ESPN Streamlines Operations in Covering NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament For the first time, there are just two Regional Sites for the Sweet Sixteen and Elite 8 By Brandon Costa
Friday, March 24, 2023 - 1:14 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament rolls into the Sweet Sixteen beginning today. For the production team at ESPN, in its 28th year broadcasting the entire tournament, it has already been one of the maddest of Marches.
For the first time in a quarter century, only two No. 1 seeds advanced to the Sweet 16: one, South Carolina, is gunning for a perfect season; the other, Virginia Tech, is looking to advance to the Final Four for the first time in program history. Sprinkle in megastars like Iowa's Caitlin Clark, South Carolina's Aliyah Boston, and UConn's Azzi Fudd (yes, the always dangerous Huskies are still lurking), and the race to Dallas for the Final Four is shaping up as an entertaining one.
For this year's NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, ESPN has two studios and two control rooms providing shoulder programming around game coverage. From left: Carolyn Peck, Andraya Carter, Rebecca Lobo, and Elle Duncan host coverage of the NCAA Women's Selection Special from Studio E on ESPN's Bristol, CT, campus. (All photos: Kelly Anne Backus/ESPN Images)
To meet the demands of this year's tourney, ESPN made some adjustments to its operational plans to ensure topflight coverage for every game. That included tapping into multiple flavors of production workflow to cover games from 16 sites and deploying two studios and two control rooms to keep its Bristol, CT-based shoulder programming humming.
It has been just a lot of fun, says Pat Lowry, VP, production, ESPN, and one of the leads on the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament project. Watching that Stanford-Ole Miss game and seeing the [upset] there, I was tired [the next day] because it got me all amped up and then it's time to go to sleep and do another day tomorrow.
For the busy opening weekend, there were many moving pieces for ESPN. The multiple production workflows were used to produce live games, and the multiple studios and control rooms in Bristol met the event's pregame, halftime, and between-game needs.
Analyst and Bracketologist Charlie Creme provided a breakdown of the Women's Bracket on the set of the NCAA Women's Selection Special.
For game production, six sites were produced as onsite truck shows, while four used REMI workflows. ESPN also enlisted two school control rooms - at Virginia Tech and Notre Dame - to handle game production at those campuses.
The opening week of the tournament was a logistical and operational marvel. Unlike the men's tournament, where First and Second Rounds occur at preselected neutral venues, the women's tournament plays games on the campuses of the top four seeds. Additionally, the site of the First Four in the Women's Tournament isn't determined until Selection Sunday; on the men's side, the University of Dayton has hosted the First Four since its inception in 2011 (the one exception was in 2021, when the entire NCAA Men's Tournament took place in the state of Indiana).
A streamlined operations workflow - spearheaded by Remote Operations Supervisor Catherine Carroon, Remote Operations Producer Traci Flohr, Tech Operations Manager Jim Birch, and Coordinating Producers Beth Chappell and Matt Leach - has the ESPN team in cruise control entering the Regional Round in anticipation of a big blowout at next weekend's Final Four.
We've added outdoor sets and new things [at Final Four] , says Lowry, so [the team has] had to continue to jump through hoops and make adjustments. It's terrific to work with people like them.
The lead producer/director team of Kerry Callahan and Jimmy Platt didn't work any games of the First and Second Round. Lowry says the goal was to allow them to sit back and take in the full tournament field and absorb the emerging storylines and stars. They will be working the Seattle regional site this weekend before advancing to work the Final Four in Dallas. Having Callahan and Platt focus on the big picture of the tournament and its higher-pressure later rounds allowed Lowry, as well as Chappell and Leach, to focus on executing the large scale of the overall field, especially those First and Second Round games.
ESPN's Bristol campus has been home to two separate studio shows for coverage of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. ESPN also used REMI workflows to support game production from four sites during the First and Second Rounds.
With this weekend's games, the logistics are a bit simpler for ESPN. For the first time in the tournament's history, there are just two regional sites: Greenville, SC, and Seattle.
According to Lowry, Platt and Callahan will be experimenting with some new lenses and specialty cameras in Seattle to see if those units will make their way to the Final Four in Dallas.
If I could handpick anybody in the country to direct the Final Four, I would handpick Jimmy Platt, says Lowry, because of his complete understanding of technology, his ability to work with the NCAA, and his ability to just direct the hell out of a show.
Although the Regionals are condensed into two sites, ESPN is still crewing out from the perspective of four regionals. There are four producers, four graphics producers, and four sets of talent splitting up the games at both Seattle and Greenville. There will be two sets of directors and assistant directors because those positions will work every game at their geographic site.
From a crewing perspective, it's kind of a split version of what we would normally do, says Lowry. It's our first time, so I guess we're going to see how e
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
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...
08/09/2026
Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) has announced a multi-year agreement with A E...
08/09/2026
Spectra Logic today announced the availability of Media Insight, a new capabilit...
08/09/2026
Rogers Communications and Quebecor have announced a 12-year sublicensing agreement for French-language national NHL games beginning with the 2026-27 season. TVA...
08/09/2026
Skyline Communications and Bridge Technologies will demonstrate two integrations...
08/09/2026
Boland Communications will make the European debut of its 4K55HDR7SNB 55-inch super-narrow-bezel monitor at IBC2026 (Stand 12.C57, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Ateme and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) have announced a collaboration comb...
08/09/2026
Haivision has joined the IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme as part of t...
08/09/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced price reductions on its PYXIS 6K and Cinema Camera 6K models, effective immediately through Blackmagic Design resellers worldwid...
08/09/2026
AI-Media will demonstrate its LEXI Suite at IBC2026 (Booth 5.C34, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin and Ad Insertion Platform (AIP) have announced the first live deploymen...
08/09/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate story-centric media workflows at IBC2026 (Booth 9.A01, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), connecting newsroom production, content ma...
08/09/2026
M2A Media and Ateme have announced a partnership integrating Ateme's video processing solutions into M2A Media's MediaToAnywhere platform for live sport...
08/09/2026
Ikegami will exhibit at IBC2026 (Stand 12.A31, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), including a Day 1 introduction of new cameras in the UNICAM XE series. Additiona...
08/09/2026
Broadcast industry analysts will be gathering plenty of insights at the 2026 IBC Show this weekend in Amsterdam, but Caretta Research has offered up some though...
08/09/2026
SENSHI and DAZN have announced a global broadcast partnership that will bring SENSHI's live events free to viewers in more than 200 markets. The partnership...
08/09/2026
New architecture built with Evertz will bring 4K HDR to Monday Night Football, N...
08/09/2026
Built for rap producers, by rap producers
Sauceware Audio, the independent plug-in company founded by Grammy-nominated producer Jacob (Travis Scott, 21 Sava...
08/09/2026
Classic Sound Techniques design revived
Warm Audio's latest release delivers a meticulous recreation of the preamp circuitry employed by the Sound Techn...
08/09/2026
Latest soft synth inspired by the Memorymoog
XILS Lab have just launched a software instrument that draws its inspiration from Moog's iconic Memorymoog,...
08/09/2026
The Airport Chaplain takes off as SBS's biggest launch of 2026
8 September, 2026
Media releases
1.67 million viewers on National Total TV to date
Best...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Mo-Sys, the world-leading developer of virtual production, camera robotics and image tracking technology, has completed a business restructuring, which has incl...
08/09/2026
New York, September 8, 2026 The TSAmediaHUB audiovisual contribution and distribution infrastructure developed by Telef nica's Audiovisual Services area re...
08/09/2026
Expanded Riyadh operation brings Asharq and Thmanyah services together on a resilient on-premises Pebble platform.
Pebble, the leading automation, content mana...
08/09/2026
Techex, a pioneering leader in live video workflows, will showcase its broadest software feature set to date at IBC 2026 (Stand 2.B45), extending its lead in so...
08/09/2026
Visitors to Grass Valley's booth at IBC2026 will be introduced to new Framelight X capabilities that connect content acquisition, management, editing and pu...
08/09/2026
BCNEXXT will showcase the latest evolution of Vipe at IBC2026 (Stand 2.B09), introducing a series of innovations designed to deliver higher-quality audience exp...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Ad Insertion Platform (AIP), a leading innovator in advanced ad insertion technologies, to...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics and augmented and virtual production, is announcing a major package of enhancements to its Suite 7 soft...
08/09/2026
Big Blue Marble is supporting TDF, French infrastructure and network operator, broadcasting Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and radio services, as a techno...
08/09/2026
Agents work inside a single production environment, from incoming wire copy to a live studio show...
08/09/2026
Building on their strategic partnership, Ceeblue and Layercake make the unthinkable possible: scalable sub-second streaming over standard DRM, SSAI, and CDN wor...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics, augmented and virtual production, is completing the environment for fast-paced broadcast production wi...
08/09/2026
A SaaS portfolio built to work together, helping operators grow audiences, monetise smarter and run leaner, on their own terms
At IBC 2026 (stand 1.B49) Synam...
08/09/2026
Accedo, global provider of video streaming software and services, has been selected by PlayOn Sports, a national leader in high school sports technology, to exp...
08/09/2026
LiveU, the leader in live IP-video solutions, is enabling The Associated Press to take global newsgathering to the next stage with intelligent connectivity and ...
08/09/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced the latest evolution of it...
08/09/2026
Compact, power-efficient X Platform performance brings broadcast-grade reliability and ultra-low latency to space-constrained remote production (REMI) workflows...
08/09/2026
Zixi, the leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, and Kiloview, a leading provider of professional IP video encoding and decoding solutions, t...
08/09/2026
Collaboration gives content owners scalable CDN capacity and broadcasters enhanced flexibility, including for C-band transition planning
Quortex today announce...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Telos Alliance and Pluxbox Announce Dynamic Media Facility Integration Partnersh...
08/09/2026
J nger Audio Showcases Industry-First S-ADM Cloud Workflow at IBC 2026
Search
Dolby, MainConcept, Techex and J nger Audio will showcase the industry's ...
08/09/2026
Tuesday 8 September 2026
Sky Go gets a major upgrade for Sky Glass and Sky Stream customers
Today, Sky launches a new version of the Sky Go app for Sky Glass ...
08/09/2026
Documentary thriller simulating a Russian attack on UK soil will culminate in a live final episode reuniting the playersTuesday 8 September 2026
Trailer releas...
08/09/2026
Tuesday 8 September 2026
Jamie Demetriou and Amelia Dimoldenberg to host next t...
08/09/2026
Wuppertal September 8, 2026
Riedel Introduces New OnAir Headset PlatformRiedel Communications today announced the launch of its new OnAir headset platform, a...
ESPN Streamlines Operations in Covering NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament For the first time, there are just two Regional Sites for the Sweet Sixteen and Elite 8 By Brandon Costa 
