Xs and Os: Sky Sports takes NFL to the next level with new bespoke studio By Michael Burns
Thursday, September 9, 2021 - 13:58
Print This Story
This year Sky Sports NFL studio presentation, from Sky Studios in Osterley, is enhanced with a bespoke design
Sky Sports NFL has just returned for a second run, with the NFL launching its biggest-ever regular season. This time around, Sky Sports has gone all-out for British fans with a new, expanded studio to provide even more visual excitement alongside in-depth analysis of this well-padded sport.
The satellite pay-TV channel is covering the expanded 102nd season (18 weeks) right up to Super Bowl LVI at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on 13 February. All 32 teams are playing 17 games in their attempt to make the playoffs in the most popular sports league in the US.
Although Sky has been a partner of the NFL for 26 consecutive years, last summer saw the launch of the first ever dedicated NFL channel outside of the US as part of the renewal of the partnership; from September until February, Sky Sports Action becomes Sky Sports NFL and just carries NFL content.
We carry at least five hours of original programming every day, says Alex Mason, senior producer at Sky Sports. Sky is part of the ComCast family, so we take some magazine shows from NBC; we take ProFootballTalk every weekday, while from NFL Network, we take their Good Morning Football shows, six days a week. We also take NFL GameDay Morning magazine programming around the live game.
The NFL usually schedules games in five time slots during the week. While two games tend to take place on a Sunday afternoon, there are also generally evening games scheduled on a Sunday, Thursday and Monday, broadcast by different US networks across the games.
We take the American coverage of all the live games, but we have our own studio presentation around the Sunday games, from 5pm until we hand over to NBC's Sunday Night Football in America at 1.30am, says Mason. Obviously games that kick off at 6pm and at 9.25pm [in UK time] sit very well on a Sunday night, as that's primetime for us.
Neil Reynolds is the host of the live coverage, providing analysis alongside a guest analyst, while Hannah Wilkes and Josh Denzel present the Overtime show on Thursdays.
Xs and Os
This year the studio presentation, from Sky Studios in Osterley, is enhanced with a bespoke design. We have more floor space than before to do demos and have a more dynamic and active presentation, with what looks like an NFL pitch on the floor, as well as a brilliant video wall to engage with our remote contributors, says Mason. It's a relatively standard studio set up, but I think what's really important is the return of the jib camera. We can show off all the different floor space that we have and we can set the guys in different areas. The flexibility of the video wall, the ability to have remote contributors in there is something we're really going to try and experiment with this year.
We've still got the touchscreen area, so we can still break down the Xs and Os [playing formations], to explain the plays and stuff like that, but our focus is on the remote contributor being as important as the in-studio guests. This is a core offering for us, he continues. When I started in this role on [Sky Sports] NFL about five years ago I became acutely aware of the challenges from a resource point of view of getting [US star guests and pundits] of a high enough calibre to come to the UK to be part of the broadcast. In the NFL world, our budget isn't the same as the US broadcasters.
The flexibility of the video wall, the ability to have remote contributors in there is something we're really going to try and experiment with this year
The solution came via the pandemic, when Sky Sports turned to remote production to cope with the challenges of lockdown.
The technical guys in Sky Production Services [SPS] utilised vMix, and that's how we were able to make shows remotely, says Mason. I had the experience of producing live shows from my kitchen at home, and it all successfully went to air so that was kind of a new way of working. I asked the guys at Sky if we could incorporate that as a way of engaging remote guests.
Historically we used Skype or Zoom, but with that we have extra steps in the workflow and so we involve other departments, he adds. I felt we could do it in a more self-contained manner, incorporating vMix into our live broadcast.
Inside Sky Sports' new studio for NFL coverage
The video wall was first used last week on Thursday's NFL 32 Live season preview show.
We had a really nice moment last Thursday where we had Neil on camera left and then three contributors in the video wall behind him, he adds. It lent itself to a really nice flowing conversation.
The NFL 32 Live show saw Reynolds on his own in the studio, linking in and out of about 65 prerecorded VTs and having 10 to 12 contributors join remotely. Neil was able to host the four-hour live show, speaking on over 100 topics, and he did it seamlessly and flawlessly, says Mason. So [viewers got] an in-depth, three to four minute conversation about all 32 teams, and then storylines within the teams.
The US contributors working with Reynolds, who is arguably a co-producer with me , adds Mason, are all big names in the NFL world. Nora Princiotti, our new contributor, is former beat writer for the Patriots, says Mason. Peter King contributes to our show on a Sunday and we take pieces of his Football Morning in America column every Monday to publicise it. Our old friend and stalwart of the show Jeff Reinebold comes over after Thanksgiving onwards.
We've also got Will Blackman coming over. He's a former Super Bowl winner with the New York Giants, now an up and coming broadcaster after a
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
07/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/04/2026
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's leading streaming television channels, at NAB 2026 will be launching new Studio services to help content ow...
07/04/2026
Ikegami USA has chosen NAB 2026 in Las Vegas as the launch platform for new additions to its range of broadcast-quality television production equipment. These w...
07/04/2026
April 19, 2026, Las Vegas Kiloview, an innovative provider of AV-over-IP technologies, will showcase its latest broadcast IP solutions at NAB 2026, presenting...
07/04/2026
Bitmovin has announced support for Server-Guided Ad Insertion (SGAI) across its playback products using HLS interstitials, enabling more advanced ad-supported s...
07/04/2026
Synamedia is unveiling AI by Quortex at The NAB show, a just-in-time AI plugin framework that applies intelligence only when needed across video processing, dis...
07/04/2026
Cuez will showcase four additions to its cloud-based newsroom, rundown and automation platform at NAB Show 2026 (April 18 22, Las Vegas, Booth N1867):
Cuez ...
07/04/2026
CueScript to Showcase Innovations at NAB that Add Mobility Options, Ease Editing...
07/04/2026
Barix Extends Transport Options for Multi-Engine IP Encoder
Brie Clayton April 7, 2026
0 Comments
New for NAB, Barix adds SRT and RIST support to Mult...
07/04/2026
Elite Media Technologies Selects Interra Systems' BATON File-Based QC Soluti...
07/04/2026
Tightrope Media Systems to Debut Cablecast LiveBridge for Simultaneous Streaming...
07/04/2026
Cuez Brings Four New Innovations to NAB 2026: From Story-Centric Newsroom to Ope...
07/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/04/2026
Designed for synchronized multi-stream playback, low-latency delivery, and real-time analytics, MATCH introduces a unified viewing experience for sports broadca...
07/04/2026
Berklee Students to Honor George Martin with Performance of Original Scores The orchestra, led by associate professor Xander Rovang, will perform several work...
07/04/2026
THE GAA CHAMPIONSHIPS ARE BACK WITH A BANG
LIVE AND FREE TO AIR ACROSS ALL RT PLATFORMS
The Sunday Game and The Sunday Game Live return on Sunday 12 April
L...
06/04/2026
Michigan legends bring a new voice to the broadcast as TNT Sports and CBS Sports...
06/04/2026
From high school sports all the way up to the major leagues, building high-quali...
06/04/2026
Quickplay, an AI company for the media and entertainment industry, has been accepted into the Advanced tier of the TwelveLabs Ecosystem Partner Program. Quickpl...
06/04/2026
Grass Valley has announced the Future Playmakers Program, a global initiative to...
06/04/2026
El l der de operaciones impulsa la producci n en estudio mientras encuentra insp...
06/04/2026
The ops leader helps lead the charge in studio for the Spanish-language broadcas...
06/04/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
06/04/2026
The National Hockey League (NHL), in partnership with Verizon and the New Jersey Devils, today announced the opening of the NHL Innovation Lab powered by Verizo...
06/04/2026
Rock League, a new professional curling league, has announced that ESPN+ will stream its inaugural 2026 season for fans in the United States. The first Rock Lea...
06/04/2026
Advanced Systems Group has announced the appointment of Andrea (Andy) Cummis as Vice President of Systems Design and Engineering. In this role, she will lead de...
06/04/2026
Backed by Bolt Ventures, the venture brings Bryson DeChambeau, Grant Horvat, and...
06/04/2026
With this environment we can start that collaboration even earlier because we ca...
06/04/2026
Like the immortal lives of vampires, some stories never really end. That's t...
06/04/2026
As podcasting continues to evolve, growth increasingly means building beyond aud...
06/04/2026
Multiband dynamics plug-in enhanced
California-based developer FSK Audio have released a significant update for their innovative multiband dynamics processo...
06/04/2026
Share official & user-created full-rig presets
IK Multimedia's latest TONEX update makes it possible for users of the popular amp and effects modelling ...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Dalet Showcases Dalia Agentic AI and End-to-End Media Workflows at NAB Show 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Dalet, a leading technology and...
06/04/2026
OpenDrives Shows Off Sports Expertise in Sports Business Hub located in NAB Show...
06/04/2026
Proton to Demonstrate 3D Application at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Yet further creative potential unleashed through innovation in ...
06/04/2026
Autoscript Highlights Voice-Driven Prompting and PTZ Solutions at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Experience Autoscript Voice, PTZ prom...
06/04/2026
Mediaproxy Highlights Significant Enhancements to its LogServer suite at NAB Sho...
06/04/2026
Wayne, N.J., April 6th, 2026 Phantom High-Speed announces the release of PCC 4...
06/04/2026
April 6th, 2026
TRIBECA STUDIOS AND LILLY ANNOUNCE WINNERS OF INAUGURAL VITAL...
06/04/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Expands Kids Entertainment Lineup With Playground App ...
Xs and Os: Sky Sports takes NFL to the next level with new bespoke studio By Michael Burns 
