NBA In-Season Tournament: League, ESPN, and TNT Sports Team Up Rollout NBA Finals-esque Production for Semis, Championship

NBA In-Season Tournament: League, ESPN, and TNT Sports Team Up Rollout NBA Finals-esque Production for Semis, Championship RailCam, SkyCam, drones, PylonCams, and dual on-site studios all part of the show in Vegas By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.

Thursday, December 7, 2023 - 4:33 pm

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It isn't often that the annual U.S. sports calendar gets a new tentpole event on par with a major championship, but that's exactly what the NBA In-Season Tournament Semifinal and Championship games are shaping up to be this week in Las Vegas. With that in mind, the league, ESPN, and TNT Sports have combined their efforts to create productions that rival those of NBA Finals and NBA All-Star Game broadcasts.

The NBA In-Season Tournament broadcasts will leverage a total of 39 cameras during the semifinal and championship games.

The competitiveness of these games has really set the stage for everything we do, says Paul Benedict, NBA SVP, Broadcast Content Management. So, shout out to the players, the coaches, the teams for bringing this to life and that's led us here to Vegas on the cusp of an awesome network crossover with WBD and ESPN that's going to kick off the In-Season Tournament Semifinals in Vegas.

In addition to both networks rolling out side-by-side studios sets outside T-Mobile Arena, the game productions will feature a myriad production technology, including RailCam, SkyCam, drones, PylonCams.

The Big Crossover: ESPN, TNT Collaborate in Front of and Behind the Camera The action kicks off tonight during the Semifinals with ESPN and TNT each airing one semifinal game and rolling out side-by-side studio shows live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. TNT's Inside the NBA team will appear on ESPN's NBA Countdown for an extended pregame segment and ESPN's crew will return the favor by appearing on TNT's NBA Tip-Off later that evening.

ESPN and TNT have rolled out side-by-side studio sets outside T-Mobile Arena

We're excited for what's to come out here, adds Benedict. The integrated studio segments, the talent crossovers, Reggie (Miller) and Doc (Rivers) flipping and a host of other enhanced elements and activations for Thursday will take us across an entire night of NBA basketball now across TNT and ESPN.

Both ESPN and TNT's studio sets are located right outside T-Mobile Arena in the Toshiba Plaza. The goal is to put both shows in the middle of the fray outside the arena to help showcase the energy created by the fans in Vegas.

That's the true innovation - the collective integration, says Craig Barry, TNT Sports EVP and Chief Content Officer. The idea is having dual sets that are operating individually, but together at the same time; being able to jump from set to set; being able to share talent - with Reggie and Doc specifically. And then I would say a seamless experience regardless of whether you're on ESPN or TNT and hopefully if it works the way it's supposed to, you'll float right from ESPN to TNT and it will feel like a completely linear broadcast. So, for us that's the true innovation, that's where really that we come together [to create] what's best for the fan.

ESPN's set outside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas

TNT's Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O'Neal will appear on ESPN NBA Countdown for an extended segment within its 4 p.m. pregame show. The NBA Countdown team of ESPN NBA Countdown team of host Malika Andrews with Stephen A. Smith, Michael Wilbon, Bob Myers, and Adrian Wojnarowski will then appear on TNT's Inside the NBA pregame show for an extended segment within their 7:30 p.m. telecast.

I think the most interesting part aside from the technology and all the innovative cameras [like the] RailCam, it comes down to the big-time personalities on the court and in the studios outside, says David Roberts, ESPN Head of Event & Studio Production. And when you talk about having Charles Barkley, Shaq, Stephen A., Wilbon, Bob Myers, Kenny Smith, Ernie, Malika, all being able to interact - that's a curiosity factor that's going to have a nice appealing impact for the fans.

Benedict adds that viewers can expect plenty of pomp and circumstance for the red-carpet coverage on on Thursday and Saturday as well.

We're taking it to a new level in terms of what we've done in the past, he says. I don't want to spoil anything just yet, but it's going to be very picturesque. We'll have Richard Jefferson and Allie LaForce grabbing some players and celebrities for interviews and that will be a great pre-game element.

The NBA and its broadcast partners have big plans for the Red Carpet Show in Vegas.

The Kitchen Sink of Cameras: RailCam, SkyCam, Drones, PylonCams and More A RailCam will be used in Vegas for the first time since the 2020 NBA Bubble in Orlando. Working with Fletcher (an NEP company), the league and its broadcasters were able to extend the ground-level system to run the entire length of the court.

We didn't quite have that [full court length] in the bubble, says Benedict, so that's going to provide some tremendous pictures and moments for [viewers].

The NBA, ESPN, and TNT Sports also worked closely with Fletcher to design a housing for the camera system that was approved by both the league's game operations team and the NBAPA.

A RailCam will be used in Vegas for the first time since the 2020 NBA Bubble in Orlando.

A lot of people have to sign off on something that is right on the court like that, so we all worked together to ensure it met the necessary standards, says Eddie Okuno, senior remote operations specialist, ESPN. We also built a custom structure right behind it, where there is full-court-length VIP section, as well as both the ESPN and

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2023/12/07/nba-in-season-tournament-league...
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