Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Coming of Age: How NBA 2K League Became a Hotbed of Production Experimentation in Just Its Second Season

12/06/2019

Coming of Age: How NBA 2K League Became a Hotbed of Production Experimentation in Just Its Second Season League prepares for THE TICKET, a three-day tourney to be held at Full Sail University By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital

Tuesday, June 11, 2019 - 3:28 pm

Print This Story

Story Highlights

Esports is many things: lucrative, polarizing, intriguing, and even (at times) surprising. From a broadcast standpoint, esports represents a whole new world of production experimentation. What makes for a good viewing product? How can this be different and (in some ways) better than watching traditional sports?

It's that exciting prospect that enticed Matt Arden, executive producer/head of content and media, NBA 2K League, to embrace a property that, in just its second year, is already finding its legs as a top-flight live esports production.

In its second season, the NBA 2K League has made a wealth of changes to both the in-venue and live-stream viewing experience of its competitions. Regular-season matches are held at the NBA 2K League Studio Powered by Intel in Long Island City, NY.

In season one, it was amazing that such a small team got a broadcast off the ground. Everything was focused on Can we get this up on the bird and get it out for people to see?, says Arden, who joined the NBA 2K League in December after a career during which he spent more than a decade at Turner Sports in Atlanta and, most recently, worked on the agency side in New York City. Now we have had a little bit of time to look at the whole thing contextually and look at technology changes that we can bring to the studio itself or storytelling changes that we can add.

Currently in week eight of its second regular season, NBA 2K League productions look largely different from those of its inaugural year, with many of the changes related to creating a more engaging product with a greater focus on storytelling.

Most notably, the number of cameras inside the NBA 2K League Studio Powered by Intel has been expanded to 21, and the hard cameras have been taken off tripods and placed on the shoulders of the operators, who are directed to move around and go in more tightly on the action.

I want them in. Get in that moment, says Arden. We play in the round. Players get hyped. It's exciting. There's a lot of good-natured trash talk in our league, and it's been great, but that energy can be difficult to translate in a broadcast [when you have static cameras]. Get those cameras in there when [the players are interacting].

Matt Arden became the NBA 2K League's new executive producer and head of content and media this past winter.

The in-arena experience is vastly improved. The studio, located in Long Island City (a short subway ride across the East River from Manhattan), now features two large video screens: one is an arena-like center-hung videoboard above the players; the other is off to the side of the playing stage, and players are introduced in front of it prior to the start of a game. Behind each player's chair is a smaller, vertical screen displaying a live shot of the player, their name, and other important data to make it easier for a fan sitting in the stands to identify the players on the stage and in game action.

In the studio, the league has also altered the positioning of its game announcers and show hosts. Play-by-play man Scott Cole and color commentator Jamie Dirk Diaz Ruiz (both in their second season) have a higher perch position than last year. Meanwhile, studio host and moderator Phil The Phenomenal EE Visu is now working solo (he had a co-host last year) and has been directed to spend much more time interacting with fan comments on each of the league's live streams to Twitch and YouTube.

We realized we were sitting on two broadcasts, Arden explains. One was the broadcast we were sending out, and the other was the broadcast that was organically happening within the Twitch streams. We weren't reciprocating that as actively as I thought we could be. So Phil is active in both the Twitch and YouTube streams and is communicating with fans.

The NBA 2K League's control room features a Ross Video Carbonite production switcher at the front bench. Producer Chad Perry and director Rick Phillips (far left) are back for their second season with the league.

This season, under Arden, the production team has been aggressive in trying new things within the game production itself, from segments in the show to playing with camera angles within the game engine. Experimentation has been met with both praise and derision by the league's many viewers on both Twitch and YouTube, which should be of little surprise to anyone who has spent time in a Twitch chat.

We've been cognizant of not taking the first few comments on the stream as gospel, says Arden. We've learned to develop a thick skin, but we also have tried things that haven't lasted longer than a week or two of trial.

One area where Arden and his team have been trying to push the envelope, despite varying levels of resistance, has been with in-game camera angles. Typically this year, a 2K League broadcast will stay on the classic camera angles within the game engine that players have come to expect.

To go beyond the 13 camera angles that the game itself offers, a position in the control room has been dedicated to taking control of those in-game cameras and offering unique views of the action. The initial effort was met with much resistance from viewers, but, after receiving encouragement from players, coaches, and others within the league, Arden's team kept plugging away. They decided to offer fans the opportunity to select new camera options, making them more a part of the creative process. They even made the person operating the position in the control room, Mathew Glitch Testini, a
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2019/06/11/coming-of-age-how-nba-2k-league...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

04/08/2024

Dalet Appoints Santiago Solanas as CEO to Lead Next Era of Growth and Innovation

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....

03/06/2024

Dalet and Veritone Reach Agreement to Distribute, Transact and Monetize Media Archives

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...

28/04/2024

Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with URSA Broadcast G2

Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with U...

25/04/2024

Czech mates

The writer and director of a hit Czech series tell Robert Shepherd about their approach to portraying real-life Pakistani kidnappings on the small screen, while...

25/04/2024

Molinaire Creative Group opens new Liverpool facility

Notorious DIT will work with the Liverpool Film Office to increase opportunities for regional talent By Matthew Corrigan Published: April 25, 2024 Notorio...

25/04/2024

Deutsche Telekom Powers New MagentaTV Service With Broadp...

Broadpeak , a leading provider of content delivery network (CDN) and video streaming solutions for content providers and pay-TV operators worldwide, announced t...

25/04/2024

Lightware Enhances Microsoft Teams Rooms with Powerful BY...

Lightware Visual Engineering, a leading manufacturer of connectivity solutions for the professional integrated systems market and a pioneer in signal management...

25/04/2024

Net Insight secures collaboration with DMC Production to...

Net Insight has entered into a collaboration with DMC Production that positions Net Insight at the forefront of sports broadcasting in the Nordics. Net Insight ...

25/04/2024

GlobalM and scoopa announce strategic partnership to faci...

GlobalM has announced a strategic partnership with scoopa, the specialists in broadcast-quality content distribution, offering a complementary service for live ...

25/04/2024

DDish TV LLC Chooses PlayBox Neo Channel-in-a-Box for Bro...

PlayBox Neo announces the completion of a new multichannel playout system for the DDish direct-to-home satellite television network in Mongolia. Based in the na...

25/04/2024

Legendary Producer Garth Richardson Chooses PMC Monitors...

Canadian music producer and engineer Garth Richardson also known as Gggarth due to his stutter - has embraced immersive audio by installing a PMC monitoring s...

25/04/2024

Televisa transforms its broadcast ecosystem with proven t...

Leading video software provider Synamedia today announced that Televisa, the Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company, has chosen Synamedia as its pa...

25/04/2024

OTTera partners with ThinkAnalytics to enhance personaliz...

OTTera, a leading provider of end-to-end OTT and FAST channel solutions, proudly announces its strategic partnership with ThinkAnalytics, a global leader in adv...

25/04/2024

Perfect Weather Forecast for American Tobacco Events Tonight and Saturday

The American Tobacco Campus will be hopping with activity tonight and this weekend with two fun events! Durham Night Market At last! The Durham Night Market i...

25/04/2024

Qurate Launches The Big Dish on The Roku Channel

WEST CHESTER, Pa. Video commerce provider Qurate Retail Group has launched The Big Dish, a new culinary-themed FAST channel on The Roku Channel....

25/04/2024

HPA Opens Submissions for 2024 HPA Engineering Excellence Awards

LOS ANGELES The Hollywood Professional Association has announced that submissions for the 2024 HPA Engineering Excellence Awards are now being accepted. This re...

25/04/2024

DV Earns MRC Accreditation for CTV Viewability

NEW YORK The digital media measurement and analytics firm DoubleVerify has announced that it has received Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation for Video Vie...

25/04/2024

DAZN FAST Channels to Launch on Tubi

SAN FRANCISCO Fox Corp.'s ad-supported streaming service Tubi has announced a licensing agreement with the sports platform DAZN that will see DAZN Ringside ...

25/04/2024

IAB Makes Three Appointments to Its Leadership Team

NEW YORK In the runup to the 2024 IAB NewFronts, the IAB has announced three key appointments to its leadership team....

25/04/2024

Epic Games releases Unreal Engine 5.4 with new Motion Design Mode, Unreal VCam for Android, and more

Epic Games releases Unreal Engine 5.4 with new Motion Design Mode, Unreal VCam f...

25/04/2024

Content Creation, Production, Distribution Is In a State of Flux

Content Creation, Production, Distribution Is In a State of Flux Andy Marken April 24, 2024 0 Comments My empathy is creeping towards what I would de...

25/04/2024

Capitol Broadcasting Company to Air Carolina Panthers Games on Triangle's Strongest Broadcast Signal

The Carolina Panthers and Capitol Broadcasting Company (CBC) announced they have...

25/04/2024

Berklee Student Riko Sasaski Named 2024 Yamaha Young Performing Artist

Berklee Student Riko Sasaski Named 2024 Yamaha Young Performing Artist The accomplished saxophonist secured a spot among the elite winners of this year's ...

25/04/2024

Local News Close-Up: St. Louis Born and Bred

Stations everywhere take pride in having a main anchor who comes from the market they represent. That applies in St. Louis, too, but it also pertains to general...

25/04/2024

Edward Moody Joins WBTW Myrtle Beach Anchor Team

Edward Moody is joining the WBTW Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, anchor crew, and will anchor the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts alongside Trish Williford. He comes f...

25/04/2024

MTV Moving VMAs To New UBS Arena in New York

MTV said the 2024 Video Music Awards will return to New York and take place at the new UBS Arena....

25/04/2024

Offbeat Comedy The Outlaws' Returns to Prime Video Next Month

Season three of comedy The Outlaws premieres on Prime Video May 31. Stephen Merchant co-created the show, and stars. There are five episodes....

25/04/2024

Bidders Interested in Buying Bounce, Says Scripps CEO Adam Symson

The E.W. Scripps Co. is evaluating offers for Bounce, its multicast channel for African-American viewers, according to a report from CNBC....

25/04/2024

Paramount Plus Renews Dora'

Paramount Plus has ordered a second season for Dora, the animated preschool show based on Dora the Explorer. The show, featuring Dora on a rainforest adventure ...

25/04/2024

AI-assisted optronics: an unprecedented European project to increase combat perception capabilities

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn The European Commission signed the Grant Agreeme...

24/04/2024

UKTV's pay TV channel Alibi joins forces with S4C and All3Media International for new legal crime drama series Mudtown

Cast set to star include Erin Richards and Tom Cullen Wednesday 24 April 2024 ...

24/04/2024

K-Hip-Hop's Biggest Names Take Center Stage on KrOWN X HAN 2024'

This month marked the return of Spotify's HAN, our collaborative program that brings the unique sounds and culture of Korean hip-hop to the world through ex...

24/04/2024

RADAR Italy Returns With 6 Artists Transforming the Country's Music Landscape

As Spotify's program to spotlight rising talent from around the world, RADAR...

24/04/2024

Spotify Partners With Les Flammes Music Awards To Celebrate French Rap

Spotify is once again teaming up with Les Flammes, the only music awards dedicated to rap, R&B, Afrobeats, and popular culture in France. Spotify helped create...

24/04/2024

Taylor Swift's THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT' Becomes Spotify's Most-Streamed Album in One Week

Records smashed. History made. It's been just five days since Taylor Swift u...

24/04/2024

SBS marks Earth Day as The Cook Up with Adam Liaw becomes first Australian show to have its carbon footprint validated through SSA

SBS marks Earth Day as The Cook Up with Adam Liaw becomes first Australian show ...

24/04/2024

Save money every day with SBS's Ricardo Gonalves and Peggy Giakoumelos on new Cost of Living Secrets podcast

Save money every day with SBS's Ricardo Gon alves and Peggy Giakoumelos on n...

24/04/2024

Authentic Perspectives

The first feature film from writer-director Shaun Seneviratne, Ben and Suzanne: A Reunion in 4 Parts depicts the struggle between love and duty as Ben (Sathya S...

24/04/2024

Melanie Georgieva Joins Panalux as Long Form Sales Director

LONDON, England (24 April 2024) Panalux, a leading rental provider of lighting and power solutions for the motion-picture industry and part of Panavision'...

24/04/2024

Deutsche Telekom Powers New MagentaTV Service With Broadpeak's Cloud DVR Solution

April 24, 2024 -- Deutsche Telekom Powers New MagentaTV Service With Broadpea...

24/04/2024

Mundo Hispano Digital Launches MundoNow Connect

ATLANTA Mundo Hispano Digital has launched a new advertising product, MundoNow Connect, that is designed to help advertisers reach Hispanic audiences on connect...

24/04/2024

Epic Games Releases Unreal Engine 5.4

Epic Games has released a major new version of Unreal Engine, which has become a mainstay in virtual production, that includes new features and improvements to ...

24/04/2024

NAB Show Welcomes Creators to Las Vegas

The National Association of Broadcasters welcomed the industry to its annual extravaganza last month in Las Vegas. The sights and sounds were similar to previou...

24/04/2024

Chptr, Gray Television Launch on Video Obituary Platform

NEW YORK Chptr and Gray Television have announced that they are introducing a new video solution for funeral homes and communities that will allow funeral direc...

24/04/2024

Adobe Charts the Future of Creativity and AI at MAX London

Adobe Charts the Future of Creativity and AI at MAX London Brie Clayton April 24, 2024 0 Comments Adobe is taking MAX, the world's largest creativ...

24/04/2024

Curtis LeGeyt, NAB President and CEO, Extends Contract

National Association of Broadcasters president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt has agreed to a contract extension that keeps him at the trade association's helm throu...

24/04/2024

Jo Ann Ross Steps Down as Ad Sales Chairman at Paramount

Jo Ann Ross, the long-running queen of television advertising sales, is stepping down from her role as chairman of Paramount Advertising at the end of the month...

24/04/2024

Scripps Names James Galindo as Station Manager in Bakersfield

E.W. Scripps said it named James Galindo as station manager for KERO, the ABC affiliate in Bakersfield, California....

24/04/2024

Amazon Prime Video's Fallout' Tops TVision Power Score Rankings

Amazon Prime Video's Fallout topped TVision's Power Score rankings of shows on connected TV for the week of April 15....

24/04/2024

DoubleVerify Gets MRC Stamp for CTV Viewability Metrics

DoubleVerify said that it received accreditation from the Media Rating Council for its measurement of video viewable impressions and related metrics for connect...