When the SEC Network launched two years ago, Mississippi State University ensured that its infrastructure was up to the dual task of producing in-venue videoboard shows and broadcasting sports like basketball, soccer, and baseball on Day 1. Behind the scenes, however, some grander discussions were taking place.
We had a number of discussions with the SEC Network, our athletic director, and our CFO just basically [asking] what do we need to do to be ready for the launch of the SEC Network and where do we need to be in the next two to three years?, says Bennie Ashford, assistant AD, video services, Mississippi State.
The result of the discussion is currently taking shape in the university's Davis Wade Stadium: a brand-new, state-of-the art production facility housing two video-control rooms that will serve videoboards for football, basketball, soccer, baseball, and softball and support SEC Network broadcasts.
This was a part of the discussion of where we need to be a few years down the road, Ashford explains, so it's taken us a couple years to get where we are now.
Prior to the SEC Network announcement, the writing was already on the wall. Video displays in Humphrey Coliseum, Polk-DeMent Stadium, and MSU Soccer Field were stretching the resources of the single video-control room located in the south end zone of Davis Wade Stadium. Enter ESPN and SEC Network and the minimum standards mandated, and resources were sure to be stretched that much thinner.
We just thought that, as we upgrade into the future, because of multiple venues coming online and overlapping sports' needing content just for videoboard use, at some point, we would need expanded facilities, says Ashford. It wasn't as pressing at that time because, beyond videoboard productions, we didn't have anything that sort of pushed it over the line. What happened is the creation of the SEC Network, which forced all the schools in the Southeastern Conference to take a look at their current facilities and to determine what would it take for us to move this forward into the future.
Meanwhile, in an ongoing renovation and expansion of Davis Wade Stadium - spearheaded by HOK and LPK Architects - approximately 4,000 sq. ft. of open space in the north end zone was slated for retail use. After the SEC Network announcement, Ashford approached the athletic director and asked if the space could instead serve as the new location for a video-control room. The space now houses two control rooms, a machine room, and a small studio with windows overlooking the entrance to the stadium.
Mississippi State tapped CTG to handle integration of the production facilities, in part because of the university's long-standing relationship with Crescent Communications (which was acquired by CTG in 2012) and the integrator's experience with other SEC schools.
With the advent of the SEC Network, Mississippi State took a little bit of a different approach from everybody else, says John Curtis, project manager, CTG. Instead of immediately jumping into building a new control room, they decided to use their existing control room to produce some of their streaming shows and, [during] the launch of the network, worked with a lot of affiliate schools in the conference and started a conversation with CTG in 2015 [on] what their control room was going to look like. I think this was a case of a little bit of wait-and-see, he adds. They were very interested in the network, they had capacity to produce some shows, but they wanted to get a little bit of the experience from the other schools before jumping in with both feet.
The new production facility is located behind the tinted glass of Davis Wade Stadium.
CTG installed a Ross Video Carbonite Black production switcher and XPression graphics, Evertz EQX routing platform with MADI interface and a DreamCatcher replay server, and DiGiCo S21 audio console. Mississippi State invested in Ikegami HDK-95C cameras with Fujinon 55X lenses. The facility has fiber to multiple venues on campus, including Humphrey Coliseum (basketball), Polk-DeMent Stadium (baseball and softball), and MSU Soccer Field (soccer) and connects to ESPN headquarters in Bristol, CT, and to SEC Network headquarters in Charlotte, NC.
The ongoing expansion of the north end zone (which includes more than 8,000 new seats) also resulted in a new Daktronics videoboard similar in size to the south-end-zone display, which was installed in 2008. The two videoboards are among the largest in college football. A Daktronics center-hung display was installed in Humphrey Coliseum prior to the 2014-15 basketball season.
Work on the production facility is currently under way, with plans to get the video-control rooms online in time for the 2016-17 basketball season. CTG is commissioning and training Mississippi State staff on the equipment, aiming to get all full-time, freelance, and student staffers familiar with the gear over the summer. Ashford's team will continue to work out of the existing south-end-zone space for the 2016 football season. After that, Ashford can't wait to move into his team's new home.
This project is really a product of the conference's association with ESPN, he says. I think, before, most of us in the conference were just videoboard producers - we did content for videoboard and game day, which is still crucial and very important - but I think, because of the agreement with the Southeastern Conference and ESPN and the work that ESPN has put into this, it's allowed us to turn into broadcasters.
Most recent headlines
17/02/2025
TVBEurope talks to the team who brought a piece of broadcasting history back to life on BBC Wales last night
By Jenny Priestley
Published: February 14, 2025 ...
17/02/2025
Eligible studios will receive the relief directly from their local authorities, with no need to submit a claim
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: February 17, 20...
17/02/2025
As DEI initiatives come under pressure in the USA, supporters of Rise, which promotes diversity in the media and entertainment sector, discuss the continuing im...
17/02/2025
EIB Global loan will partially fund SES's continued O3b mPOWER medium earth orbit (MEO) fleet expansion enabling additional capacity worldwide. O3b mPOWER s...
15/02/2025
At Nielsen, Business Resource Groups (BRGs) play a critical role in nurturing a ...
15/02/2025
Innovation to empower creativity: Explore the latest in Lightroom
Rob Christensen February 15, 2025
0 Comments
Whether you want to remove distracting ...
15/02/2025
Wisycom, a worldwide leader in RF technology and provider of wireless solutions, announces a new distribution agreement with EQUAPHON. An Argentinian profession...
15/02/2025
DPA Microphones, the leading manufacturer of high-quality microphone solutions, is pleased to welcome Nicholas Nick Mariano and Vincent Vince Divine to the ...
15/02/2025
Tuxera, a leading provider of quality-assured file systems and networking solutions, will showcase how Tuxera Fusion SMB enables unprecedented performance for m...
15/02/2025
Bitmovin's latest Video Developer Report indicates an increasing role of AI, the slow adoption of next-generation codecs, and continuing challenges when it ...
15/02/2025
When Michelin Enterprises set out to promote its prestigious Hotel Guide in the new Sleepless in the Kitchen , campaign, veteran German/Slovenian gaffer Robert...
15/02/2025
Formula E, the world's first all-electric racing series, revolutionizing motorsport with cutting-edge technology and a commitment to sustainability has sele...
15/02/2025
Agile Content, a global leader in TV and video technology solutions, announces its rebranding to AgileTV.
The transition to AgileTV stems from a commitment to ...
15/02/2025
Hiltron Communications will promote the latest additions to its range of satellite communication products, systems and supporting services at GovSatCom 2025. Th...
15/02/2025
Following the success of the original Airglow Booklight, DoPchoice debuts a new addition to their inflatable line the Float. This lightweight, inflatable, round...
15/02/2025
LAS VEGAS Marshall Electronics has announced that it will debut its newest camera controller, the RCP Plus, at the 2025 NAB Show at Booth N2649 between April 5 ...
15/02/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has named Blake Sebo as the next general manager of KTUU and KYES, Gray's NBC and CBS affiliates in Anchorage, Alaska....
15/02/2025
KOKKEDAL, Denmark DPA Microphones will feature its new CORE+ technology for distortion-free microphone sound at the 2025 NAB Show, April 5-9, in Las Vegas....
15/02/2025
SWANSEA, U.K. QuickLink will launch StudioPro-NDI and StudioPro-3, two new models of its QuickLine StudioPro video production platform, at the 2025 NAB Show, Ap...
15/02/2025
Live From 2025 NBA All-Star Game Weekend: After 25 Years, Turner Sports All-In F...
15/02/2025
NASCAR Driver Cam on Max Embraces Cloud-Based Workflow for 2025 Season Chris Brown of WBD Sports says Mobii will play key part in delivering signals from the tr...
14/02/2025
Last month, we officially launched the Spotify Partner Program, a powerful new m...
14/02/2025
From an island off the coast of Lutruwita to the global stage in France SBS & ...
14/02/2025
The future of electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) land systems is evolving so that ...
14/02/2025
Here are 5 reasons why you should attend ISE 2025
Discover more about Calrec: Learn more about Calrec's legacy of innovation in broadcast audio solutions ...
14/02/2025
World Radio Day: On the same wavelength
By Graham Murray, International Sales Manager at Calrec
To mark World Radio Day, Calrec's International Sales Ma...
14/02/2025
DALLAS and TYSONS, Va. Tegna has concluded a broadcast rights agreement that makes Tegna's KFAA in Dallas the exclusive local television partner of the Dall...
14/02/2025
Amazon's Prime Video has released a new app for Apple TV that the streamer said delivers an improved streaming experiences with faster scrolling, improved s...
14/02/2025
CLEVELAND Telos Alliance announced a software update for its Axia Quasar XR and SR line of audio-over-IP (AoIP) mixing consoles and will show the offering at th...
14/02/2025
Puget Systems Returns to HPA Tech Retreat 2025 with New Analysis Tools for Puge...
14/02/2025
Glass Animals: Tour of Earth Uses Blackmagic Live Production Workflow
Brie Clayton February 14, 2025
0 Comments
80six deploys Blackmagic URSA Broadcas...
14/02/2025
A dispute between Paramount and Youtube TV that would have pulled CBS stations and Paramount's cable channels from the streaming service has been temporaril...
14/02/2025
Colourist Deidre (Dee) McClelland details how she helped shape the distinct look and feel of whimsical Oscar-nominated stop-motion film, Memoir of a Snail
By C...
14/02/2025
BitFire said it intends to introduce forward-looking services that simplify the launch of live production workflows, and enhance real-time collaboration
By Jen...
14/02/2025
The claim by the liquidators is the latest twist in the ongoing saga of the companys collapse at the end of 2021
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: February 14, ...
14/02/2025
A carriage dispute between YouTube TV and Paramount could come to a head today (Feb. 13), with the virtual pay TV provider threatening to pull all of the progra...
14/02/2025
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. LG Electronics USA has opened a new in-house, state-of-the-art virtual production studio at its 360,000-square-foot North American headqu...
14/02/2025
NEW YORK In a bid to help local broadcasters find new ways of monetizing their content, the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) and TVB have relea...
14/02/2025
WASHINGTON Three Democratic U.S. Senators have sent a stern letter blasting FCC Chair Brendan Carr for the weaponization of the agency for attacking broadcast...
14/02/2025
Years after launching the streaming service Apple TV+ in November of 2019, Apple has finally released a version of its steaming app for Android devices....
14/02/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. Red Digital Cinema will make its V-RAPTOR [X] and KOMODO-X camera systems available with Nikon's premier Z Mount, providing filmmaker...
14/02/2025
DAYTONA, Fla. The Fox Sports production of this year's Daytona 500 will see the addition of a few new tech elements and the continued unfolding of the broad...
14/02/2025
Watch Bryson Battles Blind Audition on The Voice Get a Four-Chair Turn Michael Bubl said the Boston Conservatory at Berklee musical theater senior might have...
14/02/2025
2025 Daytona 500: FOX Sports Looks To Ride Super Bowl LIX Momentum Into NASCAR S...
14/02/2025
14 Feb 2025
VEON's Kyivstar and the Come Back Alive Foundation Raise USD 2....
14/02/2025
Max Renews THE PITT, Starring Noah Wyle, For A Second Season
Max
Warner Bros. Television Group
The Pitt
New Episodes Of The Medical Drama From John...
14/02/2025
This year, Technicolor proudly celebrates 110 years of shaping the magic of cinema pioneering color, visual effects, and innovation that bring unforgettable l...
14/02/2025
NBA All-Star: More Games, More Teams, More Music, More Sound From the Court Turner Sports' team will deploy familiar tech to capture all the audio By Dan D...
14/02/2025
LIV Golf Continues To Innovate With Drones, Data-Driven Graphics, and All-Access...
When the SEC Network launched two years ago, Mississippi State University ensured that its infrastructure was up to the dual task of producing in-venue videoboard shows and broadcasting sports like basketball, soccer, and baseball on Day 1. Behind the scenes, however, some grander discussions were taking place.
