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
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
18/08/2026
SMT will provide race technology for FOX Sports' coverage of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. on August 23, when the NTT INDYCAR SERIES races ...
18/08/2026
The live, YouTube-native roundtables combine fan voices, credentialed reporters,...
18/08/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/08/2026
The industry legend sounds off on replacing the Heat's iconic Medusa score...
18/08/2026
William F. Rasmussen, the sports fan-turned broadcaster and entrepreneur whose out-of-the-box idea of a 24-hour cable sports network, ESPN, changed forever the ...
18/08/2026
DAZN Group has completed its acquisition of ViewLift, a provider of streaming and digital solutions for sports content owners. The acquisition was first announc...
18/08/2026
The American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) has added SI TV, Sports Illustrated's 24/7 streaming channel, as a broadcast partner for the remain...
18/08/2026
The Esports Foundation has announced that the inaugural Esports Nations Cup (ENC), originally scheduled for November 2026 in Riyadh, will be postponed to Novemb...
18/08/2026
Diversified has announced a new Global Managed Services Practice, consolidating the company's managed services capabilities into one organization. Rob Mello...
18/08/2026
Appear has completed a proof of concept with Thoroughbred Racing Productions (TRP), demonstrating multi-camera remote live production over bonded 5G cellular an...
World Games Provide Test Bed for Olympics Production Cloud-based workflow is deployed for 10-day multi-sport event By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
