NBA Finals 2026: ESPN's 1080p HDR Experience Drives San Antonio Spurs vs. New York Knicks Title Series

Game Creek Video's Flagship A, B, C, and D unit will wind up its first year on the road at Madison Square Garden

Partying like it's 1999 is the most apt way to describe the 2026 NBA Finals, which offer the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs in a rematch from that long-ago year. For this year's championship, airing on ABC, ESPN will deploy workflows that weren't readily available 27 years ago, including a near end-to-end 1080p HDR production plan and a complete ST 2110 signal flow to all participating broadcasters.

The 2025-26 NBA on ESPN was a season of many changes, says Eddie Okuno, director, specialist operations, ESPN, noting the launch of HDR, partnerships with new media rightsholders, and a new cadence of playoff games. Our operations and technical team thrived and excelled through it all, so we're very proud of everyone doing their part and beyond in making this season so successful.

Flagship-Supported Finals: GCV Mobile Unit Leads Fleet of Trucks

This year's NBA Finals will serve as an acknowledgment of one of the workhorses in the broadcast compound: Game Creek Video Flagship. Having debuted during last year's NBA Playoffs, it was heavily featured during the Indianapolis leg of the 2025 NBA Finals. The truck became the core mobile unit for ESPN's coverage of Monday Night Football and the NFL Playoffs before heading to Phoenix for the 2026 Women's Final Four in April. It stopped in Pittsburgh for the 2026 NFL Draft three weeks later and is currently parked at Knicks' home Madison Square Garden for Games 3, 4, and, if necessary, 6.

Game Creek Video Flagship and its staff that supports the fleet have been outstanding, says Okuno. Flagship was purpose-built with a large IP infrastructure scale but with flexibility to support all the ESPN productions it has touched since launching about a year ago.

ESPN's setup at San Antonio's Frost Bank Center is 1,150 ft. from the venue's traditional broadcast compound.Flagship is one of many Game Creek Video mobile units being deployed for the championship round. In the first-ever broadcast compound with full ST 2110 signal flow for all rightsholders in sync in 1080p HDR, the production teams at MSG and at San Antonio's Frost Bank Center will have their own dedicated fleets.

In San Antonio for Games 1, 2, and, if necessary, 5 and 7, GCV Varsity A will handle game production and main audio/video control; Varsity B will handle replay and media management, traditional game graphics, and wired-sound editing; Justice the game's submix, lead production for programming on ESPN Deportes, and ESPN's alternative broadcasts; and augmented-reality/virtual-reality/mixed-reality graphics; Edit 2 game communications, audio for SportsCenter With Scott Van Pelt, and helping with ESPN Deportes programming; Magic A and B onsite editions of Inside the NBA; and Gotham NBA's world-feed production.

ESPN's effort at Frost Bank Center is managed by Remote Operations Producer II Christine Rouskas, Senior Remote Operations Producer Johnathan Williams, Senior Remote Operations Coordinator Luis Manuel Lopez, Remote Operations Specialist Zaac Christopher, and Senior Remote Operations Producer Justin McIntosh.

Game Creek Video mobile units are on hand for the Spurs-Knicks matchup.In New York, GCV Flagship A is responsible for engineering and game audio; Flagship B game production and both traditional and virtual graphics; Flagship C replay and media management, programming on ESPN Deportes, and ESPN's alternative broadcasts, virtual ad signage, and wired-sound editing; Flagship D game communications and transmission and remote traffic; Bird A/B Inside the NBA and SportsCenter With Scott Van Pelt; and Celtic and B4 NBA's world-feed production.

ESPN's effort at Madison Square Garden is managed by Senior Remote Operations Producer Kelley Nagi, Remote Operations Producer II Jason Dorsey, Senior Remote Operations Coordinator Matthew Garrison, Senior Remote Operations Specialist Alan McDonald, and Remote Operations Specialist Tommy Clark. Remote Operations Coordinator I Kimberly Conrad, Recurring Remote Operations Producer II Scott Garifo, and Recurring Remote Operations Producer II Erik Guyton will be stationed in both cities.

Each compound will have its own infrastructure. In San Antonio, the compound - located 1,150 ft. from the venue's traditional site - is powered by CES 4X 500-kW generators and two 175-kW towable plant generators and has 504 strands of temporary fiber, 10 SMPTE homeruns of 1,150 ft. each, and copper audio backup.

GCV Flagship will complete its debut year in New York City.In MSG's traditional compound, CES 4X 500k-W generators work alongside office workspace relocated to the MSG Theatre and offsite office space in rental locations and hotel meeting rooms. This specific compound will be deconstructed after Game 4; if the series goes to Game 6, all trucks and generators will be reparked on Monday, June 15 at 3 a.m. for the game at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 16. After that game, that setup also will be torn down to make way for tech installation on Friday, June 19 at 7 a.m. for two days of Goose concerts.

Besides the operations teams, key personnel include, on the crewing side, Supervisor, Crewing, Candice Morales; Crewing Coordinator II Stephanie Cannon; and Crewing Coordinator I Max Morales. In remote traffic, Manager, Remote Traffic Operations, Daryl Timothy; Remote Traffic Operations Coordinator II Christopher Baylis; and Senior Remote Traffic Operations Coordinator Neang Ne. For mobile-unit operations, Senior Remote Mobile Unit Operations Coordinator Vicki DiTolla and Senior Manager, Remote Mobile Unit Operations, Liza Cole.

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LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2026/06/03/nba-finals-2026-espns-1080p-hdr...
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