
Southern Methodist University Gallops Into ACC With New ST 2110 Production Facility MustangVision to produce nearly 100 live games for ESPN, ACC Network, ACCNX By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Wednesday, September 25, 2024 - 2:41 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Spencer Jones never could have imagined this.
When the assistant AD, MustangVision, first arrived on Southern Methodist University's campus in July 2016, he was a one-man band, producing video for an athletic department in its early days in the American Athletic Conference.
Fast forward eight summers, and Jones is heading a team of five putting the finishing touches on one of the most technologically advanced broadcast facilities in all of college sports for an athletic department on its way to join the prestigious Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
It's enough to make even a video engineer emotional.
It's that birthed-a-baby type of feeling, says Jones, sitting in the neon-red glow of one of four video-production-control rooms in SMU's Armstrong Fieldhouse. There are a few moments when you're, like, I'm not going to tear up. Nope.' I sit there with a big old smile on my face. Then everyone else walked out of [the room], and I just put my head down and think, We did it.'
As part of the move to the Atlantic Coast Conference, Southern Methodist University has built an IP-based production facility, which houses four live-video-production-control rooms. (All photos: SMU Athletics)
They did it, alright. And they did it fast. Just eight months to be exact. A fully IP-based media facility was built from scratch with two souped-up control rooms dedicated to broadcasting up to a linear ESPN show and two smaller rooms: one of which can handle a streaming show for ACCNX or an in-venue videoboard show; the other reserved for videoboard shows.
To do all of that amidst the pressure of joining a Power Conference was an ambitious goal. Adding in an all-IP infrastructure might have been downright insane.
Two of the four control rooms are capable of linear shows. The other two are smaller rooms that handle live streaming and/or videoboard shows only.
Becoming a member of the ACC already meant stepping up the department's game in live video production, producing games for ESPN, the ACC Network, and the streaming-exclusive ACCNX. Despite the extremely tight timeline, however, Jones wanted to take the opportunity to go big and invest in a fully IP infrastructure, specifically SMPTE ST 2110. Although the standard has come a long way, the leap to IP is a challenging one. For Jones, both the timing of the project and the benefits it promised made the effort worthwhile.
ST 2110 has been deployed for almost a decade now, he notes. I felt, when it first got deployed, it was a slow, painful process. This didn't talk to this, this didn't talk to this, this didn't talk to this. That vendor doesn't have anything. That vendor has something. You either have to go fully isolated with one vendor and hope it all works. Or you can piecemeal it out and get a different package, but, if you did that, these two may not talk. I think [the industry] finally started knocking a lot of those [barriers] down, and, when the concept of this ACC Network move came up, the first thing that came to mind was I'm doing greenfield build. If I'm doing that, why be in baseband anymore?'
I have five venues, he continues. If I put switches and networks in, not only do I have the flexibility to go from any control room to venue, but I have the ability to go from venue to venue through control room without even the control room knowing what's going on. It can go point-to-point.
Each control room is paired with a Calrec Audio Argo S. The two linear control rooms have 48-fader consoles, the streaming/videoboard room has a 36-fader, and the videoboard-only room has a 12-fader.
The department's growth is naturally more than just in technology and facilities. MustangVision Productions has grown to a team of five with plans for adding a full-time engineer soon. The department added Director, MustangVision, Jordan Bettiol and expanded to three Assistant Directors, MustangVision: Sheridon McGrew, Breanna Sorensen, and Charles Young. Together, the crew will produce 80-100 live broadcasts this year (men's and women's soccer, volleyball, men's and women's basketball, swimming) and a full venue of in-venue videoboard shows.
Jones also credited James Justinic, a freelance engineer for playing a huge role in smoothing over the IP planning and execution. He's been absolutely fantastic in this project. Without him I probably would've pulled out the hair I don't have. If I didn't have him, I probably would've pushed harder on getting a full-time engineer here first. I would've done that almost nine months ago.
Jones has some advice for anyone undergoing a similar IP build: You really do need to immerse yourself in the technology. Once you understand the technology, you can be better informed for the decisions that you're going to have to make at probably a rapid pace, even if it's a multi-year project. And you have to have good administration that can back you.
SMU's new facility is home to a live set for studio shows and other content creation.
One way the project was able to be completed in eight months was employing two integrators to split up the work of the project. ZTransform oversaw control-room design and construction, and Digital Resources took care of athletics venues, fiber connectivity, and lighting.
As for the guts of the facility itself, MustangVision built the IP infrastructure on Evertz's NATX network-based broadcast-distribution solution. Multidyne's HoneyBadger added flexibility to router for venue
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
10/04/2026
The Invisible OPEX Killer: Is Your Server Room Dragging You Down? In the broadcast world, we talk a lot about uptime. We talk about talent retention, latency...
10/04/2026
Imagine Communications will showcase its multiviewer portfolio at NAB Show 2026 (April 19-22, Booth N1328, Las Vegas Convention Center), including Prismon and t...
10/04/2026
Chyron has released PRIME VSAR 2.3, an update to its virtual set and augmented reality solution for broadcast. The release adds compatibility with Unreal Engine...
10/04/2026
Techex will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2267, April 19-23, Las Vegas Convention Center), demonstrating new tx darwin features including consumer multiview,...
10/04/2026
NDI will exhibit at NAB Show 2026, demonstrating its IP video ecosystem through live partner integrations, NDI 6.3 features, AI metadata workflows, and creator ...
10/04/2026
FOR-A has announced the acquisition of all shares of Tamu Radiance Corporation, a new company spun off from the Information Equipment Business of Tamura Corpora...
10/04/2026
InSync Technology will showcase new and updated video conversion products at NAB...
10/04/2026
TNT Sports and DAZN have announced a partnership to air monthly boxing events in the United States under the brand The Fight. The series will be promoted in p...
10/04/2026
Panasonic Projector and Display has announced the SQ3 Series of 4K LCD displays as part of its MEVIX professional display portfolio. All sizes will be available...
10/04/2026
Amagi has announced the addition of Agentic Media Operations to its Amagi NOW platform, integrating AI reasoning agents across its media supply chain workflows ...
10/04/2026
LTN has announced enhancements to its global IP video network targeting broadcasters transitioning from satellite distribution. The updates come ahead of US fed...
10/04/2026
Daktronics has installed new LED displays at Yankee Stadium, upgrading the main centerfield board, two flanking boards, and two ribbon displays spanning the 200...
10/04/2026
Harmonic has announced updates to its hybrid streaming solution, including Model Context Protocol (MCP) connectivity for AI applications, cloud-native deploymen...
10/04/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will introduce two new fiber transport products at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C4425, April 19-22): the FiberSaver-10G waveleng...
10/04/2026
Telos Alliance and ip-studio will demonstrate STUDIO ZERO, a cloud-hosted virtual studio, at NAB Show 2026. First introduced at NAB Show 2023, STUDIO ZERO integ...
10/04/2026
d&b solutions, a London-based audio-visual, lighting, and media integration grou...
10/04/2026
ARRI and SmallHD have announced a new expansion license for ARRI's Hi-5 and Hi-5 SX hand units that displays lens data overlays on supported SmallHD monitor...
10/04/2026
Roku and the Banana Ball Championship League (BBCL) have announced an exclusive streaming partnership to bring five BBCL games to the Roku Sports Channel in 202...
10/04/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
10/04/2026
The Peabody Awards don't just recognize great storytelling, they spotlight t...
10/04/2026
After launching the Spotify Podcast Awards in Mexico last year, we brought the fan-voted celebration to Paris this week for its first edition in France. Hosted ...
10/04/2026
Powered and unpowered live PA ranges upgraded
Yamaha have just refreshed four of their hugely popular PA speaker ranges, delivering significant improvements...
10/04/2026
Underlying plug-in & VI technology now available to others
UJAM's latest announcement sees the company open up' Gorilla Engine, the development pla...
10/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/04/2026
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., April 10, 2026 Bitcentral, a leading provider of professional media solutions for broadcast and digital video, will showcase its latest...
10/04/2026
Ikegami to Introduce Expanded Range of Broadcast Production Solutions at NAB 202...
10/04/2026
AJA Debuts SMPTE ST 2110 and openGear Solutions Ahead of NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 10, 2026
0 Comments
New gear and updates address evolving hybrid ...
10/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/04/2026
Frequency, the engine behind the worlds leading streaming television channels, today launched its AI platform for Frequency Studio, powering the entire channel ...
10/04/2026
What can I watch on UKTV and stream on U this week?
This week on UKTV and the free streaming service U, viewers can watch a range of new and returning programm...
10/04/2026
J nger Audio Joins EBU ADM Integration Group as Founding Member to Help Advance...
10/04/2026
Five-part Sky Original drama airs nightly on Sky Mix and Sky Atlantic from 20 Ap...
09/04/2026
Staines-upon-Thames, UK, 09, April, 2026 - Yospace, the trusted leader in Dynam...
09/04/2026
just:play pro 2026 and just:live pro 2026 Sneak Preview News for NAB 2026
More Details:At NAB 2026, ToolsOnAir will showcase just:play pro 2026 and just:live p...
09/04/2026
just:in mac pro 2026 - The Next Level of Professional Recording on macOS at NAB ...
09/04/2026
Zixi will demonstrate IP-based live video workflow solutions at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2057).
The industry is moving quickly toward IP-based distribution as br...
09/04/2026
Global women's elite sports revenues are expected to reach at least $3 billi...
09/04/2026
Monitor engineer Gavin Tempany mixed Kylie Minogue s Tension Tour on a Solid Sta...
09/04/2026
KOKUSAI DENKI Electric America will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C5507), debu...
09/04/2026
With the 2025-26 NBA regular season concluded and the playoffs beginning next we...