOS AND LILLY ANNOUNCE WINNERS OF INAUGURAL VITAL...
06/04/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Expands Kids Entertainment Lineup With Playground App ...
05/04/2026
Tackles all reported bugs!
SoundBridge have just announced the launch of a new update that introduces a couple of minor changes to their remote collaboratio...
04/04/2026
The University of Arizona's Men's Basketball team has only loss twice th...
04/04/2026
1080p HDR arrives, a new generation of storytelling tools takes center stage, an...
04/04/2026
Michigan legends bring a new voice to the broadcast as TNT Sports and CBS Sports...
04/04/2026
Faster, cleaner and more intuitive than ever
The control software for Flock Audio's digitally controlled patchbay systems has just been treated to an up...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
DHD Introduces AI-Based Audio Noise Reduction to XD3 IP Core
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
The accompanying image shows the rear panel of the ...
04/04/2026
Macnica Redefines ST 2110 Flexibility with Two Speeds on One Card
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
New for NAB Show 2026, MEP100 SmartNIC now sup...
04/04/2026
Unified Media Workflows for Story-Centric Production
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
Framelight X unifies field capture, editing and publishing ...
03/04/2026
Michigan's Fab Five will reunite for an alternate presentation of the Mich...
03/04/2026
Avid will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (April 18-22, Booth N2226, Las Vegas Convention Center), demonstrating its Content Core platform and new AI-driven workflow c...
03/04/2026
Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) has announced the appointment of Nick Barthee as Chief Operating Officer.
The announcement follows MRMC's transition fro...
03/04/2026
Interra Systems has announced that Elite Media Technologies has selected its BATON file-based QC solution for media workflows. Elite Media Technologies speciali...
03/04/2026
Ateme has announced that Moldtelecom has deployed Ateme technologies across its streaming workflow, covering encoding, delivery, operations, and analytics.
Mol...
03/04/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate Framelight X, its content management platform, at NAB Show 2026. The platform connects capture, ingest, editing, and publishing in...
03/04/2026
Encompass Digital Media and Techex have announced a cloud-native Master Control ...
On the Hardwood: Minnesota Timberwolves Feature On-Court Media Day With Drone Flyover at Target Center Even without fans onsite, game-day experience offers usual intro video, mascot antics By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor 
