Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium Becomes Epicenter of HokieVision's ACC Network Operations In preparation for network launch, on-campus athletic venues received 96 strands of fiber each for connectivity By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor Wednesday, July 31, 2019 - 8:00 am
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As we sit on the doorstep of August, the summer is starting to heat up in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). With about three weeks separating the 15 member institutions from the launch of the ACC Network, production teams from as far north as New York and as far west as Kentucky are polishing their facilities to live up to the hype. In the conference heartland, Virginia Tech's HokieVision flipped the June Oblinger Shott Media Center in the south endzone of Lane Stadium and constructed two control rooms for the university's network operations.
Evertz DreamCatchers power replay capabilities in the new space.
The upcoming ACC Network and our buildout provide a national platform to expose our student athletes and their stories to as many eyes as possible, says Eric Frey, senior director, ACC Network operations, Virginia Tech. We have a lot of international student-athletes as well - especially on our soccer teams, from Canada and Europe. Our broadcasts are available in those areas, so it's going to be a really nice way to attract potential student-athletes and expose the brand of Virginia Tech to more people.
On the Road Again: Fellow ACC, SEC Colleagues Open Their Doors
After the likelihood of the network became concrete three years ago, Frey and company got by with a little help from their friends during the initial stages. Some calls to universities that had gone through a similar process with ESPN resulted in an old-fashioned road trip to numerous campuses, including the University of Tennessee and Liberty University, in early 2017.
Who we selected [to visit] was important because each of these schools is unique due to resources or finances, says Brian Walls, assistant athletic director, ACC Network operations, Virginia Tech. You can go from one school to the next and see that they had more of a mindset in doing studio productions and spent their budget on areas that weren't necessarily functional from a network perspective but could help them in recruiting.
Throughout this makeshift tour of the college circuit, production philosophies, techniques, and tidbits were cherrypicked from each site and blended into the concepts behind Virginia Tech's construction.
[For example], we went to the University of Tennessee because it was close to us, and we saw some cool ideas that they were using [on the SEC Network]. They had a budget that they spent more towards their studio set, and, while we were doing the walkthrough, we saw four or five recruits, says Walls. We were told to look at [the University of] South Carolina because they were geared towards doing more broadcasts. We went to [the University of] Missouri because they [constructed their space] on a limited budget and do a great job. [Duke University Executive Director, Blue Devil Network] Chad Lampman was the first in the conference to take a shot at the linear control room, and they've been very open at letting anyone come in to take a look at what they've done. We took a piece from all of the places that we visited and applied it to our buildout.
Fibered Network Extends Across All Campus Venues
After the team returned from its tour, Angie Littlejohn, senior associate athletic director, internal operations, Virginia Tech, spearheaded the administrative efforts that produced an approved budget of $10 million.
Ross Video XPression graphics will anchor the template for all ACC Network telecasts.
Demolition and renovation of the selected location got started in May 2018 and wrapped up in January 2019. Virginia Tech chose Atlanta-based Comprehensive Technical Group (CTG) as systems integrator. Unlike with the prior setup, laying down an ample amount of fiber was at the top of the list. In the current configuration, each of the six on-campus venues - English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park (baseball), Tech Softball Park (softball), Thompson Field (soccer/lacrosse), Cassel Coliseum (basketball/volleyball/wrestling), and control rooms in The Merryman Center - received 96 strands of fiber connecting to the nucleus in Lane Stadium.
The infrastructure that we had before was not necessarily planned out well in advance, says Walls. A lot of that was the limitation of there not being a budget to get the fiber infrastructure to wherever it needed to be. We were patching it all together as best as we could. This new facility is a significant upgrade across the board for our entire department: not just with the ACC Network and what used to be the ESPN3 platform for us but also from a videoboard-show perspective. We're able to do and have things now - like cameras, positions, and resources - that we were never able to do. It's really a game-changer for us.
The thorough network of fiber is one highlight of the renovation, but the meat-and-potatoes of the operation is the technology housed in the Media Center. Led by Sam Jones, chief engineer, Virginia Tech, the broadcast engineers assembled a plan that could accommodate multiple productions at once. The headliners include an Evertz EQX router, multiple Evertz DreamCatcher replay servers, and six remote-control panels/playout machines with 24 inputs that can tap into any venue for shared resources. In the field, the altruistic mentality continues with a complement of 16 shared cameras that include Ikegami HDK-99's and UHK-430's as an HDR option. These cameras are outfitted with Canon DigiSuper 80X and 95X lenses.
Although the two control rooms, offices for ACC Network staff, and edit suites are complete, there is
