Hoop History: Inside the First Live Broadcast of the Harlem Globetrotters in 40 Years with Gray Media and Raycom Sports There wasnt a script or a playbook. - Bill Stafford, VP, Engineering and Technology Operations, Raycom Sports By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Tuesday, August 27, 2024 - 12:59 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
A bit of sports television history was made last week when, for the first time in more than forty years, the Harlem Globetrotters had a live game broadcast on television.
In a partnership with Gray Media, a Globetrotters game from their historic residency at American Dream in New Jersey on August 18 was produced by Gray's Raycom Sports division and delivered to more than 90 local television stations owned by Gray nationwide, including Peachtree TV in Atlanta.
An iconic sports property [that hadn't been broadcast live in the modern era of television] playing in the unconventional venue of a major shopping mall: it was an exciting blank slate for the team at Raycom Sports.
Raycom Sports produced a live broadcast of a Harlem Globetrotters game at American Dream mall in New Jersey earlier this month. On the call were play-by-play man Tom Werme and analyst Brian Oliver. (Photo Courtesy Raycom Sports)
There wasn't a script or a playbook, says Bill Stafford, VP, Engineering and Technology Operations for Raycom Sports. It [wasn't] overly complicated but we learned a ton and it was fun. When you think of the history of this team; the memories made for those there. This is one of those fun things in TV.
Producing a basketball game is hardly anything new for Raycom Sports. The organization has nearly five decades worth of experience producing more than 10,000 live sporting events, including a legacy of college basketball. This, however, was not just any basketball game. This was the entertainment-focused Globetrotters with no pre-established graphics package, theme music, announce team, etc. playing in the tightly-packed atrium of a mall not built with live television in mind.
To meet the challenge, the operations team of Stafford, Executive Producer Rob Reichley, and Tech Manager Mike Zukowski parked Raycom Sports' production truck RHD3 in the American Dream parking deck and ran a healthy deployment of fiber from Fiber Transport Systems to lay the broadcast's nervous system. From there, it was a strategic placement of cameras on the baskets, on the floor, and on the upper levels of the atrium towering above the court to get the proper angles for the live show. The camera lineup relied heavily on robotics from Fletcher and RFs from 3G Wireless. A graphics package was built for Ross Xpression and a clock and scorebug system were executed through TV Graphics.
Fletcher robotic cameras were placed high atop each backboard to capture unique angles of the action.
In addition, audio was a major point of focus in the broadcast. Not only was it a challenging space to reduce echo in, the entertainment factor of the Globetrotters meant that audio needed to be captured from more than just the game. A Globetrotters showman is regularly on a microphone for in-venue entertainment and a significant amount of interactive with the live crowd takes place. Raycom utilized a strong complement of wireless microphones, including placing microphones on four players, a ref, and, of course, any on-air talent.
The Raycom production team worked closely with Bronwen O'Keefe, the Globetrotter's Head of Brand Marketing and Content to ensure everything about the experience of attending a Harlem Globetrotters game was captured for the TV audience.
You're trying to cover a basketball game that has its own entertainment; not all of the content is on the court, notes Stafford. It goes into the crowd. You've got to cover the entertainment also. That's what we found the most unique is this is a basketball game that we have to cover as a basketball game, but then we also have to cover the entertainment parts of it, as well.
The broadcast featured producer Scott Snyder and director Ken Neal at the front bench with play-by-play Tom Werme, analyst Brian Oliver, and reporter Maxwell serving as the on-air talent.
The game was a key piece of what was being called the first-ever sports residency. The Harlem Globetrotters spent ten days performing at American Dream in a multi-faceted experience for fans that combined clinics, interactive experiences for fans, live games, retail sales, and this historic live broadcast. The club is hopeful that this is the start of something new and big for the legendary sports property.
Our history-making residency continues to attract partners who want to help amplify the moment, said Keith Dawkins, President, Harlem Globetrotters and Herschend Entertainment Studios. It's been over 40 years since audiences have seen the Globetrotters LIVE on TV, and we are thankful that Gray Media is helping us revitalize our brand for an entirely new generation.
North America Stories
13/09/2024
By Bailey Pennick
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival is having a front-row seat for the bright future of independent filmmaking. ...
13/09/2024
SNS is excited to preview the latest features coming to the award-winning EVO Suite. Be among the first to test drive these workflow innovations at IBC2024, and...
13/09/2024
SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 12, 2024 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) has received a...
13/09/2024
Rendering of L3Harris Tranche 2 Tracking (T2TRK) imagery for the Space Developme...
13/09/2024
Last month, L3Harris delivered the third U.S. Air Force EA-37B Compass Call Cross Deck aircraft integrated with sophisticated electromagnetic attack (EA) miss...
13/09/2024
Targeted at low-to-mid tier productions, the new products set new standards for ...
13/09/2024
The next generation products will enhance the Densit Modular Platform with unma...
13/09/2024
AMSTERDAM Calrec Audio has unveiled its compact Argo M audio console, ImPulseV cloud audio mixing solution and True Control 2.0 at IBC 2024, Sept. 13-16....
13/09/2024
A study of how the media and broadcast industry feels about artificial intelligence (AI) has revealed most media and broadcast companies view its adoption as a ...
13/09/2024
AMSTERDAM AI-driven digital asset management system (DAM) Starchive announced at IBC 2024 a collaboration with Seagate that fully integrates its toolset with Se...
13/09/2024
AMSTERDAM DPA Microphones has introduced its 2061 Miniature Omnidirectional Microphone for applications ranging from broadcast studios and ENG to theaters, even...
13/09/2024
Rodney Alejandro Named Dean of Professional Writing and Music Technology Alejandro, Berklees current Songwriting Department chair and an alumnus of the colleg...
13/09/2024
The presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump was watched by 67.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen....
13/09/2024
Brightcove introduced the Brightcove AI Suite, which uses AI to provide content creation, audience growth and engagement and increased revenue generation....
13/09/2024
Warner Bros. Discovery and Charter Communications said the reached a new multi-y...
13/09/2024
The History Channel's History This Week podcast returns for a fifth season on September 16....
13/09/2024
NEW YORK The ABC News Presidential Debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump drew an estimated audience of 67.1 million view...
13/09/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. In response to Donald Trump's call for ABC stations to lose their broadcast licenses, Federal Communications Commission chairwoman Jessica ...
13/09/2024
IRVINE, Calif. Teradek will launch its new Prism 877 4K HEVC encoder/decoder cards at the IBC 2024, Sept. 13-16, at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Center....
13/09/2024
ATLANTA The Georgia Association of Broadcasters honored nine station employees at the early stage of their broadcast career as members of its first-ever class o...
13/09/2024
MONTREAL Grass Valley and broadcast equipment supply and service company ES Broadcast have inked a strategic partnership agreement that continues and expands a ...
13/09/2024
NEWARK, N.J. Panasonic Connect has announced the new AK-UCX100 4K studio camera and two new 4K multi-purpose cameras. In addition, the company said it will exte...
13/09/2024
OTTAWA, Canada Ross Video has launched Ultricore Tally, a full-featured, versatile tally control and management solution and will showcase it at IBC 2024, Sept....
13/09/2024
Hollyland Elevates Wireless Communications for Large-Scale Film and TV Productio...
13/09/2024
Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic PYXIS Monitor!
Brie Clayton September 12, 2024
0 Comments
New cinematic monitoring solution for Blackmagic PYXI...
13/09/2024
Sculpting Reimagined: Maxon Releases ZBrush for iPad
Brie Clayton September 13, 2024
0 Comments
Take the power of ZBrush on the go with reimagined UI,...
13/09/2024
WCVB Spotlights Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts Education The institutes ABLE summer camp program was featured in the 5 for Good segment.
By
Daniel Pe...
13/09/2024
Back to All News
Netflix Greenlights Love Untangled': A Nostalgic Korean Y...
12/09/2024
Final Phase of RFP Process Will See a Decision Announced in Q1 of 2025...
12/09/2024
By Jessica Herndon
We all have moments from movies that we love to rewatch. Som...
12/09/2024
St. Louis, MO - September 12, 2024 - Studio Network Solutions (SNS) announced that Legacy Effects, the Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning FX studio, relies on EVO...
12/09/2024
St. Louis, MO - September 12, 2024 - Studio Network Solutions (SNS) today announced a significant update to its NDI plug-in for Vizrt NRS systems at IBC2024. T...
12/09/2024
St. Louis, MO - September 12, 2024 - Studio Network Solutions (SNS) is showcasing significant updates to the EVO Suite at IBC2024.
Designed to empower media t...
12/09/2024
L3Harris is now one of 13 prime contractors involved in the Australian government's GSC program, designed to support in-country suppliers and bolster global...
12/09/2024
The 3.5-meter glass mirror, which L3Harris polished and finished, has been lifted onto Rubin Observatory's Simonyi Survey Telescope in Chile. This achieveme...
12/09/2024
The new LDX 110 and LDX C110 bring the cutting-edge technology of the LDX 100 series to the entry-level market.
Montreal, Canada, September 12, 2024 -. Grass V...
12/09/2024
NEW YORK - September 11, 2024 - The ABC News Presidential Debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump drew an estimated audien...
12/09/2024
Reinvigorated alliance the next step in the evolution of media in Japan and a bi...
12/09/2024
NEW YORK The ABC News Presidential Debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump drew an estimated audience of 67.1 million view...
12/09/2024
Boston Conservatory at Berklee to Present Center Stage Production of Jesus Chris...
12/09/2024
The Jennifer Hudson Show returns for its third season on Monday, September 16 with a renewed focus on joy, positivity and inspiration, the show said Tuesday....
12/09/2024
Netflix's The Perfect Couple had its debut as the No. 1 show on connected TV...
12/09/2024
FreeWheel, Comcast's ad-tech company, said it would be integrating Samba TV automatic content recognition viewer data into FreeWheel's Audience Manager,...
12/09/2024
Mike Fisher, who had been executive director of investment innovation at GroupM, has joined Comcast Advertising as executive director, agency development....
12/09/2024
John Leguizamo took the stage at the Hispanic Television Summit, as the session ...
12/09/2024
Samba TV is reporting that 28.3 million homes watched the Presidential Debate hosted by ABC News on Sept. 10. That makes the faceoff between Donald Trump and Ka...
12/09/2024
PARIS Dalet has announced three new members of its executive team. Tara Bryant joins as chief revenue officer (CRO) with responsibilities spanning sales, market...
12/09/2024
BURLINGTON, Mass. Avid has announced improvements to its Avid | Stream IO software subscription solution for broadcast production ingest and playout that are de...
12/09/2024
NEW YORK A new report from Nielsen indicates that the U.S. Hispanic population is having a major influence on the U.S. sports landscape, helping to drive growin...
Hoop History: Inside the First Live Broadcast of the Harlem Globetrotters in 40 Years with Gray Media and Raycom Sports There wasnt a script or a playbook. - Bill Stafford, VP, Engineering and Technology Operations, Raycom Sports By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
