Live-production academic program Butler Sports Live produced a total of 40 fall-sports events in 2025-26Today's collegiate athletics have become the proving ground for tomorrow's live-sports-production professionals. Launched in 2021, Butler University's Butler Sports Liveprogram offers students on the sports-media track at the College of Communication an opportunity to sharpen their skills on live game broadcasts across campus.
I always say that they're students at Butler University but a professional crew working for Butler Sports Live, says Nick White, faculty director, Butler Sports Live/lecturer, sports media and journalism, Butler University. Anything done in class has to have equal opportunity, but, when it's co-curricular and a paying job, we can raise expectations and be more competitive to see who's going to rise to the top.
Professional Development: Students Are Set Up for Success
Over the past five years, students have had opportunities to work on live productions of fall sports, including women's soccer, men's soccer, football, men's basketball, and women's basketball. Originally, games were distributed on FloSports - the streamer is still the home of all football games - but, this year, 40 events were produced on ESPN for the first time.
The Richard M. Fairbanks Center, the 45,000-sq.-ft. College of Communication facility, is the home of Butler Sports Live.White has worked with students who come to Butler with years of high school experience as well as with students newly interested in the profession. [Experienced students] are ready to work a lot faster than others, he notes. We also get first-year students who are more willing to work but didn't have those same opportunities, so we step in to develop talent.
The aspect that sets Butler Sports Liveapart from other collegiate programs is that all students are welcomed, without an interview or tryout, and are introduced to all roles in production right away. A one-credit course introduces the basics to students in their first semester at Butler.
Then, in a crawl-walk-run approach, the students move through roles like camera operator and A1 to graphics and replay operators and then to producer and director. Although teaching for the future and cultivating a passion is the ultimate goal, producing an engaging and high-quality product is the immediate goal for both the university and ESPN. Luckily, the ESPN platform expects professional-level production while allowing students to adapt to challenges of a fast-paced environment.
Our expectations are high, being on ESPN , says White, so they have to look good. We've hit a sweet spot: it's high stakes, but there's enough room to learn and grow.
A roaming production truck parks outside each venue for live game coverage.Outside of Butler Sports Live, the students gain valuable experience as camera operators for media company Tupelo Honey's production of women's volleyball - an effort driven by Tupelo Honey Senior Director, Remote Production, John Fritz; Associate Creative Producer Dylan Thompson; and Producer Adam Smith - and non-ESPN of men's basketball games.
Away from Butler, the students work on such events as the 2026 Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Indiana State Fairgrounds last month and for such pro teams as the NBA's Indiana Pacers, WNBA's Indiana Fever, G League's Noblesville Boom, USL's Indy Eleven, and ECHL's Indy Fuel. More specifically, the program has worked with Pacers Sports and Entertainment Director, Fieldhouse and Event Production, Brian Rogat to create a path for current students to work part-time for the countless events going on at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. In the 2025-26 academic year, more than 10 students and recent and recent grads are working with the Pacers.
Two Fronts: Crew Put Shows Together at Fairbanks Center
Butler Sports Live students work both in a studio space with traditional control room at Fairbanks Center, home of the College of Communication, and in a roaming production truck parked outside the sports venue. Handling halftime shows, the studio houses a massive green screen for virtual sets and a main desk with three Hitachi Z-HD6500 cameras. The control room features a Mackie audio board, Marshall video monitors, RTS Systems intercom, and an ETC lighting board that controls the studio's Desisti lighting fixtures.
The production truck parks at the venerated Hinkle Fieldhouse for men's and women's basketball and at Bud and Jackie Sellick Bowl for men's soccer, women's soccer, and football. Its gear includes a Blackmagic ATEM Constellation production switcher, a two-channel Ross XPression graphics system, Evertz DreamCatcher replay with six channels in and two channels out, 3Play for video playback, Ubiquiti DreamMachine cloud gateway, and six operated cameras (four hards, one handheld) and a CCU to control one PTZ.
The truck also has the capability to integrate video feeds from the specific venue feeds. For example, games at Hinkle Fieldhouse are covered by robos under each basket and a hero shot, the main game camera, a tripod-mounted slash camera, a wireless camera shared with the in-venue show, and PTZ feeds from the in-house videoboard production.
The truck parked outside of the famous Hinkle Fieldhouse.Students, who are paid $15 per hour, have ample chances to work at all positions in the control room. During the women's basketball game vs. St. John's on Feb. 14 at Hinkle Fieldhouse, the production crew comprised director Sawyer Goldwein (Class of 2026); producer Alec Siegel (2026); graphics operators Mitchell Adams (2027), Korey Festain(2027), and Brendan O'Rourke (2027); replay operator Drew Pieschalski (2027); playback operator Makala Vaughn (2027); A1 Brady Scott (2027);
