ACC Network Launch Day: With Buy-In From ESPN and All 15 Schools, Newest College Sports Network Is Poised for Success Years of preparation comes to fruition as ACCN debuts on Thursday evening By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Thursday, August 22, 2019 - 4:29 pm
Print This Story
Story Highlights
Hang on, I just got to put down the paper bag I've been breathing into. Even for an industry veteran like ESPN Senior Coordinating Producer Amy Rosenfeld, this feeling never goes away.
With the network since 2007, Rosenfeld has worked her fair share of major events, network launches, and property debuts, but, as the long-awaited and highly anticipated ACC Network kicks off on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET, the butterflies will be just as intense as on her first day on the job.
After years of preparations, the ACC Network launches on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.
We are feeling really, really lucky to be able to be part of something that not a lot of people get to do, says Rosenfeld, whose career encompassed work on numerous Olympics, FIFA World Cups, X Games, and much more. We're going to put a lot of energy into Aug. 22, and, hopefully, we are going to put on a really robust, interesting, and exciting show. What we've tried to emphasize to everyone, though, is [that] we better have a little left in the tank because, as far as I'm aware, we're still on the air on Aug. 23 and Aug. 24 and in September and in October and in November.
To say that this day has been a long time coming would be an understatement. For more than three years, the Atlantic Coast Conference's 15 member institutions have been expanding staffs, campaigning for funding (even in front of the government in their state capitals), remodeling their venues, and building multimillion-dollar broadcast facilities all to be a part of what promises to be the most technologically comprehensive and advanced college-sports television network to date.
It has been complete buy-in, from the brass at ESPN to athletic directors across the ACC map, that has helped set up this network for success on its opening day.
This is not blowing smoke here: the support at ESPN, I'll tell you, [has] that same feel like when we did [FIFA] World Cups, says Rosenfeld. The company is all in. One of the great benefits of being in Bristol is the access to the people, not just the infrastructure. That's where I take a lot of relief and joy in that we couldn't be in a better place and have a better support structure.
ESPN Coordinating Producer Meg Aronowitz concurs: Honestly, every school to a person, all 15 of the schools have the same level of enthusiasm for this project and have had that same level of enthusiasm from day one.
She and ESPN Director, Remote Production Operations, Rex Arends (who has now worked on three of the college network launches: besides this one, Big Ten Network in 2007 and SEC Network in 2015) have served as ESPN liaison to all the schools. I mean there was a time where Rex and I were traveling around to the schools and were calling it the IF Network' because there was not even a contract signed, she says. But we wanted to start having conversations with them about what this would look and feel like if we were to launch the ACC Network.
A Path Different From the SEC Network's
ESPN has, of course, fought through this forest before, launching the University of Texas's Longhorn Network in August 2011 and, more broadly, the wildly successful SEC Network in 2015.
Another key executive, Stephanie Druly, EVP, event and studio production, ESPN, has led the charge on all three network debuts. However, to say the ACC Network is simply a cut-and-paste of the SEC template would be a gross underestimation of this project. The ACC Network has benefited from nearly a decade's worth of learning how to prepare and, most important, maintain a sports network of this scope.
Prior to the SEC Network launch, sure, each campus bolstered its onsite production facilities substantially, but a large amount of the focus went into acquiring equipment and preparing the schools for what was largely expected to be streamed productions exclusively. Quickly, those school-produced live events were being relied on to fill out the SEC Network linear schedule and were even finding their way onto other networks in the ESPN family.
As ESPN prepared the ACC schools this time around, its team had the foresight to spend a good 18 months training the staffs on the art, philosophy, and execution of live sports television.
It was something that we really, frankly, didn't have the ability to do when we launched the SEC Network, says Aronowitz. When we launched the SEC Network, a lot of us came on board shortly before the network launched. The school piece was meant to be a digital play. We didn't really think through the process of mentoring and educating and supporting the schools on that level. So the four-plus years of experience that we've [attained with] the SEC Network taught us how we needed to ramp up for the ACC Network.
From left: ESPN executives Stacy McCollum, Amy Rosenfeld, Meg Aronowitz, and Rosalyn Durant have played key roles in ESPN's launch of the ACC Network.
On top of that, many of the 15 ACC Network institutions are already seasoned pros at producing live events from their studios for ESPN. Over the past 18 months, more than 120 games produced by the staffs and facilities of the ACC schools have aired on linear ESPN networks.
A huge factor in the ACC Network's successful lead-up to its debut has been the emphasis on people. All of the school's 15 athletic directors, in addition to budgeting for facilities, signed off on the expansion of their content-creation, technical, and engineering staffs to support the year-round efforts.
[That's], arguably, the bigge
ACC Network Launch Day: With Buy-In From ESPN and All 15 Schools, Newest College Sports Network Is Poised for Success
22/08/2019
| LINK: | https://www.sportsvideo.org/2019/08/22/acc-network-launch-day-with-buy... |
| See more stories from svg |
North America Stories
21/09/2019
Litepanels Announces Extended Repair Program on ASTRA Power Boards
-- Litepanels, a premier provider of LED lighting for the broadcast, film, and production industries and a Vitec Group brand, today announced an extended warr...
21/09/2019
GoPro Employees Swim To Keep Lake Tahoe Blue
Community Sep 20, 2019 The following words are by Kianna Miller, Space Planning Specialist, and Kielan Crow, Senior Mechanical Engineer, two of the GoPro t...
21/09/2019
Teaming Up with Kathmandu to Track, Trek + Share New Trails
In The Wild Sep 20, 2019 GoPro frees people to celebrate the moment, inspiring others to do the same. From cameras, apps and accessories, everything we do ...
21/09/2019
10 Mai Tai Percussion Presets
We're still in September, it's still Studio One's 10th anniversary, and so once again the Friday Tip is 10 Tips! This week, the accent is on percuss...
21/09/2019
Ftrack Adds Illustrator Integration to Tracking & Review Platform
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN - Ftrack (www.ftrack.com), the creator of the production tracking and media review platform, has launched Adobe Illustrator integration with F...
21/09/2019
Breaking Barriers with Motion Design
Motion graphics can be an invisible art. The animated graphic elements that are used to tell a story can do such a good job that the audience accepts them, and...
21/09/2019
Framestore Bears the Weight for a new MoneySuperMarket Spot
For the third film in the brand's latest campaign, MoneySuperMarket again enlisted the help of Framestore, this time to deliver a sleuth of photoreal CG bea...
21/09/2019
Keeping John Wick on His Toes
The third installment of Liongate's high adrenaline franchise John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum finds super assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves) on the run wit...
21/09/2019
Academys Science & Technology Council Adds 7 Members
LOS ANGELES - Bill Baggelaar, Brooke Breton, Buzz Hays, Arjun Ramamurthy, Rachel Rose, Dave Schnuelle and Mandy Walker have all accepted invitations to join the...
21/09/2019
Primetime Ratings: ABC, CBS On Top
ABC and CBS tied for the top spot in Thursday ratings. A Phil Hartman special paced ABC and Big Brother did so for CBS. Both networks scored a 0.7 in viewers 18...
21/09/2019
Disney and AT&T Reach Carriage Agreement in Principle
The Walt Disney Co. reached an agreement in principle on a new retransmission consent and carriage deal with AT&T that would keep networks including ABC, ESPN ...
21/09/2019
IBC 2019 Reflections: EcoDigital's David Gonce and Geoff Tognetti on How They're Reenergizing the DIVA Product Suite
IBC 2019 Reflections: EcoDigital's David Gonce and Geoff Tognetti on how the...
21/09/2019
IO Industries Specializes in Mini-Cameras, Resolute Software Applications for Both Digital and Linear Productions
IO Industries Specializes in Mini-Cameras, Resolute Software Applications for Bo...
21/09/2019
IP Production Forum: An Inside Look of Telemundo Deportes' IP-Based Facility
IP Production Forum: An Inside Look of Telemundo Deportes' IP-Based Facility By SVG Staff Friday, September 20, 2019 - 9:00 am Print This Story Story ...
21/09/2019
Behind the Mic: Fox Sports' Big Noon Kickoff Heads Out to the LA Coliseum for No. 10 Utah-USC
Behind the Mic: Fox Sports' Big Noon Kickoff Heads Out to the LA Coliseum ...
21/09/2019
Ratings Roundup: Sunday Night Football Hits Lowest Ratings Valley in Week 2 Since 2007
Ratings Roundup: Sunday Night Football Hits Lowest Ratings Valley in Week 2 Si...
21/09/2019
NEP's Intelligent OB Unit Makes Debut at IBC
NEP's intelligent OB unit makes its debut at IBC By David Fox Tuesday, September 17, 2019 - 14:28 Print This Story At IBC NEP Group showed a new inte...
21/09/2019
BT Sport Shows Live 8K Rugby Demo at IBC
BT Sport shows live 8K rugby demo at IBC By David Fox Tuesday, September 17, 2019 - 14:11 Print This Story BT Sport staged a demonstration at IBC of a liv...
21/09/2019
Fox Sports Tech Q&A: Production Execs Talk 4K, 5G, VR, AR, Virtual Sets and Drones
Fox Sports Tech Q&A: Production Execs Talk 4K, 5G, VR, AR, Virtual Sets and Dron...
21/09/2019
Inside Fox Sports' Upcoming Season of 4K HDR Distribution of Thursday Night Football
Inside Fox Sports' Upcoming Season of 4K HDR Distribution of Thursday Night ...
21/09/2019
More Slow-Mos Than Ever, Two New IP-based Trucks, and a 5.1 Audio Workflow Highlight New Season of NFL on Fox
More Slow-Mos Than Ever, Two New IP-based Trucks, and a 5.1 Audio Workflow Highl...
21/09/2019
BerkleeNYC Announces Fall Educational Programming
BerkleeNYC, Berklee's new center in New York City, will offer a variety of educational programs this fall at the Safehouse while major renovations take plac...
21/09/2019
What's Ahead for ProTrack in 2019
What's Ahead for ProTrack in 2019 May 3, 2019 By Deanna Kennedy At this year's PBS TechCon, Myers hosted a ProTrack User Workshop that focused on pr...
21/09/2019
NETFLIX ADAPTS TONY AWARD-WINNER JASON ROBERT BROWN'S BROADWAY MUSICAL 13 INTO A FAMILY FILM
13: The Musical is being adapted into a family film for Netflix, with three-time...
20/09/2019
Turn Your Radio Programming Into Must-See TV with RadioPix
Broadcast Pix's latest visual radio system, RadioPix , offers fully automated audio-video-follow productions. It detects which microphones are active, then ...
20/09/2019
Katie Hockmeyer Named Exec VP of Late Night at NBC
Katie Hockmeyer has been named executive VP of late night programming at NBC Entertainment. She's been with The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon since it ...
20/09/2019
Sinclair Warns of Station Blackout With AT&T Outlets
Sinclair Broadcast Group is warning that millions of subscribers to AT&T's pay-TV services could be blacked out on Sept. 27 unless a new carriage agreement ...
20/09/2019
Primetime Ratings: AGT' Finale Paces NBC
NBC got the top score in Wednesday ratings, with the America's Got Talent season finale leading the Peacock to a 1.1 in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overn...
20/09/2019
Brad Paisley Gets Prime Special on ABC
Country superstar Brad Paisley will host and executive produce a prime special on ABC. The hour-long variety program, called Brad Paisley Thinks He's Specia...
20/09/2019
Nexstar Completes Acquisition of Tribune Station Group
Nexstar Media said it completed its $7.2 billion acquisition of Tribune Media to create the biggest broadcaster in the U.S. Perry Sook. The combined company, ...
20/09/2019
Rocky Mount Mills Announces First Show In New Music Series
Rocky Mount Mills proudly announces the first concert of a new music series, Americana Mill Music Sessions. The series kicks off Friday October 11 with an intim...
20/09/2019
NETFLIX LAUNCHES TRAILER FOR BROTHERHOOD, BRAZILIAN ORIGINAL SERIES
Link to the trailer HERE *We kindly ask that you link to http://www.netflix.com/irmandade in your coverage Sao Paulo, September 19, 2019 - Netflix has just la...
20/09/2019
SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR ROUNDS OUT CAST
Cast: Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Carol Burnett, Fred Armisen (Los Espookys, Big Mouth), Rhenzy Feliz (Runaways, Casual), Justina Machado (One Day At A T...
20/09/2019
Xilinx Announces Chief Financial Officer Transition
Xilinx Announces Chief Financial Officer Transition Sep 19, 2019 SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX), the leader in ...
19/09/2019
Checkr Fuels Platform Development and International Expansion With New Round of Funding
Company raises $160 million investment led by T. Rowe Price San Francisco & De...
19/09/2019
Qube Cinema Launches EPIQ India's First Immersive Cinema Experience
Qube Cinema Launches EPIQ India's First Immersive Cinema Experience A Premium Large Format that offers a larger-than-life viewing experience Published ...
19/09/2019
Study Finds Local TV And Radio Industry Creates $1.17 Trillion In Economic Activity Annually
Study Finds Local TV And Radio Industry Creates $1.17 Trillion In Economic Activ...
19/09/2019
DC SHINES THE BAT-SIGNAL ACROSS THE WORLD IN HONOR OF BATMAN DAY
DC September 16, 2019 DC Shines the Bat-Signal Across the World in Honor of Batman Day(September 16, 2019 Burbank, CA) Batman Day is almost here and to celebr...
19/09/2019
Filming Starts in London on Cinemax's LETHAL WHITE, the Second Season of C.B. STRIKE
Filming Starts in London on Cinemax's LETHAL WHITE, the Second Season of C.B...
19/09/2019
WBIE, TT GAMES, THE LEGO GROUP AND UNIVERSAL GAMES AND DIGITAL PLATFORMS LAUNCH LEGO JURASSIC WORLD FOR NINTENDO SWITCH
Home Entertainment September 17, 2019 WBIE, TT Games, The LEGO Group and Unive...
19/09/2019
HBO Max Nabs Exclusive Streaming Rights to The Big Bang Theory and TBS Extends Its Cable Window Through 2028
HBO Max Nabs Exclusive Streaming Rights to The Big Bang Theory and TBS Extends I...
19/09/2019
12 steps for choosing a new radio automation system if Microsoft's discontinued Windows 7 support affects you
It's no secret that Microsoft is discontinuing Windows 7 support permanently...
19/09/2019
Speakers Rolling In As SVG College: Boston Preps to Visit Harvard University on Oct. 30
Speakers Rolling In As SVG College: Boston Preps to Visit Harvard University on ...
19/09/2019
UCF Takes Its Unique and Colorful Digital Content Personality Onto Twitch
UCF Takes Its Unique and Colorful Digital Content Personality Onto Twitch Kvatek: When targeting younger demographics, Twitch made perfect sense By Brandon C...
19/09/2019
Mizzou Tigers Roar With Renovated South End Zone Facility at Memorial Stadium
Mizzou Tigers Roar With Renovated South End Zone Facility at Memorial Stadium The entire project was built to the tune of $98 million By Kristian Hernandez, As...
19/09/2019
Old Dominion University Undergoes Massive Overhaul of S.B. Ballard Stadium
Old Dominion University Undergoes Massive Overhaul of S.B. Ballard Stadium The $67.5 million project wrapped up just before the first home game By Kristian Her...
19/09/2019
Jay Pearce of Filmwerks Passes Away; Donate Today to GoFundMe
Jay Pearce of Filmwerks Passes Away; Donate Today to GoFundMe By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director Thursday, September 19, 2019 - 1:49 pm Print This Sto...
19/09/2019
VR Experience Imagined Landscapes Explores Architects Unrealized Work
LOS ANGELES - Kilograph (http://kilograph.com) has released Imagined Landscapes, an immersive new virtual reality experience that explores the unrealized work o...
19/09/2019
VES Names 2019 Fellows
LOS ANGELES - The Visual Effects Society (www.visualeffectssociety.com) has announced the 2019 class of VES Fellows. The Fellows distinction, bestowed by the VE...
