Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

World Games Provide Test Bed for Olympics Production

22/07/2022

World Games Provide Test Bed for Olympics Production Cloud-based workflow is deployed for 10-day multi-sport event By Dan Daley, Audio Editor

Friday, July 22, 2022 - 11:09 am

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

Think of it as a Summer League for the Olympics. The World Games 2022, the international multi-sport event that ended on Sunday after a 10-day run in Birmingham, AL, is a proving ground for possible tweaks to Olympics-production workflows as well as a parade for potential new Olympic sports.

International Sports Broadcasting's David Taunton (left) and Ursula Romero at The World Games 2022

Like an Olympics, The World Games are usually held every four years (one year after a Summer Olympics), but it offers a cavalcade of largely unfamiliar sports: for example, fistball, floorball and korfball, lifesaving, orienteering, and Muay Thai. It's worth noting, however that several sports or disciplines featured at past World Games are now part of the Olympic Games. All told, more than 30 sports were included in the TWG 2022 official program, and around 3,500 participants from nearly 100 nations took part.

Other than the somewhat exotic sports lineup, though, The World Games' workflow would be familiar to many who work the Olympics. That's largely because the overarching federation, the International World Games Association (IWGA), is under the aegis of the International Olympics Committee. Its International Broadcast Center (IBC) is heavily populated by Olympics-broadcast veterans: it's led by Ursula Romero, managing director, International Sports Broadcasting (ISB), the Olympics' longtime broadcast-technology vendor, and includes ISB Head of Engineering Jorge Pickering and Head of Production David Taunton. The World Games events are viewed through Olympics.com as well as various rightsholders like ESPN Latin America and CCTV.

Eight Production Vans Move From Sport to Sport The workflow is pretty much the same, though on a smaller scale, Romero said during the event. We have production OB vans deployed at eight sports [venues] every day, and these mobile units get moved around from sport to sport as needed. Our aim is to cover as many semifinals and finals as possible, and, on some occasions, we've managed to also do all the preliminaries: for example, with gymnastics and lifesaving. But, with the eight mobile units, provided by F&F Productions, we've been basically driving all over Birmingham, going from venue to venue rigging and de-rigging, then packing up and going to the next venue. In an ideal world, we would've had more OB vans to be able to cover more and not have to move around so much. But that's what the budget allowed for.

(A significant difference between The World Games and the Olympics is that host cities are not required to construct dedicated venues for events. Say the World Games website, Ideally, the event is to be staged at existing venues, in appropriately sized facilities that have been planned or built regardless of the candidate host bidding for the event. )

CBS Sports Softball announcers Kayla Braud (left) and Gray Robertson called the gold-medal game from the International Broadcast Center.

A total of 23 competition venues in and around Birmingham were used for TWG 2022. The signal was backhauled from the production vans, over either IP or fiber, to the International Broadcast Center (IBC), located at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex (BJCC), also the site of the dancesport and gymnastics competitions.

ISB is set up at the BJCC South Hall of the IBC, where we receive all feeds from the venues, explained Pickering, who served as project coordinator. Here, the signal is verified and distributed internally for the production of The World Games Channel, which was offered to broadcasters around the world 24/7 with English commentary.

Production Packaged for The World Game Channel ISB also established a master-control room to receive and distribute the signal internally to the logging and server facilities used for editing and integration at the dispatch station of The World Games Channels. The transmission was offered on audio Channels 1 and 2 for international sound; Channels 3 and 4 had English commentary with a mixdown of the international-feed audio.

From there, said Romero, we package the World Games Channel, which is a 24/7, ready-to-air channel similar to what OBS does during the Olympics with the Olympics News Channel: a mix of live sports, delayed sports, and two daily highlight packages. That includes sport that is covered with ENG, which is edited here in the IBC as well, plus little feature-type pieces about Birmingham.

(For Birmingham, The World Games is its second significant sports coup this year: the state's third-most-populous city was also the site of the entire second season of the USFL, which took place at Protective Stadium. Located at the BJCC, the city's new $180 million stadium hosted the TWG 2022 official introduction and grand-finale entertainment event.)

The IWGA's partnership with [ISB] put the Birmingham Organizing Committee in experienced hands to showcase the city, the competitions, and the athletes to the world, said Hammond Reynolds, executive producer, broadcast, The World Games 2022. The sights and sounds from these games have been spectacular. The beautiful video has showcased our beautiful city and the 34 sports. The sounds, the interviews, and ISB's commitment to the highest quality of audio has allowed viewers to feel like they were there.

Local broadband was provided by Unity, under the auspices of the Birmingham-based WG Organizing Committee. Broadband for streaming to rightsholders was provided by Haivision, using the Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) open-source video-transport protocol. According to Romero, the use of
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2022/07/22/world-games-provide-test-bed-fo...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

20/11/2025

MLB Media-Rights Shakeup: NBC's New Three-Year Deal Covers Sunday Night Baseball,' Peacock-Exclusive Games, and More

MLB Media-Rights Shakeup: NBC's New Three-Year Deal Covers Sunday Night Bas...

20/11/2025

MLB Media-Rights Shakeup: New Deal Will Bring 30 National Games to ESPN's Linear Platform, MLB.TV Exclusively to ESPN App

MLB Media-Rights Shakeup: New Deal Will Bring 30 National Games to ESPN's Li...

20/11/2025

MLB Media-Rights Shakeup: Netflix Lands Opening Night, Home Run Derby, Field of Dreams

MLB Media-Rights Shakeup: Netflix Lands Opening Night, Home Run Derby, Field of ...

20/11/2025

MLB Media-Rights Shakeup Overview: ESPN, NBCU, Netflix Ink Three-Year Deals

MLB Media-Rights Shakeup Overview: ESPN, NBCU, Netflix Ink Three-Year DealsESPN gets new 30-game package, MLB.TV; NBC extends Sunday nights; Netflix adds tentpo...

20/11/2025

SVG Students To Watch: Henry Thuss, Indiana University

SVG Students To Watch: Henry Thuss, Indiana UniversityThe Southern California product has his goals set on the front benchBy Brandon Costa, Director of Digital ...

20/11/2025

Done+Dusted's Guy Carrington on Creating the Spectacular League of Legends World Championship Opening Ceremony

Done+Dusted's Guy Carrington on Creating the Spectacular League of Legends W...

20/11/2025

FIA Extreme H World Cup Host Broadcaster Aurora Goes Inside the Production of the Hydrogen-Fuelled Motorsport

FIA Extreme H World Cup Host Broadcaster Aurora Goes Inside the Production of th...

20/11/2025

Platinum White Paper: Amagi Utilizes Cloud Production for Sports Events - Multi-Camera Live Workflow with Remote Commentary and Graphics

Platinum White Paper: Amagi Utilizes Cloud Production for Sports Events - Multi-...

20/11/2025

2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Marc Herklotz, Steady Hand Behind the Scenes

2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Marc Herklotz, Steady Hand Behind the Sce...

20/11/2025

NFL Deep Dive: How 32 Cameras at Each Stadium Drive Virtual Measurement, Boundary Replays, and Skeletal Tracking

NFL Deep Dive: How 32 Cameras at Each Stadium Drive Virtual Measurement, Boundar...

20/11/2025

Zodiac Killer Project Refuses to Kill Its Darlings With an Avant-Garde Essay Film

Charlie Shackleton attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Zodiac K...

20/11/2025

5 Ways to Get More out of Your Playlists on Spotify

Your playlists are personal. They're the soundtracks to your road trips, your quiet mornings, and your biggest celebrations; collections of memories and dis...

20/11/2025

Spotify, Trk mziinin efsanelerine sayg duruu niteliindeki ICON Trkiye'yi duyurdu

Spotify, uzun s redir zerine al t T rk m zik k lt r n n ikon haline gelmi ...

20/11/2025

Spotify and The Hollywood Reporter' Partner on the First-Ever Podcaster Roundtable

For the first time, Spotify has teamed up with The Hollywood Reporter to cohost ...

20/11/2025

Spotify and the ARIA Awards Mark a New Era for Australian Music

This year's ARIA Awards marked a turning point for Australian music, and Spotify was right at the heart of it. For the first time in the awards' nearly ...

20/11/2025

Cracking the Code for Resilient, Secure Space-based Communications

L3Harris has achieved NSA Cybersecurity Directorate certification for its KSV-650 space hub end cryptographic unit, ensuring secure, adaptable communications fo...

20/11/2025

Continued Commitment and Investment in Poland

L3Harris is strengthening its long-term partnership with Poland through the opening of a new facility in Warsaw to serve as a central business hub for regional ...

20/11/2025

Cinegy wins the Swedish Hockey League

15 March 2012 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Cinegy and Vericom are pleased to announce the recent deployment of Cinegy Archive for production and as...

20/11/2025

2012

6 September 2012 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email FIC Turkey supplies media content to Pay TV under Fox TV Channel brands in Turkey. At the start of s...

20/11/2025

VIVA Indonesia broadcasting the World Cup Brazil 2014 with Cinegy

25 June 2014 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Last month VIVA finalized its Cinegy installation in order to produce and broadcast the World Cup Brazil ...

20/11/2025

2014

1 October 2014 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email With 5 locations spread out around Baden-W rttemberg, Schw bisch Media required a scalable end to end s...

20/11/2025

Strictly Come Dancing Goes with a Cinegy Workflow

27 April 2015 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Cinegy, which develops and produces media asset management products that are used in flagship production...

20/11/2025

Cinegy announces new Latin America partnership

12 August 2015 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Munich, Germany, 26 October 2015 - Cinegy, which develops and produces software technology for digital ...

20/11/2025

2015

5 November 2015 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Munich, Germany 3 November 2015 - Cinegy, which develops and produces software technology for digital ...

20/11/2025

Cinegy launches Cinegy Open' initiative

12 February 2016 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Munich, Germany 9 February 2016 - Cinegy, which develops and produces software technology for digital...

20/11/2025

2016

22 June 2016 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Munich, Germany 21 June 2016 - Cinegy today announced that ABS BROADCAST, one of the largest independentl...

20/11/2025

Cinegy News - nominee of NewBay Media Awards 2016

10 January 2017 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Find us on page 12 of the Program Guide 2016 Tags NewBay Media Awards , Program Guide 2016 , broadc...

20/11/2025

Freeview Thailand deploys Cinegy Air PRO Bundles for multi-channel playout

15 March 2017 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Munich, Germany 15 March 2017 - Cinegy today announced that Thailand's Next Step direct-to-home Free...

20/11/2025

2017

12 December 2017 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Munich, Germany 13 December 2017 - Cinegy today announced that it is making its Cinegy Air Cloud Pack...

20/11/2025

2018

25 June 2018 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Munich 25th June 2018 - Cinegy today announced that Canada-based Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) has implemen...

20/11/2025

2019

27 May 2019 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email The best quality live video from the worst networks - Haivision Although DVB and the World Wide Web are...

20/11/2025

2020

24 November 2020 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email ATV Expand and Increase their Playout and Editing Capabilities using Cinegy Software Munich, Germany...

20/11/2025

Cinegy further commits to Eastern European market with new appointment

1 September 2021 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Munich, Germany, 1st September 2021: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for di...

20/11/2025

2021

20 September 2021 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email ElectronicVerve continues a strong history of supporting Cinegy customers in India Munich, Germany,...

20/11/2025

2022

1 November 2022 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Munich, Germany, 01 November 2022: Cinegy, a premier provider of software technology for digital video...

20/11/2025

Britt Broadcast implements Cinegy Air PRO at TBC (Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation]

31 October 2023 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Britt Broadcast at TBC...

20/11/2025

Oklahoma Community Television Overcomes ATSC 3.0 Translator Challenge

CINCINNATI Oklahoma Community Television (OCT) has selected GatesAir and Triveni Digital as key technology partners in an ATSC 3.0 deployment that establishes a...

20/11/2025

FCC Launches Wide-Ranging Examination of Network Affiliate Relations

WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has opened a wide-ranging inquiry into the relations between broadcast networks and their affiliates that could...

20/11/2025

IAB: Creator Economy Ad Spend Now Dwarfs Ad Spend for Total Media Industry

NEW YORK Ad spend in the creator economy has more than doubled since 2021 from $13.9B to $29.5B in 2024 and that amount is projected to reach $37 billion in 202...

20/11/2025

Graduate Spotlight: Krysta Mirsik DePuy

Graduate Spotlight: Krysta Mirsik DePuy The educator from Hackettstown, New Jersey, shares how it took her 11 years to find the right graduate program for her...

20/11/2025

Rise Awards 2025 Celebrate the Industry's Best

LONDON The winners of the Rise Awards 2025, which recognize women and companies whose achievements have stood out in the media technology industry, have been an...

20/11/2025

Lionsgate, Debmar-Mercury Launch MovieSphere Gold Diginet

SANTA MONICA & NEW YORK Lionsgate's Worldwide Television Distribution Group and Debmar-Mercury have launched MovieSphere Gold in more than 30 million homes....

20/11/2025

Clear-Com Unveils New 4-Channel HelixNet Beltpack

ALAMEDA, Calif. Clear-Com has introduced its four-channel HelixNet beltpack, a next-generation advancement of its widely used two-channel model, and anticipates...

20/11/2025

Kiswe Core Aims to Simplify Cloud-Based Streaming Distribution

NEW PROVIDENCE, N.J. Streaming technology and services provider Kiswe has launched Kiswe Core, a next-generation cloud-based platform designed to simplify the s...

20/11/2025

Dolby Partners Up With Bay Area Super Bowl Host Committee

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. Dolby Laboratories has signed on as an official signature partner of the Bay Area Host Committee (BAHC) for the 2026 Super Bowl and the we...

20/11/2025

Telus TV+ Expands Distribution to Samsung and LG Smart TVs

STUTTGART, Germany 3 Screen Solutions (3SS) has announced that the Canadian multiservice operator Telus has launched its Telus TV+ entertainment platform on Sam...

20/11/2025

MLB Strikes Rights Deals With ESPN, NBCUniversal, Netflix

Major League Baseball has announced deals with ESPN, NBCUniversal and Netflix covering 2026-2028 that make ESPN the exclusive distributor for MLB.TV, put regula...

20/11/2025

Berklee Presents Holiday Extravaganza: Duke Ellingtons The Nutcracker Suite and GenNext All-Stars' Noel

Berklee Presents Holiday Extravaganza: Duke Ellingtons The Nutcracker Suite and ...

20/11/2025

Space42 and EDGE Group Announce Strategic SATCOM Manufacturing Alliance at Dubai Airshow 2025

Dubai, United Arab Emirates [November 20, 2025] Space42 (ADX: SPACE42), the ...