Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Live From Wimbledon: ESPN's Jamie Reynolds on the Challenges in Broadcasting a Grand Slam

12/07/2019

Live From Wimbledon: ESPN's Jamie Reynolds on the Challenges in Broadcasting a Grand Slam Keeping ahead of the dramatic storylines keeps the team on their toes By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Friday, July 12, 2019 - 12:20 pm

Print This Story

Story Highlights

The two finals at Wimbledon are shaping up to be epic battles between arguably the biggest names in the sport. That is just fine with Jamie Reynolds, VP, production, ESPN, and nearly everyone else in the Wimbledon Broadcast Centre, portending great interest and ratings. Reynolds took a few minutes out of his schedule to speak with SVG Editorial Director Ken Kerschbaumer about this year's tournament, the current season, the challenge of broadcasting a Tennis Grand Slam event, and what lies ahead for the ESPN team as it gears up for the US Open in August.

ESPN's Jamie Reynolds: You need the time and the commitment to figure out the subtle nuances that would change the coverage. That requires investment of time, energy, and resources.

How have things been going here at Wimbledon for you and the team?

It's great. We got 175 people here, and it's one of those events where you bring people across from the U.S. and you tell them it's like 14 days in a submarine. We go down on day one, we resurface in 14 days; we're going offshore, you're living with everybody 10-15 hours a day. You've got to know how to line up with each other, recognize the creative disparity, possible tension, harmonize with ideas, and just kind of keep the whole click-clack running with everybody. That's the best thing.

It's always great to use this chance to recap the season so far. Starting from the Australian Open, how have things gone?

The whole tennis year continues to evolve at a very rapid pace. Tennis Australia has done a really nice job with that venue, and, [with] what they've rolled out in their long-term plan, it's clear they've invested in this category, in this sport. What they're doing with Melbourne Park, what they're turning that whole venue into, and what they've done with the satellite tour around it, you just know there's a lot of energy, and there's an investment. So that's a good sign.

As a broadcaster, we're still trying to figure out, with that event, how can we balance our investment onsite versus the rapidly emerging technology that they're offering to their customers. But, in that, how do you differentiate? What's still unique between ESPN, BBC, Wowow, any other onsite broadcaster? What access, what discovery can we still harvest and turn into neat content that doesn't necessarily look and feel like what's being distributed? Then we have to find that balance for it, right? How they manage the event, how they're efficient with it, but what's still accessible that's unique and fresh, other than just the talent roster?

How do you find that balance? What's the tension there? Is it just because there are only so many access points to the players or interviews?

I think it's kind of that three-dimensional chessboard of lining up player access and not being so invasive, establishing some level of priority between broadcasters. You can't have everybody running around the venue at once looking out for the same athletes or the same courts. So you have to manage that. There's a safety issue in terms of that access at the end of the day. And then you have to figure out what the different brand identity might be and how do you land all of these converging interests so everybody gets a piece that's unique to them and that they can say, This is why we're a little better than the others.

Is that a challenge for all the Slams?

It's interesting because all four have differences and different types of business models. Australia is heavily backed by the state. The French have their own unique operation. This is a private club at Wimbledon. USTA is a different organization [whose] mission statement is to promote the message of tennis. They all have very different financial drivers, business models, the way that they are stewards of the support and the event. So the dynamics might be slightly different in each one of those venues.

You start with a competition at the base level, and you know you're trying to service the brand and get it out to the world, so there's a great deal of priority [on] that base level. You have the ATP influence, you have the WTA influence, you have the players' access points. Has it reached the saturation point? Yes. It's probably overcorrected a little bit to be very, perhaps, measured in how much access players are responsible for giving to keep an event going. And that is so they can still stay competitive and stay on their regular schedule. But now that there's so much time available and so many courts being covered and so many hours devoted to coverage that the players are becoming a finite resource.

With so much on-court coverage, is it a challenge finding time for things like player features?

If there are 18 courts offered here and play begins at 11 and they'll go through the end of the order of play per day, there's an incredible volume of live action. That's great because everybody has figured out how that ought to get out to the fan base.

But now you have to add that new layer of what's accessible, gratifying, meeting the fan expectations of access and discovery of the players. What can you get other than just press-conference sound? What kind of personality element can you continue to deliver that's at the same scale as the 18 courts for 10 hours a day? And then you're fighting the clock because, every second day, the field is cut in half. Now they start dwindling. How do you manage putting all of those ingredients toge
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2019/07/12/wimbledon-2019-espns-jamie-reyn...
See more stories from svg

North America Stories

21/07/2026

Savannah Bananas Tap Calrec to Expand Banana Ball TV Coverage

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/07/2026

Where Growth Takes Root Viaccess-Orca Showcases the Found...

Across the TV and streaming ecosystem, industry players face mounting pressure to do more with less. They must simplify operations, protect premium content and ...

21/07/2026

Tuxera breaks performance ceilings and brings SMB/NFS mul...

Tuxera, a leading prover of quality-assured file systems and networking technologies, is bringing its latest advances in connectivity performance to the media w...

21/07/2026

COW Jobs: Apple Motion Expert for Custom FCP Rigged Graphics Package

COW Jobs: Apple Motion Expert for Custom FCP Rigged Graphics Package Brie Clayton July 21, 2026 0 Comments HIRING: Apple Motion Expert for Custom FCP ...

21/07/2026

Cinegy directly addresses the real issues of software-def...

Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, will use its presence at IBC2026 (stand 7.A01, Amsterdam RAI, 11 14 September) to...

21/07/2026

Calrec brings leading audio solutions and long term busin...

Calrec will be located in Hall 8, on Stand C47 Beyond bigger For years, broadcast facilities were built around one assumption: provision for the biggest pro...

21/07/2026

Pebble takes the next step towards the future of media de...

Pebble, the leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, will discuss its future-facing developments for the new generation of medi...

21/07/2026

nxtedition Brings Production, AI and Automation Together...

nxtedition returns to IBC2026 with its consolidated production platform, showing how scripting, editing, graphics, AI-assisted tools and automation can work wit...

21/07/2026

Big Blue Marble brings C2PA Content Credentials to Cloud...

C2PA content signing helps broadcasters, public institutions, and publishers give audiences a verifiable record of where their video content came from and how i...

21/07/2026

HDHomeRun Enables Operation During Internet Outages

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/07/2026

Calif. Federal Judge Pauses Paramount-WBD Merger

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/07/2026

AWARN Rebuts Weigel Claims of 3.0 EAS Problems

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/07/2026

FCC Announces Tentative Agenda for August Open Meeting

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/07/2026

VIDA Introduces QC Manager for Collaborative Quality Cont...

New capability centralizes collaboration, feedback, security and status tracking within VIDA, providing a structured, auditable approach to master quality contr...

21/07/2026

Lightcraft Launches Exclusive Spark Story Beta for Filmmakers and Creators at SIGGRAPH 2026

Lightcraft Launches Exclusive Spark Story Beta for Filmmakers and Creators at SI...

21/07/2026

Indie Road Movie Where in the Hell Shot with Pocket Cinema Camera 4K

Indie Road Movie Where in the Hell Shot with Pocket Cinema Camera 4K Brie Clayton July 20, 2026 0 Comments Colorist blends vintage film looks to shape...

21/07/2026

Which USS Defiant Pulse Phaser effect is better?

Which USS Defiant Pulse Phaser effect is better? Graham Quince July 20, 2026 0 Comments Aargh, ever since @DarkRavenProductions posted a comment ask...

21/07/2026

Built for Vera Rubin, NVIDIA Spectrum-6 Arrives in Gigascale AI Factories

AI has entered the gigascale era. The world's most advanced AI factories are bringing together hundreds of thousands of GPUs and CPUs to train frontier mod...

21/07/2026

NVIDIA Vera Rubin Driving Performance Per Watt, Lowest Token Cost for Partners Worldwide

NVIDIA Vera Rubin is here, and it's going gigascale. Vera Rubin NVL72 produ...

20/07/2026

SVG All-Stars: Rob Coons, Senior Director, StudentU, Big Ten Network

The former Northwestern broadcast-operations leader is helping train the next generation of live-sports-production talent across the Big Ten The sports-product...

20/07/2026

Give Me the Backstory: Get to Know Stacey Lee, the Filmmaker Behind Murder 101

By Lucy Spicer One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival is having a front-row seat for the bright future of independent filmmaking. Whi...

20/07/2026

Telemundo Inks Another Major U.S. Spanish-Language Soccer Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/07/2026

HDHomeRun Enables Operation During An Internet Outage

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/07/2026

Starfish highlights flexible, scalable transport stream p...

Starfish Technologies will use IBC2026 to showcase the flexibility of its transport stream processing software, including the latest versions of TS Splicer (Win...

20/07/2026

Bitfocus makes the connections at IBC2026

Bitfocus, the specialist in media control and monitoring, will show at IBC2026 (Elgato stand 8.D31, Amsterdam RAI, 11 14 September) how its Buttons control la...

20/07/2026

Mediagenix Introduces Trusted Agentic AI Operating Model...

Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced new AI capabilities that e...

20/07/2026

Big Blue Marble Cloud DRM nominated for Streaming Media R...

Big Blue Marble's Cloud DRM has been nominated in the DRM/Content Protection category of the 2026 Streaming Media Readers' Choice Awards. Only four pro...

20/07/2026

At SIGGRAPH, NVIDIA Advances Graphics and Simulation With Agentic and Physical AI

At this year's SIGGRAPH conference, running through Thursday, July 23, in Lo...

20/07/2026

Bristol Myers Squibb Building Life Science Industry's Most Advanced AI Factory on NVIDIA Vera Rubin

Erin Davis calls it the SuperDuperPOD. That's two things in one name: phar...

19/07/2026

Halftime Show at FIFA World Cup Final Joins a Litany of Firsts for the Quadrennial Event

Justin Bieber, Madonna, Shakira, BTS make for a diverse lineup, and the venue ad...

19/07/2026

More Than Just a Game: FIFA World Cup's Lance Brass Breaks Down Stadium Production and Entertainment

The stage is set: three-time champion Argentina will defend its World Cup title ...

18/07/2026

More Than Just a Game: FIFA World Cups Lance Brass Breaks Down Stadium Production & Entertainment

Topics include pre-match ceremonies, live performances, the tournament's fir...

18/07/2026

As the Final Approaches, FIFA and HBS Take Stock of a World Cup That Rewrote the Production Playbook

When FIFA and HBS set out to produce the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the numbers alone ...

18/07/2026

Netflix Viewing Hit Record 97 Billion Hours in First Half of 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

18/07/2026

YouTube's Creative Ecosystem Contributed $60 Billion to U.S. GDP

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/07/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 24: Mercedes-Benz Stadiums Cole Gallagher - Supporting Shows in the ATL

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

17/07/2026

Brooklyn Bowl Williamsburg Stagehands Vote to Join IATSE Local 4

Production workers at Brooklyn Bowl's Williamsburg location voted 15-1 to join IATSE Local 4. The bargaining unit covers 24 production workers at the venue,...

17/07/2026

DAZN and ADI Predictstreet Announce Exclusive Global Prediction Market Partnership

DAZN and ADI Predictstreet have announced an exclusive global strategic partners...

17/07/2026

Zixi and Comcast Technology Solutions Announce Integration for C-Band Satellite Replacement

Zixi and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) have announced a strategic integrati...

17/07/2026

Professional Fighters League Announces Multi-Year Partnership with ESPN in Brazil

Professional Fighters League (PFL) has announced a multi-year partnership with E...

17/07/2026

Spectrum Business Launches Spectrum TV Control Pro for Multi-Screen Venue Management

Spectrum Business has announced Spectrum TV Control Pro, a centralized app-based...

17/07/2026

Clark Wire and Cable Appoints Rick Fernandez as Latin American Representative

Clark Wire and Cable has announced that Rick Fernandez, Managing Director of Axxion Consulting, will serve as Independent Manufacturers Representative for Centr...

17/07/2026

TikTok, NBA, and WNBA Announce Multi-Year Global Content Partnership

TikTok, the NBA, and the WNBA have announced a multi-year global content partnership covering highlights distribution, creator access to marquee events, live-ga...

17/07/2026

MSG Entertainment Files Defamation Lawsuit Against Wired Over July 9 Article

Company alleges article contained false and misleading claims regarding customer data...

17/07/2026

Ratings Roundup: Argentina-England Semifinal Breaks Records for FOX; MLB All-Star Game Is Most Watched Since 2018

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...

17/07/2026

American Pachuco Gives a Legend of Stage and Screen His Due

(L-R) Edward James Olmos, Luis Valdez, Lou Diamond Phillips and Lupe Valdez attend American Pachuco: The Legend Of Luis Valdez Premiere during the 2026 Sundan...

17/07/2026

Spectrum Simplifies Control Of Multiple TVs At Bars, Restaurants

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/07/2026

Foundry Releases SmartRoto for Nuke

Foundry Releases SmartRoto for Nuke Brie Clayton July 17, 2026 0 Comments Spline-based AI powered plugin accelerates time-consuming rotoscoping, helping...

17/07/2026

A Short Documentary About a Giant Pencil Edited with DaVinci Resolve Studio

A Short Documentary About a Giant Pencil Edited with DaVinci Resolve Studio Brie Clayton July 17, 2026 0 Comments SBIFF jury award winner finished fro...

17/07/2026

Wheatstone to Feature Virtual Mixing Platform at IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...