NFL Media Returns to Indy for Scouting Combine as ESPN, ABC Join the Party NFL Live will air daily editions on ESPN, along with a two-hour special on ABC, from Lucas Oil Stadium By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Thursday, February 28, 2019 - 2:12 pm
Print This Story
Story Highlights
NFL Media makes its annual pilgrimage to Indianapolis this week for the NFL Scouting Combine, delivering more than 50 hours of coverage of the top prospects expected to be selected at the NFL Draft in April. This year, ESPN and ABC have joined in on the fun, producing daily editions of NFL Live from Lucas Oil Stadium and, for the first time, a two-hour NFL Live: NFL Scouting Combine special on ABC on Saturday.
One of NFL Network's two concourse-level sets at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis
What's great about the Combine is that it's one of those intimate events where there's just raw football talent on display, says Dave Shaw, VP, production, NFL Media. It's also a great precursor to the Draft, and we are able to provide that inside scoop for fans. This year, it's a little different because ESPN and ABC are here all week. The fact that the production has grown is only good for the NFL and our broadcast partners, so we're working closely with them. Thankfully, there's enough room here at the stadium and in the [truck] compound for all of us to be comfortable.
A Packed Compound: NFL Media, ESPN, In-House Team Share Quarters
NFL Media has rolled out Game Creek Video's Encore (A, B, and C units) and Pride (A and B units) to serve its NFL Network and NFL Digital productions. ESPN has brought in a Harb Production Services truck for its NFL Live show. In addition, because Lucas Oil Stadium's in-house production facility is undergoing a renovation, its team has joined the crowd in the compound.
We're cramming all those trucks inside the compound at the stadium, but we're very lucky that Lucas Oil has enough space [there], says Shaw. The fact that the Combine happens in Indianapolis each year provides a certain amount of consistency and stability, and we feel very comfortable here: it's almost like we're home. That makes it easier to deal with changes like this from year to year.
NFL Media is producing primary coverage of all the on-field drills and providing a clean feed to ESPN/ABC. The ESPN production team is supplementing that with its own unilateral cameras, graphics, and commercial roll-ins/roll-outs.
Says Shaw, We're going to work closely with them so that they can get their feet wet during a rehearsal on Friday and then dive into covering this event, which our team has been doing for so many years. That way they can [develop a] rhythm as they get their first year under the belt.
A Quintet of Sets: Coverage From Field and Concourse
NFL Media has deployed 36 on-air talent across four sets - two on the field, two on the concourse - at Lucas Oil Stadium. ESPN has erected its NFL Live set on the concourse level. NFL Media's two on-field sets are being used primarily by NFL Digital and for podcast recordings.
One of NFL Media's two on-field locations at Lucas Oil Stadium for the Scouting Combine
We've moved back our NFL Digital space a little bit too accommodate ESPN on the concourse level, Shaw notes. I think they're going to be very happy, and we will, too.
The NFL Digital live-streaming show and NFL Network's Path to the Draft show (on Wednesday and Thursday) will be at-home productions handled out of a control room at NFL Media's broadcast center in Culver City, CA.
It made sense to do the Digital [production] out of Culver this year because we're going to need the facility anyway, Shaw explains. We've got the transmission set up already, so it wasn't [hard to] add a few more muxes. It not only gives us some cost savings in terms of traveling personnel but also creates familiarity with our team who produces those shows in Culver.
In addition, NFL Media is once again deploying its Azzurro TeamCam system to provide live shots from the adjacent Indianapolis Convention Center, where the bench-press drill and press conferences are taking place. NFL Media is deploying six TeamCam systems, each featuring a single camera and transporting bidirectional HD signals via a public-internet connection - along with IFB, comms, and tally - between Indianapolis and Culver City.
In terms of transmission from Indy back to Culver City, NFL is utilizing four fiber circuits with 10 services on each to provide redundant services for 20 transmits over Level 3 and The Switch. Two additional fiber circuits with seven services on each are going back to Indy over Level 3 and The Switch. NFL Media is also leveraging data circuits for its six Azzurro TeamCam systems, as well as file transfer between Indy and Culver.
Tech Toys at the Combine: Skycam, AR Play Major Role
NFL Media has deployed a total of 38 cameras at Lucas Oil Stadium, including a Skycam, an RF Steadicam, a high-speed camera covering the 40-yard dash, and several robos provided by Robovision.
SMT is back, providing virtual graphics and graphics overlays at the 40-yard dash for visual comparison of prospects with others or with current NFL players' own Combine performances.
NFL Media once again has a significant on-field presence at the Scouting Combine this year.
In addition, NFL Network continues to increase its use of augmented reality throughout the broadcast.
We added AR last year and got some very cool elements [into the telecast], says Shaw. We will bring it back this year and have [AR elements for] players by the numbers and player comparisons, several new animations, and graphics that dissect the drills themselves. The production team has a few things up their sleeve with augmented reality, and you're going to see that at th
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
28/08/2025
IBC stand 5.F81
Wowza to Reveal Next-Gen Video Streaming Innovations at IBC 2025
Amsterdam, August 28, 2025 Wowza, a leader in video streaming infrastructur...
NFL Media Returns to Indy for Scouting Combine as ESPN, ABC Join the Party NFL Live will air daily editions on ESPN, along with a two-hour special on ABC, from Lucas Oil Stadium By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
