Live From NCAA Men's Lacrosse National Championship: ESPN Travels Down I-95 to Familiar Lincoln Financial Field Philadelphia has hosted three of the five title games since 2019 By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor
Monday, May 27, 2024 - 9:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Passionate sports fans and Philadelphia go hand in hand, so it's not surprising that the City of Brotherly Love has become a destination for the NCAA Men's Lacrosse National Championship. Hosting the title game for the seventh time overall - just behind Maryland and Rutgers since the sport joined the NCAA in 1971 - and the third time in the last five tournaments, Lincoln Financial Field is friendly confines for ESPN's production and operations teams.
We've been there several times in the past decade, so familiarization is helpful, says John Kettering, producer, ESPN. All of our technicians have been here before, so they know how this place runs.
Back-to-Back Productions: Team Works in Recognizable Surroundings The crew has frequented this venue on numerous occasions, including for last year's National Championship. When a broadcaster and its crews have the chance to work in the same venue in consecutive years, the job is definitely less of a lift: from understanding sightlines and knowing what works - or not - from a production standpoint to knowing the cabling situation and the best camera positions from an operations perspective. In addition, Kettering has worked closely with NCAA Coordinator, Championships and Alliances, Broadcast Services, Tom Barrett to satisfy the organization's broadcast needs.
Lincoln Financial Field is hosting its eighth National Championship in its 21-year history.
Our operations team is also very familiar with the team that works at Lincoln Financial Field, says Kettering. They're all professional and extremely helpful, which makes it a lot easier for us to get set up.
With a well-rounded venue ops team, a healthy working relationship with the NCAA, and a blueprint for how the event is done, the broadcaster has significant tech firepower to deploy. Working out of the A and B units of Game Creek Video Nitro, Kettering and his team will tap into numerous workflows and enhancements, including a Skycam, an abundance of Marshall POV cameras for atmospheric shots from around the stadium, and miked-up referees for clear explanation of critical calls.
We're certainly elevating our complement and increasing the number of cameras exponentially, adds Kettering. We always want to have more bells and whistles for coverage on the game's biggest stage of the year.
Two Tourneys: Besides Philly-Based Shows, There's Women's Lacrosse in North Carolina Men's lacrosse may be taking over South Philadelphia, but 410 miles south in Cary, NC, ESPN wrapped up coverage of women's college lacrosse with the National Championship on Sunday. In what has become an annual tradition on Memorial Day Weekend, the broadcaster logged four straight days of productions: a women's semifinal doubleheader on Friday, a men's semifinal doubleheader featuring No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 5 Denver and No. 7 Maryland vs. No. 6 Virginia on Saturday, the women's title game on Sunday, and the men's title game on Monday. Besides four consecutive days of activity, the team had to overcome a big logistical hurdle in deploying a single production crew and a single operational team to handle simultaneous championships in separate locations. Fortunately, Kettering is joined by a team of experienced veterans, including SVP, Production, Michael Shiffman and Coordinating Producer Ericka Galbraith. Shiffman, for example, has been pivotal in coordinating ACC Network studio programming during concurrent events like the Men's and Women's Final Four.
We have a team in Cary that's responsible for women's lacrosse, and my team is responsible for men's lacrosse in Philadelphia, Kettering explains. [Michael, Ericka, and I] oversee the overall production of both tournaments. We're here to support everything that's needed to put each production on, but, once the teams get onsite, it's up to them to carry out the actual show.
A Skycam system is capturing aerial shots of the action.
Producing the two tournaments requires a ton of planning and collaboration before the teams go their separate ways. From a creative point of view, on-air talent and the front bench must understand the storylines of the respective brackets. Whether that takes sifting through copious amounts of film to dissect players' or teams' tendencies for analysis or combing through player or coach interviews to get a sense of playing styles or philosophies, a clear plan of attack with talking points needs to be established.
Because of ESPN's commitment to NCAA men's and women's lacrosse throughout the season, says Galbraith, our team [is positioned] not only to be aware of various storylines but also to develop relationships across both sports to accentuate remarkable stories. Our talent works together to share ideas and opportunities, and, truly, the hardest part in identifying storylines is knowing we can't tell them all.
Game Creek Video's Nitro A and B are being used in Philadelphia.
For Monday's title game, the other juggling act for the broadcaster is to produce this game while also planning for next year's championship at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA. With a venue that has hosted three of the last 12 Championship Weekends and back-to-back editions in 2017 and 2018, ESPN is looking to leverage a successful formula.
We're already planning a site visit to Gillette next month to make sure everything is up to standard and is the same as in the past, says Kettering. We're not looking past
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
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...
29/09/2026
Oak View Group (OVG) has announced Cisco as an Official Technology Partner, with plans to standardize infrastructure across its venue network on Cisco solutions...
29/09/2026
SportsNet Pittsburgh (SNP) won three honors at the 2026 Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
Program awards went to Bucs BP in the Sports Program Live category (produced ...
29/09/2026
The Professional Women's Hockey League has announced home openers for all 12 teams for the 2026-27 season, along with a broadcast partnership with CBC under...
29/09/2026
Manifold technologies has been recognized as a contributor to the Media eXchange...
29/09/2026
FuboTV has announced My Local Sports, allowing subscribers in select markets to add their local regional sports network (RSN) as an add-on to a Fubo Sports subs...
29/09/2026
Asian News International (ANI), a wire agency and video news provider based in India, has deployed Grass Valley's AMPP Media Operating System and Framelight...
29/09/2026
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has deployed Ikegami UHK-X600 cameras as part of an upgrade to IP-based production infrastructure. The deployment ...
29/09/2026
REMI, REMCO models will drive the bulk of the broadcaster's NHL productions ...
29/09/2026
Three years in, the facility is supporting more centralized race production, com...
29/09/2026
NBC, Peacock, and NBSN are carrying all four Wild Card series with a production ...
29/09/2026
19 Nonfiction Projects Across All Stages of Production to Receive More Than $1 million in Support as Documentary Film Program Approaches 25th Anniversary
LOS ...
29/09/2026
Two new plug-ins launch alongside updated bundles
Zynaptiq have just announced the launch of two new plug-ins, alongside new and improved versions of two of...
29/09/2026
All-in-one bus processor revealed
Wes Audio's ng product range has come a long way since it was first introduced, and now includes a tasty selection of ...
29/09/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Ikegami announces that the South African Broadcasting Corporation, SABC, has chosen Ikegami UHK-X600 camera systems as part of an advance to IP-based operation ...
29/09/2026
Blendkit Offers 20% Discount to Celebrate Crossing 150K Asset Milestone
Brie Clayton September 29, 2026
0 Comments
Blendkit, the largest 3D asset libr...
29/09/2026
Interactive streaming specialist Ease Live supported more than 76.5 million fan sessions across three major European media operators during this summers FIFA Wo...
29/09/2026
Ease Live has added support for VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) to its graphical overlay technology, opening up new ways for broadcasters, streamers and rights...
29/09/2026
Rise AV has announced the launch of the inaugural Rise AV Awards, a new global awards programme celebrating the women, advocates and organisations across the AV...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Clear-Com announced that First Baptist Nashville has upgraded its production communications with a Clear-Com intercom solution as part of a comprehensive sanct...
29/09/2026
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K Captured Action Shots for Sketch
Brie Clayton September 28, 2026
0 Comments
Camera's portable design and dynamic range...
29/09/2026
Kean Production Services Deploys AJA ColorBox to Deliver Consistent, Accurate Co...
29/09/2026
Berklee Alumni and Faculty Nominated for the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards A total of 28 Berklee alumni and faculty earned nominations across 20 categories this ye...
29/09/2026
Berklee's K-Pop & Beyond Explores Connections Between K-Pop and Hip-Hop Now in its fifth year, the series brings together artists, industry leaders, and s...
29/09/2026
We tend to think we live in a digital world, with hopes and fears around artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, data centres and the next big technolo...
29/09/2026
Today, in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Apple relea...
29/09/2026
Final Cut Camera, the professional filming app for iPhone, receives a major upda...
29/09/2026
RT lyric fm is proud to announce the annual Choirs for Christmas competition callout. Warm up those vocal chords and join us on RT lyric fm for a celebration ...
28/09/2026
The NHL has announced Adobe as an Official Creative, Marketing and AI Partner beginning with the 2026-27 season. The partnership will provide the league and its...
28/09/2026
MultiDyne will exhibit at CABSAT 2026 (October 5-7, Dubai Exhibition Centre), showcasing an expanded technology portfolio following its June 2026 acquisition of...
28/09/2026
ARRI and HONOR have announced the HONOR Magic9 Pro Max, a flagship smartphone carrying ARRI branding on the device and packaging as the first product-level expr...
28/09/2026
Net Insight has added the Nimbra 1020G to its pan-Asian live media trial network, giving customers and partners in the region a way to evaluate ST 2110 and JPEG...
28/09/2026
Vindral has been named a recipient of a 2026 Technology and Engineering Emmy Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in the category of We...
28/09/2026
Interra Systems will exhibit at CABSAT 2026 (Stand B2-37, Dubai Exhibition Centre, October 5-7), demonstrating its BATON QC platform, ORION monitoring solutions...
28/09/2026
Two years into its new production facility, the TOUR is expanding centralized wo...
Live From NCAA Men's Lacrosse National Championship: ESPN Travels Down I-95 to Familiar Lincoln Financial Field Philadelphia has hosted three of the five title games since 2019 By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor 
