The Curling Group Puts On Inaugural Curling All-Star Game in Nashville The location in Music City is intended to broaden the sport's appeal By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Thursday, April 17, 2025 - 5:46 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
When Nashville hosted The Curling Group s All-Star Game April 15-16, it had nothing to do with music - Reba, Hank Jr., and all their rowdy friends are still the face of Music City - but curling's arrival speaks reams about the city's myriad connections to sport.
The All-Star Game took place at the Tee Line, a venue named for one of curling's boundary markers and owned by Marc Bulger, who quarterbacked in the NFL for 11 seasons and is now a resident of Nashville's Brentwood suburb. He took up curling in 2018 and fell in love with the sport. Deciding to bring it to Nashville, he built Tee Line in a converted warehouse in the ferociously gentrifying Nations neighborhood three years ago.
The Tee Line venue was built in Nashville in 2022 to house the sport of curling.
TCG's two-day All-Star event, the sport's first-ever (it followed the conclusion of the Grand Slam of Curling's final event of the 2024-25 season, the AMJ Players' Championship, April 8-13 in Toronto), hewed to the contemporary all-star format: celebrity pro-am, skills competition, and an All-Star Skins game. It took place on one of the three ice sheets on the competition side of the venue, which is kept at a cool 52F, separated by a massive glass wall from the Tee Line's spacious, hipster-rustic sports bar and three-lane bowling alley.
The Onsite Production TCG Technical Producer Brian Renwick, captaining a crew of a dozen or so technicians aboard Dome Productions Journey production truck parked outside the venue, has covered curling for two decades. Noting that this was his first time doing it in the States, he describes the Nashville event as an effort to expand the sport's appeal in the U.S.
For The Curling Group's All-Star Game, TCG's Brian Renwick headed a crew working from Dome Productions Journey.
TCG bought the Grand Slam of Curling from SportsNet this year, he explains, and is looking at new and different ways of promoting the game of curling across the nation and worldwide. They brought in a number of curlers from the Grand Slam to put on some fun and exciting events that are a little different from what the normal curling is: skills, competition, mixed events, skins game, and that kind of thing. We're here doing a live-to-tape production that will air down the road.
Two hard 1080 cameras were deployed, one at either end of the 146-ft.-long ice sheet, along with two handhelds with mics covering the splash.
TGC deployed two hard 1080 cameras, one at either end of the 146-ft.-long ice sheet, which was curated for the event by master icemaker Mark Shurek, who came in from Winnipeg to work his cryogenic magic. Two handhelds with mics were used to cover the splash, the sound and image when a stone makes a forceful hit on another stone.
The hard cameras catch the throws and the chatter in the house from either end, while the two handhelds cover the throws down at ice level, he says. And we've got a 12-ft. mini jib because the [interior] height didn't allow us to hang cameras above the sheet.
The live-to-tape production is sent to SportsNet Studios in Toronto for postproduction and distribution at a later date.
Announcers Devin Heroux (left), Jennifer Jones (center), and Brent Laing called TCG's All-Star Game from the sports-bar side of the venue.
Just on the other side of the glass partition, in the warmer environs of the sports bar, announcers Devin Heroux, Jennifer Jones, and Brent Laing called the show. On the sheet side, video monitors line the field of play and take a video feed from the truck to give spectators lining the sheet the ability to see the action along the entire runway. The fans, who are as vocal as the athletes and interact with them from as close as a foot or two away, are recorded through a pair of shotgun microphones above and along the sheet.
Hearing Voices Audio for the All-Star Game was managed by A1 Graham Zapf and a pair of A2s, one of whom, Mike Cleasby, was also in charge of the production's RF. Audio gets from the venue to the truck via MADI through an RME 3264 interface into the Calrec Artemis console, where it's recorded to a KiPro file-based recorder, an EVS replay system, and a multi-band SRT kit streaming to the Toronto plant for later processing.
A1 Graham Zapf: It's the only sport I know of that lets the players' sound carry the show. You can hear everything they're saying.
Effects sound is captured by five Sony ECM-77 lavaliere microphones set into slits in the foam bumpers lining the curling sheet. They capture the sounds of the specially made brooms that two of the four players per team use to whisk the ice, the friction creating a thin liquid layer on the surface to affect the movement of the approximately 42-lb. granite stones.
A2 Mike Cleasby checks out the DPA/Sennheiser lav/transmitter packs worn by all the players.
All the players are wired for sound with DPA lavaliere microphones and Sennheiser 5212 wireless transmitters. That is the sound that pulls viewers in, according to Zapf.
Everyone is miked, he says, and they're constantly talking strategy about how best to advance and position the stones. In hockey or basketball or football, the camera is following the play; in curling, you're following the players' thoughts through what they're saying.
A2 Mike Cleasby: You're hearing the strategy and, sometimes, the frustration right from the players, but that's what makes it interesting.
In fact, the announcers often cede the audio to the players as the dialog gets heated. As a res
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
30/09/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
30/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/09/2026
The An Evening with Emerson, Lake and Palmer tour brings one of rock's most iconic bands back to the stage. These performances seamlessly blend live foota...
30/09/2026
Schibsted Media, one of Norways largest and most influential digital media publishers and content producers, has invested in mixers and digital signal processor...
30/09/2026
Big Blue Marble announces the addition of live multiview channels to Cloud Video Kit, its broadcast-grade video processing platform. The feature is powered by A...
30/09/2026
Leading video software provider Synamedia today announced that Telekom Slovenije, Slovenia's largest provider of telecommunications and TV services, is open...
30/09/2026
PODCAST EXPO 2026 Recorded Using Blackmagic Design Workflow
Brie Clayton September 29, 2026
0 Comments
Conference featuring 24 sessions over two days ...
30/09/2026
IBC2026 Show Report
David Kirk September 29, 2026
0 Comments
The International Broadcasting Convention has long been Europe's equivalent of the US...
30/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/09/2026
Mavis has launched Mavis Camera 8.2, the latest release of its professional camera app for the iPhone and iPad. This update brings support for iPhone 18 Pro and...
30/09/2026
New Solution Expands Harmonic's Network Intelligence Portfolio and Brings Comcast-Developed Fiber Monitoring Technology to Broadband Operators, Providing Re...
30/09/2026
Thank you to Film-TV Video for the original article - you can view it here
It was early 1983. I had just turned 21 when I joined Hitachi Denshi's European...
30/09/2026
How to Shop Well Now starts Monday at 9.35pm
on RT One and RT Player
On the...
30/09/2026
Building on nearly a decade of co-engineering, CoreWeave has built NVIDIA compute, networking and software into a cloud purpose-built for AI that's still re...
29/09/2026
Oak View Group (OVG) has announced Cisco as an Official Technology Partner, with plans to standardize infrastructure across its venue network on Cisco solutions...
29/09/2026
SportsNet Pittsburgh (SNP) won three honors at the 2026 Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
Program awards went to Bucs BP in the Sports Program Live category (produced ...
29/09/2026
The Professional Women's Hockey League has announced home openers for all 12 teams for the 2026-27 season, along with a broadcast partnership with CBC under...
29/09/2026
Manifold technologies has been recognized as a contributor to the Media eXchange...
29/09/2026
FuboTV has announced My Local Sports, allowing subscribers in select markets to add their local regional sports network (RSN) as an add-on to a Fubo Sports subs...
29/09/2026
Asian News International (ANI), a wire agency and video news provider based in India, has deployed Grass Valley's AMPP Media Operating System and Framelight...
29/09/2026
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has deployed Ikegami UHK-X600 cameras as part of an upgrade to IP-based production infrastructure. The deployment ...
29/09/2026
REMI, REMCO models will drive the bulk of the broadcaster's NHL productions ...
29/09/2026
Three years in, the facility is supporting more centralized race production, com...
29/09/2026
NBC, Peacock, and NBSN are carrying all four Wild Card series with a production ...
29/09/2026
19 Nonfiction Projects Across All Stages of Production to Receive More Than $1 million in Support as Documentary Film Program Approaches 25th Anniversary
LOS ...
29/09/2026
Two new plug-ins launch alongside updated bundles
Zynaptiq have just announced the launch of two new plug-ins, alongside new and improved versions of two of...
29/09/2026
All-in-one bus processor revealed
Wes Audio's ng product range has come a long way since it was first introduced, and now includes a tasty selection of ...
29/09/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Ikegami announces that the South African Broadcasting Corporation, SABC, has chosen Ikegami UHK-X600 camera systems as part of an advance to IP-based operation ...
29/09/2026
Blendkit Offers 20% Discount to Celebrate Crossing 150K Asset Milestone
Brie Clayton September 29, 2026
0 Comments
Blendkit, the largest 3D asset libr...
29/09/2026
Interactive streaming specialist Ease Live supported more than 76.5 million fan sessions across three major European media operators during this summers FIFA Wo...
29/09/2026
Ease Live has added support for VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) to its graphical overlay technology, opening up new ways for broadcasters, streamers and rights...
29/09/2026
Rise AV has announced the launch of the inaugural Rise AV Awards, a new global awards programme celebrating the women, advocates and organisations across the AV...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
The Curling Group Puts On Inaugural Curling All-Star Game in Nashville The location in Music City is intended to broaden the sport's appeal By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
