U.S. Open Cup Final 2023: Telemundo Deportes Rolls Out New Mobile Unit for Local Production of Championship Match In-house-developed truck sends feeds to Telemundo Center in Miami By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor
Thursday, September 28, 2023 - 12:52 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
It has been a busy year for the production and operations teams at Telemundo Deportes. After the Men's World Cup in Qatar in December 2022 and the Women's World Cup in Australia/New Zealand this past July, its list of championship soccer broadcasts extended to last night's 2023 U.S. Open Cup Final in Fort Lauderdale, FL. With the match taking place in its backyard, the Spanish-language broadcaster deployed the new internally developed Surf Boy mobile unit for its first live sports broadcast and cut the final show at Telemundo Center in nearby Miami.
This was our remote-production truck's first live use case, says SVP, Content Operations, Chris Suarez-Meyers. We broke in that new resource by pushing back all the camera feeds to Telemundo Center along with a handful of isos.
Ops Plan: Surf Boy Mobile Unit Connects Onsite Team With Crew at Telemundo Center Developed by Director, Field Operations, Vanessa Sabatier, the Surf Boy truck was an integral part of the production. Given the facility's proximity to the venue - Telemundo Center is about 50 miles southwest of DRV PNK Stadium - it made sense to have the newly created truck as the conduit between the 75-person onsite staff and the high-octane control rooms at home. In addition, the short trip up north allowed personnel to sleep in their own beds and gave a more localized crew the chance to work on a domestic soccer final.
Logistically, , says Suarez-Meyers, [being at DRV PNK Stadium] gave some of our folks, who wouldn't necessarily travel for an event like this, some time in the field. We dipped into our in-house pool of technical-production-crew members and had them commute up the road.
As for the technology deployed for live match coverage, Telemundo Deportes tapped into the shared resources of world-feed broadcaster VISTA Worldlink and supplemented those feeds with a handful of unilateral cameras. Telemundo Deportes and fellow U.S. broadcaster CBS Sports leaned on a close relationship with the VISTA Worldlink crew, including VP/Executive Producer, Production Services, Mike Freedman; Tech Manager Steven Kravit; and Operations Producer Victor Bague.
We get along great with them, notes Suarez-Meyers. Many of them had previous careers with us, so it was almost like a family reunion. We understand their capabilities on the technical side and had no doubt that they were going to be able to deliver a quality product.
On the Pitch: Studio Team Shares Footprint With CBS Sports at DRV PNK Stadium Besides live match coverage, Telemundo had its studio team onsite for pre/postmatch and halftime analysis. Situated at the southwest corner of the stadium, Miguel Gurwitz and Ana Jurka were joined by the voices on the call - play-by-play commentator Andr s Cantor and analysts Manuel Sol and Maxi Rodr guez - in an area reserved for the VIP Experience during regular-season Inter Miami matches. When Director, Production, Sports, Adrian Costas; SVP, Production, Robert Pardo; and Suarez-Meyers conducted an initial site survey, they decided on this spot over others.
When we scouted the stadium and were evaluating the different options, says Costas, we knew that this was the spot. We started working with U.S. Soccer and Inter Miami to find a way for us to use it as our host position.
Manuel Sol, Andr s Cantor, and Maxi Rodr guez in the booth at DRV PNK Stadium.
Utilizing a relationship with Inter Miami Senior Director, Broadcast and Event Presentation, Luis Dones and his team, Telemundo was able to carve out an ample footprint despite sharing the space with CBS Sports' studio team of Kate Abdo, Micah Richards, Clint Dempsey, and Charlie Davies.
On the tech side, the location featured two dedicated cameras but posed a big challenge: the need to have a backup plan for inclement weather during Telemundo Deportes' first-ever U.S. Open Cup Final.
We had a production and technical operations meeting on Tuesday, says Costas, and were discussing contingency plans for rain and also for severe wind since our talent wouldn't be able to stand on the roof of our location. If we did have to move away, we could have gone into our commentary position since it was a booth within an enclosed environment.
Argentinian Dream: Cantor Calls His Second Final Featuring a Lionel Messi Team Commentator Andr s Cantor was in a unique position. Not only was the native Argentinian on the call for Messi's triumphant reunion with the World Cup trophy after defeating France at Lusail Stadium, but he had the opportunity to witness another final poised to make history with another Messi win. In a production with so many moving variables, having Cantor behind the mic for another dramatic final was a decision set in stone.
That's the top storyline for us, Costas points out. Having the opportunity of seeing Messi potentially lifting another trophy was a big driver for this production.
Cantor wasn't the only member of the talent team with a special attachment to the match: Rodr guez had a connection as well.
Maxi played with Lionel for the Argentinian national team, says Costas, adding, Inter Miami manager Tata Martino and Maxi come from the same city of Rosario in Argentina.
North America Stories
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...
29/05/2026
Experimental HIV vaccine achieves a long-sought goal In a first for the field, all non-human primates given a new series of vaccines generated antibodies capabl...
28/05/2026
FOX Sports' MLB coverage dominated the night at the 47th Annual Sports Emmy ...
28/05/2026
One of the most memorable postseasons in baseball history would have had no memo...
28/05/2026
NBC's Sunday Night Football is among the most-decorated and most-watched pro...
28/05/2026
The 2026 Sports Emmys marked a watershed moment for Prime Video Sports. After bu...
28/05/2026
Hosted by ESPN Senior Writer Ryan McGee, the ceremony honored winners from athletic departments, conference offices, professional networks, production companies...
28/05/2026
Major rights-holders rolled out their 2026 college football slates today, offering a first look at marquee windows, kickoff partners, and conference distributio...
28/05/2026
The 4 Nations Face-Off, an international competition that launched in February 2...
28/05/2026
Soccer is a truly global sport, and, to match the U.S. viewing audience's in...
28/05/2026
The NFL Today, CBS Sports' top-of-the-line NFL studio show, has a storied hi...
28/05/2026
Prime Video is no stranger to innovation, and, within the realm of live streamin...
28/05/2026
The crack of the bat, the pop of the glove, and the cheer of the crowd: those are three prime examples of the glorious sounds fans hear on televised baseball ga...
28/05/2026
Every year, March Madness captivates the entire sports world. Nonstop action, un...
U.S. Open Cup Final 2023: Telemundo Deportes Rolls Out New Mobile Unit for Local Production of Championship Match In-house-developed truck sends feeds to Telemundo Center in Miami By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor 
