NBA Travels to Abu Dhabi for Third Straight Year of Preseason Basketball League supplies English commentary for two games remotely from Secaucus, NJ By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor
Monday, October 7, 2024 - 2:26 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
In what has become a yearly tradition, the NBA headed overseas to the capital of the United Arab Emirates for a couple of preseason matchups between the Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets on Friday, Oct. 4 and Sunday, Oct. 6. Despite the long hours of travel, the exhibition games represented two poignant facts: the league still has a global reach beyond the U.S., and the broadcasts offered its production and operations teams an opportunity to get ready for the 2024-25 season.
The NBA's international games provided memorable experiences to the crews who play a role in producing and delivering the excitement of these games to fans around the world, says Francesca Martinelli, SVP, broadcast operations and events, NBA.
In Abu Dhabi: NBA Staffers Adjust to Time Change, Hire Local Crew Members After celebrating a league-leading 18th championship over the summer, the Boston Celtics began their title defense on foreign soil. Similarly, the NBA shook off the offseason rust by producing two games thousands of miles from home.
For the third straight season, the NBA traveled to Abu Dhabi for two games between the Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets at Etihad Arena.
It was an ambitious decision to begin this year's campaign of productions with a pair of international games, and the challenges were plentiful: the broadcast department had to decide who would make the trip, how they would adjust to the eight-hour time difference, and how they would pull off the broadcasts. To resolve the second issue, the crew that was to be onsite flew out earlier enough to get acclimated to tip-off times typically not seen in the U.S.: 6 p.m. and 4 p.m. local time.
The time difference certainly poses some challenges, particularly when troubleshooting unexpected issues, says Martinelli. We have a long history of hosting games internationally, and our extensive pre-planning process ensured smooth execution.
To resolve that first issue, the league sent a trio of its best to lead the onsite operation: Senior Manager, Broadcast Operations, Mary Mak; AVP, Broadcast Systems Engineering/Support Lead Eb Tesfalidet; and, from NBA Broadcast Engineering, Taki Kohiyama. For additional support, the NBA recruited local talent to round out the team of experts that would be needed for the two-day event.
We had to hire several local vendors for various positions, including producers, camera operators, and graphic operators, adds Martinelli. Pro TV, which produced the NBA Abu Dhabi games in 2022 and 2023, as well as the USA Basketball exhibition games in the UAE this summer, once again handled local production.
World-Feed Model: Video Feeds Were Sent to Secaucus, Redirected to NBC Sports Boston The most sophisticated aspect of the show was deploying a world-feed style of production. Since the Celtics were technically playing a home game, NBC Sports Boston was the league's main TV partner. Emanating from Etihad Arena, the host venue on Abu Dhabi's Yas Island, primary video feeds were sent nearly 7,000 miles to league headquarters in Secaucus, NJ, via Eurovision satellite. Backup feeds were transported via SRT as a redundancy. Once the feeds arrived in New Jersey, the NBA redirected clean, camera, and clock feeds to NBC Sports Boston with the help of high-speed arena-network (HSAN) connections. The HSAN links were crucial, allowing the home regional sports network to remotely produce the games.
As the Celtics' home regional sports network, NBC Sports Boston remotely produced each broadcast via video feeds sent from NBA headquarters in Secaucus, NJ.
NBC Sports Boston had sideline reporter Abby Chin at the game and used LiveU to transmit her signal, says Martinelli. The NBA also delivered the game to Ball Arena in Denver for radio broadcast via HSAN.
In addition, English commentary and virtual signage were handled in Secaucus. With much of the league's efforts focused on transmission, the production simplified video acquisition, deploying nine cameras and three EVS replay servers to capture the action. U.S.-based viewers outside the Boston market were able to view the game on NBA League Pass, but, outside the States, the league also hosted two international broadcast partners at the venue for live onsite commentary.
Relying on Experience: Communication and Planning Allow a Smooth Weekend Producing two games miles from home isn't an audacious new task for the NBA. The league first forayed into Abu Dhabi two years ago, with the Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks squaring off in two games in 2022. In 2023, the crowd in Abu Dhabi enjoyed a visit from the Minnesota Timberwolves and Dallas Mavericks. With three years' experience, the crew applied the lessons from the first two efforts to ensure success of future broadcasts from outside the country.
Effective and diligent communication among all parties, including the team liaising between in-arena operations/production and the local broadcaster, is critical to success, says Martinelli. Every game we produce outside the U.S. - whether in Abu Dhabi or elsewhere around the world - provides new learning opportunities, which makes these events even more exciting.
The Celtics were victorious in both games, including a 107-103 win in Game 1 on Friday, Oct. 4.
International games aside, the broadcasts are becoming an important tool for growing the league's broadcasting plan. Within a constantly innovating and evolving sports-video-production industry, it's critical that the crew is cognizant of the latest trends in production and sharpen their skills whenever possible
More from Sports Video Group
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
28/05/2026
FOX Sports' MLB coverage dominated the night at the 47th Annual Sports Emmy ...
28/05/2026
One of the most memorable postseasons in baseball history would have had no memo...
28/05/2026
NBC's Sunday Night Football is among the most-decorated and most-watched pro...
28/05/2026
The 2026 Sports Emmys marked a watershed moment for Prime Video Sports. After bu...
28/05/2026
Hosted by ESPN Senior Writer Ryan McGee, the ceremony honored winners from athletic departments, conference offices, professional networks, production companies...
28/05/2026
Major rights-holders rolled out their 2026 college football slates today, offering a first look at marquee windows, kickoff partners, and conference distributio...
28/05/2026
The 4 Nations Face-Off, an international competition that launched in February 2...
28/05/2026
Soccer is a truly global sport, and, to match the U.S. viewing audience's in...
28/05/2026
The NFL Today, CBS Sports' top-of-the-line NFL studio show, has a storied hi...
28/05/2026
Prime Video is no stranger to innovation, and, within the realm of live streamin...
28/05/2026
The crack of the bat, the pop of the glove, and the cheer of the crowd: those are three prime examples of the glorious sounds fans hear on televised baseball ga...
28/05/2026
Every year, March Madness captivates the entire sports world. Nonstop action, un...
28/05/2026
NBA on NBC was an integral part to live sports production in the 1990s, and, when the league made these media rights available, NBC Sports saw an opportunity to...
28/05/2026
UmpCam is a technological wrinkle that has given fans unprecedented views of wha...
28/05/2026
T-Mobile and the United States Golf Association (USGA) announced a multi-year partnership, making T-Mobile the Official 5G Network Partner of the U.S. Women'...
27/05/2026
Telestream has announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Benjamin Desbois as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Desbois, currently Teles...
27/05/2026
ESPN garnered 10 awards; NBC's Sunday Night Football received the Outstandin...
27/05/2026
Matrox Video is celebrating its 50th anniversary, marking five decades of operations from its headquarters in Montreal, Canada. Founded in 1976, the company has...
27/05/2026
Major League Baseball has announced a series of initiatives tied to America's Semiquincentennial, including a national marketing campaign, Fourth of July br...
27/05/2026
Advanced Systems Group (ASG) has announced that Brian Gross has joined the company as an Account Manager on its Audio team, based in the Burbank office. He will...
27/05/2026
Nielsen has released new research on soccer fandom ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2...
27/05/2026
ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) has unveiled a new partnership with TikTok to bring broad...
27/05/2026
FIFA's Oscar Sanchez gives a deeper look to how this tournament will be cove...
27/05/2026
The soon-to-be senior from Charlottesville is building her skills in replay, TD, and even creative content for HokieVision and its ACC Network productions
In t...
27/05/2026
FOX Sports' Mike Davies breaks down the vision for this summer's showcas...
27/05/2026
HBS's Paul King, FIFA's Oscar Sanchez preview how the masses at home wil...
27/05/2026
FOX's MLB coverage dominated the night at the 47th Annual Sports Emmy Awards...
27/05/2026
One of the most memorable Postseasons in baseball history would have had no memo...
27/05/2026
NBC's Sunday Night Football is among the most decorated and most watched programs in the history of television. It added to its jam-packed trophy case on Tu...
27/05/2026
The 2026 Sports Emmys marked a watershed moment for Prime Video Sports. After bu...
27/05/2026
With the Opening Match just over two weeks away, the entire sports-production-te...
NBA Travels to Abu Dhabi for Third Straight Year of Preseason Basketball League supplies English commentary for two games remotely from Secaucus, NJ By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor 
