
ESPN Unleashes 4DREPLAY as NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships Hit ABC Men's championships to follow Saturday night on ESPN2 By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Friday, April 18, 2025 - 9:57 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Saturday (4 p.m. ET) marks the fifth consecutive year that ESPN will broadcast the finals of the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships on ABC.
Throughout that half decade, the broadcaster has introduced a wave of innovations to improve the live-viewing experience of this rapidly growing sport. From live leaderboards (which, in gymnastics, is far more complicated than it sounds) to graphical enhancements that illustrate the elite athleticism of the student-athletes, ESPN has revolutionized the presentation of women's gymnastics.
The trend continues this year with the debut of 4DREPLAY on two apparatuses: vault and uneven bars. The technology produces volumetric, time-slice frozen moment replays that immerse viewers in a previously impossible perspective of the sport's most dynamic moments. The image is produced by stitching together images from 30 cameras arranged in a semicircle around the apparatus.
Gymnastics delivers a perfect environment for volumetric replays provided by 4DReplay, says Phil Orlins, VP, production technology and innovation, ESPN. The vault and uneven bars offer close proximity and an eye-level shot of the athlete that is ideal for showcasing the dynamic action. These time-slice freezes give us the tools to provide in-depth analysis of fast-moving content like never before.
Orlins and ESPN have plenty of experience with 4DREPLAY, having used it most recently on events like the 2024 MLB Home Run Derby.
--
Video clip courtesy of ESPN.
Tech That Bridges the Gap
Beyond the 4DREPLAY integration, ESPN's broadcast team stationed at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, TX, continues to enhance the understanding of gymnastics with such tools as height meters and protractors providing relatable metrics for viewers.
The enhancements are valuable also for the analysts on the broadcast: Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman, silver medalist Samantha Peszek, and three-time Olympian John Roethlisberger.
Tech tools, like the protractors and the height meters, create a relationship between what is happening and what [the fans] already know, says Roethlisberger, a member of the U.S. Olympic Team in 1992 (Barcelona), 1996 (Atlanta), and 2000 (Sydney) while competing collegiately at the University of Minnesota. Everyone knows how high a basketball hoop is. When we show the height meter on vault or bars and it goes 6 ft. above the high bar, which is already 8 ft. off the ground and we say that [the gymnast's] head is 14 ft. above the floor, every human in the world goes, 14 ft., that's 4 ft. higher than a basketball hoop. That's 4 ft. higher than Anthony Edwards can dunk a basketball.' There's a lot of those things that have helped make [the sport] more understandable and relatable to the audience.
Roethlisberger also credits women's collegiate gymnastics for developing a set of rules and a scoring system that make it much easier for the audience to follow compared with other disciplines of the sport.
Women's college gymnastics has figured out how to make the rules the most understandable rules on the planet Earth, he says. Because of that, along with all the things that networks like ESPN have done to bring it to your living room and make it understandable and visually appealing, every person that watches gymnastics, by the third night, [is watching a routine and] going, That's 9.9. I remember, two nights ago, she got a 9.8 when she took a big step forward on her landing and Aly and Sam said that cost her two-tenths. Now she stuck it, and that's going to be a 9.9.' That is what women's college gymnastics has done and no other version of gymnastics has done.
All the tech enhancements, including slow-motion-capable cameras and in-depth replay, do create an interesting dynamic for the sport.
It's a blessing and a curse in some ways, says Peszek, who was a member of the U.S. Olympic Team in 2008 and competed collegiately at UCLA. We have the ability to show replays in slow motion, and guess who doesn't get to see the replays in slow motion: the judges. To John's point about the [fan] conversation of I thought she should have scored this' while watching a side-by-side replay and the only people that don't have the luxury of watching it are the judges, I think we're getting a lot of heated conversation around judging. We have the ability to take a microscope to everybody's routine and each skill and the protractor, and we replay it to see if it was actually vertical. I think what a lot of fans don't take into account is where the judges are sitting, the angle that they're at. Also, they're seeing it in real time, and humans have the ability to make errors.
Enhanced Fan Engagement With Stream Team Beyond the championship on ABC, ESPN+ will again feature its popular Stream Team coverage, bringing personality and insight directly from a lineup of NCAA greats. This year's team comprises Olympic silver medalist and Florida legend Bridget Sloan, Oklahoma's four-time NCAA champion Anastasia Webb, 11-time All-American Kennedy Baker, and ESPN newcomer Trinity Thomas, an 11-time NCAA All-American and two-time Honda Award winner.
In a fresh twist for 2025, instead of traditional apparatus-only streams, viewers can follow specific teams throughout the arena on dedicated feeds with tailored commentary. Each stream pairs two teams with expert analysis, letting fans personalize their experience in unprecedented ways.
Immediately following the women's final, the NCAA Men's Championship takes center stage on ESPN2
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
14/09/2025
Partnership to address business and technical challenges of DMF adoption
he Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU...
13/09/2025
ATLANTA Cox Media Group has announced that the company's vice president of news, Misty Turnbull has been inducted into the National Academy of Television Ar...
13/09/2025
AMSTERDAM Shotoku Broadcast Systems, a major developer of robotic systems, has announced plans to take studio robotics to the next level at IBC2025 by debuting ...
13/09/2025
At IBC2025 in Amsterdam, Riedel Communications unveiled Bolero Mini, the company's lightest and flattest wireless intercom beltpack to date. Designed to del...
13/09/2025
Shotoku Broadcast Systems, the international developer of dependable, userfriendly robotic systems, is taking studio robotics to the next level at IBC 2025 with...
13/09/2025
Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming solutions, today released the 9th annual Video Developer Report 2025/26, offering an in-depth look at the evolvi...
13/09/2025
Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced a strategic partnership with StreamShark, the trusted video platform for enterprise...
13/09/2025
Ikegami has chosen IBC 2025 in Amsterdam as the launch venue for a major addition to its range of viewfinders. The new VFE-P711AD is a 7-inch high resolution OL...
13/09/2025
Founder-led Merger to Fast Track R&D, Asset Library Upgrades, Tools and More; No Disruption to Pricing or Support for Users
Today, KitBash3D, a pioneer in 3D a...
13/09/2025
With NDI certification, Atomos integration, Grass Valley collaboration, and a new Monitor app, at this year's IBC, Mavis is showcasing a series of powerful...
13/09/2025
Creamsource, maker of artisan LED lighting for film and television, has unveiled the Vortex24 Soft (V24S), a 1950W native soft light and the largest soft source...
13/09/2025
When international sports streaming service DAZN secured the global rights to the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup football tournament, it set out to deliver an unmatch...
13/09/2025
Riedel Communications today announced the acquisition of hi human interface from Broadcast Solutions, bringing a powerful, vendor-agnostic control system to it...
13/09/2025
Building on its long-term relationship with audio metering specialist RTW, Calrec has integrated the company's brand new TMxCore metering platform across it...
13/09/2025
Calrec is expanding its family of future-ready self-contained Argo M control surfaces at IBC2025, with the addition of a brand new powerful 48-fader console. Co...
13/09/2025
Celtic languages - including Cornish, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh - are the U.K.'s oldest living languages. To empower their speakers, the UK-LLM sover...
13/09/2025
Harmonic's Software-Based XOS Advanced Media Processor Provides Unparalleled Efficiency and Unlocks New Business Models SAN JOSE, Calif. - Sept. 13, 2025 -...
13/09/2025
Researchers find brain region that fuels compulsive drinking Study by Scripps Research scientists shows how the brain learns to seek alcohol for relief, not jus...
12/09/2025
College Football Kickoff 2025: Fox Sports Ups Look as Canon, Sony Power Shallow ...
12/09/2025
ABC/ESPN Excited For WNBA Postseason Coverage In Revamped FormatThe Finals moves to a best-of-seven series in 2025By Mark J Burns, SVG Contributor
Friday, Sep...
12/09/2025
(L-R) Jade Croot, Rosy McEwen, and Bryn Chainey attend the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Rabbit Trap at Eccles Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park ...
12/09/2025
For fans, we know how important it is to stay plugged into music culture and dis...
12/09/2025
Link ping, Sweden and Shipley, United Kingdom, September 12, 2025 - Agama, the expert in video observability and analytics for service quality and customer expe...
12/09/2025
IBC2025 began on Sept. 12, with exhibits and conferences running through Sept. 15 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Center. Explore the full TV Tech coverage of t...
12/09/2025
The Best Fictional Bands (and the Artists Who Make Them Great) With Spinal Tap II: The End Continues hitting theaters and songs from KPop Demon Hunters ruling...
12/09/2025
Industry veteran Tom Baldassare has joined Advanced Systems Group, LLC (ASG), a technology and services provider for media creatives and content owners, as a Se...
12/09/2025
Maxon, maker of powerful, approachable software solutions for creators working in 2D and 3D design, motion graphics, visual effects, and more, today announced a...
12/09/2025
PlayBox Neo, a leading provider of media playout solutions, has partnered with AI-Media, pioneering developers of AI-powered captioning technology, to integrate...
12/09/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
12/09/2025
New alliance strengthens the IT channel in Germany and Switzerland in protecting business-critical SaaS data.
Keepit, the world s only independent, cloud-nativ...
12/09/2025
Fincons Group, an international IT business consultancy and systems integrator company with more than 40 years of experience in the market, is proud to announce...
12/09/2025
Following its acquisition of Telemetrics, EVS continues its push into robotics with an announcement at IBC2025 that it is acquiring XD motion....
12/09/2025
TORONTO The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) has announced the appointment of Eduardo Ruiz Sanchez, deputy director, broadcast operations at Telev...
12/09/2025
Ed Miller, a longtime broadcast engineer in Ohio and a former national president of the Society of Broadcast Engineers, has died....
12/09/2025
AMSTERDAM At this year's IBC2025, the Advanced HDR by Technicolor initiative will be pushing broadcasters to adopt a more dynamic, frame-by-frame conversion...
12/09/2025
Feature-length retrospective from Studio Crook to air in 2026
Sir David Jason returns to the nation's favourite comedy channel, U&GOLD, for Open All Hours:...
12/09/2025
September 12th, 2025
Tribeca X and The Female Quotient to Host Powerhouse Em...
12/09/2025
Friday 12 September 2025
The Boomtown Rats, Nyah Grace, Soweto Kinch, Royal Ballet and Madness also announced to perform at the ceremony on Tuesday
Sky today ...
12/09/2025
Wuppertal September 12, 2025
Riedel Unveils Ultra-Light Bolero Mini Wireless Intercom BeltpackAt IBC2025 in Amsterdam, Riedel Communications unveiled Bolero M...
12/09/2025
Wuppertal September 12, 2025
Riedel Communications Acquires hi human interfaceRiedel Communications today announced the acquisition of hi human interface fro...
12/09/2025
Back to All News
New International Crime Series Road (WT)' Explores Twiste...
12/09/2025
Back to All News
First Look: Thai Crime Drama Everybody Loves Me When I'm ...
12/09/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Marks 10 Years in Japan, Announces Three New Series Th...
12/09/2025
CORE+ virtually removes distortion, setting a new standard for church sound and giving worship teams the clarity and confidence they need.
Read the full artic...
12/09/2025
The Late Late Show is back with a bang after the summer break, and Patrick Kielt...
12/09/2025
The World Athletics Championships, Ireland v France in the Women's Rugby World Cup quarter-final, the Irish Champions Festival, and two Sports Direct Men...
12/09/2025
The Records Show starts Sunday at 6.30pm on RT One and RT Player.
Katie Hanno...
11/09/2025
Report: Busy Live Sports Streaming Execs Have Low-hanging Fruit' in Front o...