MLB 2025: TNT Sports Chooses Remote Production for MLB Tuesday,' Upgrades Control Rooms at Techwood NEP Supershooter 64, first used on NHL on TNT,' will be the main mobile unit By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor Tuesday, April 1, 2025 - 12:03 pm
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It may be April Fool's Day, but TNT Sports' commitment to high-quality productions of MLB Tuesday is no joke. Beginning its 12-week, first-half portion of the schedule with the Arizona Diamondbacks vs. New York Yankees in the Bronx at 7 p.m. ET tonight on TBS and Max, the broadcaster will produce all its games remotely from the Remote Operations Center at its Techwood facility in Atlanta.
Our true MFP [Multi-Feed Production] control rooms are online, says Chris Brown, VP, technology and operations, TNT Sports. Last year, we were squeezing these productions into control rooms normally utilized for our studio coverage, but, this year, we will be able to expand into control rooms designed more specifically for these types of productions.
Atlanta Project: Double the Bandwidth, Dedicated Space To bring this high-profile property into a fully remote production environment, a lot of the heavy lifting that went into enhancing the control rooms was done throughout 2024. Many months of offline testing was done to ensure stability in the workflows and addressing any changes to the plan. One adjustment, which will allow TNT Sports to produce the shows with much more peace of mind, was to bump up the connectivity pipeline to the ballpark.
The biggest workflow change was upping our bandwidth from a 1GB to 2GB, says Brown. This will allow a little more headroom and flexibility as the season moves along and storylines develop.
In addition, the control rooms were enhanced to improve coordination of video feeds from onsite and give the EVS replay servers a room of their own. More important, the dedicated space will allow increased video monitoring and a large audio console, which are two necessary pieces to the puzzle.
On game day, the crew will be split into two teams. At the ballpark - this evening, Yankee Stadium - the onsite team will comprise a producer, director, researcher, tech manager, A2s, video coordination, and the cameras used to capture the game. Also onsite will be NEP Supershooter 64 mobile unit, which was first deployed, for NHL on TNT, last month. In Atlanta, the crew will consist of an associate director, technical director, A1, and full graphics and EVS operation.
New Tech: Addition of UmpCam to the Rotation Gives Fans a Different View Although MLB Tuesday will travel from city to city, the main camera complement will remain the same, providing cinematic and detailed views of the action. The tech arsenal will be highlighted by customary workflows, such as three super-slo-mos - two at 3X speed, one at 6X - and a robotic camera in the booth.
The newest addition, whose feed will be shown in real time and on replays, will be UmpCam. Worn by the home-plate umpire, the wearable technology will offer fans a taste of what it's like to go against the best pitchers in the league. With UmpCam at the forefront, the broadcaster will feature additional enhancements with more and more games.
UmpCam will play a prevalent role in our 2025 plans along with some AR elements via Pixotope later in the season, says Lee Estroff, senior director, strategic production planning, TNT Sports. Our package will remain as robust as ever.
Stars in the Studio: Familiar Faces To Cover Marquee Matchups Each game will present new storylines and new things to watch, and, to guide the viewer through this intense MLB season, TNT Sports has built an A-list lineup of talent in the booth and in the studio. On the call, play-by-play announcer Alex Faust will be joined by analyst Jeff Francoeur; play-by-play announcer Brian Anderson will lend his voice throughout the season. In the studio, the 30-minute pregame show MLB Leadoff will feature host Lauren Shehadi and analysis by National Baseball Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez, 2007 NL MVP and 2025 inductee into the Philadelphia Phillies Wall of Fame Jimmy Rollins, and three-time All-Star Curtis Granderson. MLB Closer, the half-hour postgame show, will emanate from Techwood.
The commentary and studio teams will be pivotal for the 13 games prior to the MLB All-Star break, the broadcaster's 26 games in total, and TNT Sports' exclusive coverage of the National League Division Series and National League Championship Series in the fall. After Diamondbacks-Yankees, the crew heads home to cover Philadelphia Phillies vs. Atlanta Braves on April 8, then heads up I-95 for Cleveland Guardians vs. Baltimore Orioles on April 15 and Phillies vs. New York Mets on April 22. In May, the team will cover San Diego Padres vs. Yankees on May 6, Boston Red Sox vs. Detroit Tigers on May 13, Mets vs. Red Sox on May 20, and Braves vs. Phillies on May 27. The team will have five games in June: a doubleheader of Guardians vs. Yankees and Mets vs. Los Angeles Dodgers on June 3, Yankees vs. Kansas City Royals on June 10, Padres vs. Dodgers on June 17, and Braves vs. Mets on June 24.
In the first half of the season, each of the five most-recent winners of the National League pennant will appear on MLB Tuesday. Other highlights include four appearances by the Mets' newest signing, Juan Soto; four appearances by 2024 American League pennant winner Yankees; two critical NL East contests for the Phillies; a pair of games featuring the defending World Series champion Dodgers; and a new-look Red Sox team vying to make noise in the AL East.
Impressive Leap Forward: Improvements at Techwood Lead the Way in 2025 The work done at Techwood is already paying off. Besides the start of the MLB productions, these next few weeks will feature two other TNT properties: the compl
