Live From CFP National Championship: ESPN Colleagues Celebrate Operations Legend Bob Braunlich, Working His Final CFP Set to retire in April, Braunlich has worked for ESPN and ABC Sports for 38 years By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Monday, January 13, 2020 - 2:10 pm
Print This Story
Story Highlights
While the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship Game will go down as one of the most technologically comprehensive sports-television productions in history, it also marks a bittersweet moment in history for those who work behind the scenes at the game's primary broadcaster, ESPN.
After nearly four decades in sports television, ESPN VP, Remote Production Operations, Bob Braunlich is set to retire in April, making this the final College Football Championship Game he will work full-time for the network. Affectionately referred to as simply BB by his colleagues, Braunlich has long been the cool, calm, and comprehensive tour de force that makes many of the largest and most complex traveling studio operations possible.
Since the days of the Bowl Championship Series, ESPN's Bob Braunlich has worked every single college football championship game.
BB has been a consistent force on our College Football National Championship productions, says Chris Calcinari, SVP, remote operations, ESPN and ABC Sports. He has been a key leader on every CFP Championship and on many BCS Championships before that. I could not be happier for him to be able to move on and enjoy retirement, but his knowledge and experience on this event is going to be missed greatly. We are all very thankful for his incredible contributions over his 38-year career with ESPN and ABC Sports. BB is rightly known outside the ESPN community for his experience and knowledge. Within ESPN, he is also loved for his care, respect, and sincere appreciation for our team members. He has a heart of gold and is literally beloved by all.
Braunlich's 38-year career traces back to the days when ABC Sports defined quality in live sports television. When ABC Sports was fully integrated into ESPN in 2006, he became a dutiful leader for the sports-media behemoth. From traveling the country with, perhaps, the greatest traveling sports show in television history, College GameDay, to being one of only a few ESPNers to work every single college football championship game (dating back to the days of the Bowl Championship Series) since ESPN locked up those rights, Braunlich has been a pillar in the company and has helped turn the championship into not just a game but a weekend-long multi-network celebration.
No one has more passion about what he does than BB. For all of us at ESPN, he is the embodiment of a perfect teammate, says Lee Fitting, VP, production, ESPN, who has worked with Braunlich on countless road productions, including, most notably, College Gameday. While his fingerprints are found across a number of our properties, I know the College Football Playoff coverage and the enormous operation that it has become across our company is special to him. His level of expertise and love for what he does, combined with our trust in him and his entire team, is what makes our vision as a production team possible. Simply said, it has been an honor to work alongside him for many years.
Known as a mentor, Bob Braunlich says that, even after retiring, he will continue to be available to current and future generations of ESPNers.
Says Mike Foss, supervising director, ESPN External Studio Group, He's a legend in our business. When you think about what ABC Sports was 38 years ago and the merger with ESPN, he came over with his experience and his leadership on both sides of the ledger, which was key to that integration. When you look at the properties he oversees, it's no small coincidence that he leads the most important live events that the company has. You don't replace somebody like that. You suck up as much knowledge as you can from them and hope for the best. He's clearly going to be missed.
Though excited about retirement, Braunlich vows to not go very far and to always remain available to current and future generations of ESPNers. His willingness to mentor, in fact, has been a calling card of his career: he has developed a reputation as someone willing to walk anyone through a tough project or the next move in their career. He is also highly engaged and active with TV-production students at his alma mater, Westminster College.
April 17 is a day that I'm not looking forward to, says Operations Producer Andy Davenport, a close colleague. BB has been tremendous. He recruited me into the position that I'm now in. I'll be forever grateful. I have so much respect and admiration for him. It will be a huge loss for our company.
The thing about BB is, he continues, it's not just the immediate crew that he works with all of the time that he touches. He has people in our department who may not have a lot of daily interaction with him who will go to him, and he mentors them. They respect him and what he represents. He truly cares about people, and everyone knows that. That's an aspect in today's business world that just doesn't exist. He touches a lot of lives and is going to be very much missed.
Sitting across from Davenport at breakfast on Sunday morning in New Orleans, Braunlich smiles. If that's my legacy, I'm pretty happy with it, he says. Sure, you put shows on, but, if that's my legacy, I'll take that.
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...
Live From CFP National Championship: ESPN Colleagues Celebrate Operations Legend Bob Braunlich, Working His Final CFP Set to retire in April, Braunlich has worked for ESPN and ABC Sports for 38 years By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
