Princeton Caps Off Extensive Program Transformation With H.G. Levine Broadcast Center New production hub features two control rooms and a studio By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor
Thursday, October 17, 2019 - 12:23 pm
Print This Story
Story Highlights
When the calendar rolls around to May, college students rejoice to the sound of summer. For one of the most prestigious schools in the Ivy League, Princeton University, the signs of this past summer marked the homestretch of its multiple-control-room buildout inside Jadwin Gymnasium. Like college football, with its phenomenal growth in the 150 years since its first game (which included Princeton, then-called The College of New Jersey), the production arm of the Tigers' athletics program has made an absurd amount of progress in a short time.
The two-bench control room is the newest addition inside Jadwin Gymnasium.
We always outsourced our football and basketball productions because, a year and a half ago, we didn't own a switcher, says Cody Chrusciel, assistant director, athletics/multimedia and broadcasting, Princeton University. Now we have three centralized control rooms, with one over at the football stadium that can run our videoboard.
This hasn't always been the situation at the university. When Chrusciel arrived in September 2015, a local third-party vendor was the go-to answer for all Tigers broadcasts. But the program was interested in branching out into in-house broadcast production, a massive undertaking that resulted in construction of the H.G. Levine Broadcast Center. The plan was put into motion in October 2016 when the first construction plans were drawn.
We decided to not hire an integrator, Chrusciel says, so John Bullis [assistant director, athletics multimedia and production, Princeton University] and I sat down and figured everything out. We didn't have an engineer, so, if it exists in the control room, we wanted to know how everything is configured and hooked up.
At Princeton Stadium, the condensed control room is the foundation of the program's hockey broadcasts.
With an existing fiber network throughout the campus, the program carved out a lane where two of the school's main sports, football (with 24 strands) and basketball, could rely on the infrastructure. After developing the concept, the effort began this past spring with a generous donation by Steven Mayer, a graduate of the Class of 1981 and student-athlete on the baseball team. The space's name, H.G. Levine, is a tribute to his uncle, who died after a car accident during his freshman year at Princeton.
On June 25, the team moved into its two-control-room facility. A few months later, the team produced the first event from the new digs: Women's Soccer vs. Boston College on ESPN+ Sept. 1.
During the first month of this control room, we produced six different sports out of five different venues. Four of those sports were done for NBC Sports Philadelphia, says Chrusciel. All [were produced] with a full-time staff of two.
Hybrid Home: Fiber, NewTek NDI Link Control Rooms and Venues
At the heart of the Jadwin control rooms are two NewTek TriCaster TC1 switchers. Two NewTek 3Play 3P1's handle replay functions; a portable version is also being used. For smoothness, Clear-Com HelixNet is behind in-house communications. On the audio side, Audinate's Dante audio networking is accomplished with a Yamaha TF3 in the bigger control room and a TF1 in the smaller one. Other significant tools include live shading for games with a late-afternoon kickoff and AJT Systems' LiveBook GFX, which is used by all Ivy League schools.
Four Hitachi Z-HD5000s and JVC cameras anchor the bulk of the university's live event productions.
In summer 2018, Princeton gave the Princeton Stadium control room a much needed refresh. After getting rid of 10-year-old equipment geared to dated SD broadcasts, the university needed to justify the refurbishment despite using the space only for five home football games per year. With an IP network courtesy of NewTek NDI and an aging/cramped Hobey Baker Rink nearing its centennial (in 2022), all hockey home games are produced from a half mile away.
The space features a NewTek TriCaster TC1 switcher, a 3Play 3P1, Dante audio via a Yamaha TF1 console, and other smaller versions of gadgets used in the main control rooms.
In both Jadwin and Princeton Stadium, the 2019 live event productions will total nearly 100 after the home slate of ticketed sports (football, men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's hockey, and wrestling) and 20-25 broadcasts of other sports (water polo, volleyball, soccer, field hockey).
Football and basketball productions are handled by a total of 15 staffers. For football, four Hitachi Z-HD5000 cameras with CCUs will line the stadium roof, with end-zone action covered by a wireless RF handheld at field level in the corner of the stadium and an additional camera midway up the stands. One of eight JVC PTZ cameras resides in the announcers booth for on-camera hits; others are installed beneath the basketball videoboard in Jadwin, inside the main control room, and throughout other sports venues).
Near the entrance of the H.G. Levine Broadcast Center, podcasts are recorded for additional content.
For basketball coverage, the control room will double its workload, serving as the nucleus for the main game broadcast and handling the in-venue videoboard show.
All Things Princeton: A Willingness To Expand
Despite maintaining two separate control rooms, the crew still had cash to spend. At less than 10% of the total project cost, Creative Dimensions created a dedicated studio space adjacent to the control rooms, including an anchor desk and a setup with two JVC cameras.
The idea was that most of our games a
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...
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...
29/09/2026
Clear-Com announced that First Baptist Nashville has upgraded its production communications with a Clear-Com intercom solution as part of a comprehensive sanct...
29/09/2026
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K Captured Action Shots for Sketch
Brie Clayton September 28, 2026
0 Comments
Camera's portable design and dynamic range...
29/09/2026
Kean Production Services Deploys AJA ColorBox to Deliver Consistent, Accurate Co...
29/09/2026
Berklee Alumni and Faculty Nominated for the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards A total of 28 Berklee alumni and faculty earned nominations across 20 categories this ye...
29/09/2026
Berklee's K-Pop & Beyond Explores Connections Between K-Pop and Hip-Hop Now in its fifth year, the series brings together artists, industry leaders, and s...
29/09/2026
We tend to think we live in a digital world, with hopes and fears around artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, data centres and the next big technolo...
29/09/2026
Today, in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Apple relea...
29/09/2026
Final Cut Camera, the professional filming app for iPhone, receives a major upda...
29/09/2026
RT lyric fm is proud to announce the annual Choirs for Christmas competition callout. Warm up those vocal chords and join us on RT lyric fm for a celebration ...
28/09/2026
The NHL has announced Adobe as an Official Creative, Marketing and AI Partner beginning with the 2026-27 season. The partnership will provide the league and its...
28/09/2026
MultiDyne will exhibit at CABSAT 2026 (October 5-7, Dubai Exhibition Centre), showcasing an expanded technology portfolio following its June 2026 acquisition of...
28/09/2026
ARRI and HONOR have announced the HONOR Magic9 Pro Max, a flagship smartphone carrying ARRI branding on the device and packaging as the first product-level expr...
28/09/2026
Net Insight has added the Nimbra 1020G to its pan-Asian live media trial network, giving customers and partners in the region a way to evaluate ST 2110 and JPEG...
28/09/2026
Vindral has been named a recipient of a 2026 Technology and Engineering Emmy Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in the category of We...
28/09/2026
Interra Systems will exhibit at CABSAT 2026 (Stand B2-37, Dubai Exhibition Centre, October 5-7), demonstrating its BATON QC platform, ORION monitoring solutions...
28/09/2026
Two years into its new production facility, the TOUR is expanding centralized wo...
Princeton Caps Off Extensive Program Transformation With H.G. Levine Broadcast Center New production hub features two control rooms and a studio By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor 
