Host Broadcast Services Drives Transcontinental Transmission, Production for CONCACAF Gold Cup Game Creek trucks, GCV Anywhere workflow handle 10-venue, 31-match tourney By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Friday, July 30, 2021 - 10:29 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
A summer loaded with international soccer tournaments will see the crowning of another continental champion on Sunday when the U.S. and Mexico meet in the CONCACAF Gold Cup Final (8:30 p.m. ET, FS1, Univision, TUDN) at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The match caps a comprehensive, month-long production and operational effort marked by innovations in workflow, live video, and digital-content delivery.
As has been the case for the past few iterations of this tournament, CONCACAF tapped Host Broadcast Services (HBS) - the organization that produces major global soccer events like the FIFA men's and women's World Cup and the UEFA European Championship - to manage all technical, editorial, booking, and crewing efforts for the 2021 Gold Cup. HBS is also driving new efforts in digital and ENG coverage.
Sebastian Von Freyberg is one of the producers and directors who have called the 31 matches of the CONCACAF Gold Cup produced by Host Broadcast Services. He will direct the Gold Cup Final on Sunday.
Sunday's final will be the tech-jammed conclusion of a tournament for which CONCACAF and HBS will have produced 31 matches in 10 venues across the U.S.
Highlighting the effort are advances in transmission and video delivery with Game Creek Video's deployment of its GCV Anywhere platform. Also, some of the vendor's newest IP-centric mobile units - GCV Bravo, Columbia, Gridiron, Celtic and Gotham - were deployed, and a customized remote-production center was built in its Hudson, NH, facility. CONCACAF's Additional Content Feed (ACF), which offered more digital and ENG content to rightsholders and club media teams, and EVS replay for the tournament were operated from there.
MORE: Game Creek Video's GCV Anywhere' Platform Makes Live Media Production Happen at a Distance for CONCACAF Gold Cup and More
At the tournament's peak during the Group Stage, GCV Anywhere was supporting multiple productions occurring simultaneously in Orlando, Dallas, and Kansas City. Twenty-four channels of H.265-encoded 1080/60p HDR video were transported to the New Hampshire facility to feed seven remote EVS operators, three EVS operators, three EVS IPDirectors, and 12 intercom positions there.
Each Group Stage match of this year's Gold Cup was captured by 23 or 24 cameras. In the Knockout Rounds, that number was boosted to 26-28.
The one thing that I really appreciate when we're on the road and are working long hours is the great attitude of the [Game Creek Video] people, says Oscar Sanchez, director, broadcast operations/executive producer, CONCACAF. The engineers in the truck, everybody on the Game Creek side has been so good, and their units are in such good shape.
CONCACAF and HBS also tapped VISTA Worldlink's popular at-home production facility in Dania Beach, FL, to serve as its Broadcast Operations Center (BOC) and integrated graphics and commentary for rightsholders in the U.S. (Fox Sports, Univision, TUDN), Canada (OneSoccer), Mexico (Televisa, TV Azteca), and Central America. Vista Worldlink Director, Sales, Marc Beckmeier served as project leader.
Sanchez notes that, throughout the tournament, a 1080p HDR feed has been produced in the truck onsite but not transmitted because of a lack of interest from the various rightsholders. Instead, the signal delivered is 1080i SDR.
Game Creek Video's IP-centric Bravo, Columbia, Gridiron, Celtic, and Gotham were onsite at the 10 venues hosting matches.
Where there has been increased demand by broadcast partners is in cloud distribution. As a result, HBS sought out the services of The Switch and, through its Mimic cloud-services platform, initiated fiber transmission from the match venues to the BOC for distribution to rightsholders. The Switch SVP, Sales, Rick Behar played a key role as project leader.
We've been exploring this coming into this tournament, and we've been extremely happy with it, says Sanchez, noting that CONCACAF Technical and Transmission Director Dario Boronat has overseen the effort. This isn't the future. This is the now.
In terms of production gear, each Group Stage match was covered by 23 or 24 cameras. In the Knockout Rounds, that number was boosted to 26-28. At least three super-slow-motion cameras were committed to each of the 31 matches. Cable-cam systems from Spidercam and Skycam were rigged up at most of the stadiums, and 3G Wireless handled signal delivery for all RF video and audio solutions.
The GCV Anywhere remote-production operation for the Gold Cup was built at Game Creek's facility in Hudson, NH.
One of the biggest challenges of this year's event was crewing. Typically, CONCACAF and HBS bring in front-bench talent from across the globe to produce the event, which is second in stature in this part of the planet only to the FIFA World Cup. That wasn't feasible given the many travel restrictions still in place and in flux as the industry continues to cope with COVID-19 restrictions.
Even so, CONCACAF and HBS were able to recruit a highly respectable stable of directors, producers, and coordinating producers to oversee the live broadcasts: Ken Neal, Glen Wilhem, Dacio Alonso, Javier Estrada, Shaw Brown, Sebastian Von Freyberg, Ute Goser, Jeff Straus, Kristin Hennessey, Riki Van Steeden, and Laszlo Szele.
We have a strong culture of soccer production in the U.S. right now, says Sanchez. The people that work with us [regularly] are fantastic.
On Sunday, Von Freyberg will direct alongside Goser in the producer chair.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
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...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
02/07/2026
BLAST, a competitive entertainment company focused on esports, has announced more than $133 million in revenue for 2025, representing more than 40% year-over-ye...
02/07/2026
Riedel Communications has announced official SKAARHOJ panel support for SimplyLive production workflows, enabled through the SimplyLive 2.1 release. The integra...
02/07/2026
The Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic has deployed LiveU video-over-bond...
02/07/2026
Gravity Media USA has announced the appointment of Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development, effective July 1, 2026. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bosto...
02/07/2026
TwelveLabs, a video intelligence company, has announced $100 million in Series B funding co-led by NEA and NAVER Ventures, with participation from Amazon, Radic...
02/07/2026
The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports that will air five PPL championship matches on CNBC during the 2026 season, the...
02/07/2026
LiveLike, a digital fan engagement platform, has announced eight confirmed FIFA ...
02/07/2026
Cobalt Digital has received Future's Best of Show Award, presented by AV Technology at InfoComm 2026, for its blueCORE family of standalone signal processor...
02/07/2026
Synamedia has announced the appointment of Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transition...
02/07/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) and Sony Group Corporation have announced an expanded collaboration for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), taking place in Paris, Fra...
02/07/2026
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. ( Z') has announced exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the Bundesliga in India for five years, beginning with the...
02/07/2026
An effort uniting News, Sports, Local, and Telemundo, the 50+-camera live produc...
02/07/2026
Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Ben Wang appe...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
02/07/2026
Aims to simplify additive synthesis
Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...
02/07/2026
Products to remain fully active & supported
Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...
02/07/2026
What you missed!
Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Following the successful launch of its inaugural APAC Mentoring Programme last month, the Rise AV APAC Regional Council will bring the conversation around mento...
02/07/2026
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out
Brie Clayton July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...
02/07/2026
Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...
02/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia backs audience-led filmmaking with new insight-driven initiativ...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia refines guidelines for Narrative Content Development and Docume...
02/07/2026
Maxon Autograph: Introduction to working with Tables
Simon Ubsdell July 1, 2026
0 Comments
An overview of Autograph's ridiculously powerful tables...
02/07/2026
Boston Conservatory's Soir e Breaks Records to Fund Student Scholarships The event achieved 127 percent of its fundraising goal in an evening celebrating ...
Host Broadcast Services Drives Transcontinental Transmission, Production for CONCACAF Gold Cup Game Creek trucks, GCV Anywhere workflow handle 10-venue, 31-match tourney By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
