Live From 2020 Winter Classic: NBC Sports Turns Historic Cotton Bowl Into Hockey Heaven The 90-year-old stadium presented both technological flexibility, challenges By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor
Thursday, January 2, 2020 - 7:00 am
Print This Story
Story Highlights
Roughly twelve hours into the new year, NBC Sports led off its 2020 calendar with an event that has become engrained into the fabric of American sports after one cold day at Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium in 2008. At this year's Winter Classic, the network showed off some all-out Texas flair at the legendary Cotton Bowl Stadium with the Peacock Pit Box serving as the outdoor set, new jib cameras stationed behind each net, and an inside look within the onsite NHL Replay room.
Marvin, Dammeyer, and Stuart were at the forefront of NBC Sports' efforts at the iconic Cotton Bowl Stadium.
The equipment level has always improved and gone up every year, said Matt Marvin, coordinating producer, NBC Sports Group. I think our boss, [Executive Producer] Sam Flood, did that first game and he set the tone. What he pounds in all of our heads is that you just can't cover this like a game.
MORE FROM THE 2020 WINTER CLASSIC
NEP Combats Logistical Issues With Thorough Planning
Skycam Reaps the Benefits of Spacious, Familiar Venue
NBC Sports' James Stuart Breaks Down Tech Coverage at the Historic Cotton Bowl
Photo Gallery: A Day at the NHL Winter Classic
A Touch of NASCAR: Peacock Pit Box Makes Winter Classic Debut in the Fair Grounds
Nestled right outside of the main fa ade of the Cotton Bowl, NBC Sports constructed one of their three main physical sets. Straying away from typical outdoor sets visible at other events like the Indianapolis 500, they went in the direction of something that's normally seen along NASCAR's pit row.
This is a set that we use in NASCAR [telecasts], said Charlie Chuck Dammeyer, coordinating director, NBC Sports Group. We had three total studio sets and two that were new, including this main one.
The mindset of going with this structure was to cut down on a potentially large footprint. Within an area that was congested by upwards of 85,000 hockey fans, things became a little tight. In an effort to downsize, the network decided to go with this compact solution.
The Peacock Pit Box, typically seen on NBC's NASCAR coverage, made its debut within the Texas State Fairgrounds.
A 42-Camera Bonanza: New Jibs, Skycam Headline Broadcast Lineup
When the puck dropped on the ice near the 50-yard line, a total of 42 camera feeds were accessed by Dammeyer, Marvin, and the rest of the crew. At the top of the list, NBC rolled out two new jib cameras that were positioned on the backside of each net.
They were behind the goal and pretty much rolled them the width of the ice, said Dammeyer. If we liked it better on the near side, but we didn't have a lot of coverage on the far side, we slid it over during a TV break.
Other operable cameras included eight super-slo-mo Sony HDC-4300s at six times speed, seven robotic cameras including one in the tunnel, and up to three Marshall POVs with two set up on the team benches.
With manned cameras patrolling the ground, two aerial installments were above the action in Dallas. A four-point Skycam system and a fixed-wing airplane, two fixtures that have become prominent at this outdoor event, added an extra element that can't be done in any other scenario.
These are four cameras [two jibs, Skycam, fixed-wing] that you would never see at an indoor hockey game, said Dammeyer. It really let us show off the depth and scope of an 85,000-seat stadium. You had full ice coverage in addition to all the other ancillary entertainment things that they staged all around the rink. We really showed how big and grand this was.
Two new jib cameras were stationed behind both nets.
With fans sitting at a far enough distance away from the ice, camera angles were greatly enhanced without any obstruction.
At a football stadium, there were no nets behind the glass, he continued. With the jibs, we were able to get over the top of the boards unobstructed.
Take Another Look: Fans Go Inside of NHL's Replay Room
In a game like the Winter Classic, there is most likely always something that you have never seen before. The same could be said about witnessing how NHL Operations goes about making a crucial call in a game.
With replay reviews redirected from Toronto to the Cotton Bowl, the league allowed NBC Sports to show fans the inner workings for the first time.
If a [replay] situation arrives, we could certainly put them on camera, said Dammeyer, prior to the game. It's kind of a peek inside of that process, which is unique since we've never done it before.
The Compound Alignment: NBC Sports Reimagines NEP's ND4 Mobile Unit
Continuing its initiative to minimize real estate and save space, NBC Sports took the time to rethink their compound layout before executing.
Inside of the A unit of NEP's ND4, both the production of the main broadcast and the pregame show were done from this space. The B unit was used for other equipment such as an onsite tape room. As for the C unit, it was disconnected from the truck for efficiency's sake.
The NBC TV compound, led by NEP's ND4, sat on the outskirts of the stadium.
We were able to not bring the C unit by unloading all of the gear that we needed and adding it to [the A and B units] with NEP's F2, said James Stuart, senior director, operations, NBC Sports Group. We were able to eliminate a unit because we were having a delivery truck anyway if need be.
To handle all of the RF signals running in and out of the Cotton Bowl, BSI (which is owned by NEP) set up shop in their own personal truck. Also in the compound, the game was distributed to fans at home
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
28/08/2025
IBC stand 5.F81
Wowza to Reveal Next-Gen Video Streaming Innovations at IBC 2025
Amsterdam, August 28, 2025 Wowza, a leader in video streaming infrastructur...
Live From 2020 Winter Classic: NBC Sports Turns Historic Cotton Bowl Into Hockey Heaven The 90-year-old stadium presented both technological flexibility, challenges By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor 
