Live From MLB All-Star 2024: TXR Productions Takes Globe Life Field Into the Center of Game-Day Entertainment In-venue crew relies on MLB Game Presentation, solutions from Daktronics and Ross Video By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor Tuesday, July 16, 2024 - 10:00 am
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Descending on one of the league's newest ballparks for this year's MLB All-Star festivities, Major League Baseball aims to match the energy of the packed crowds in Arlington, TX, where the in-venue environment at Globe Life Field is being produced by the Texas Rangers' TXR Productions. To get through five straight days of game-day productions, the crew is drawing on lessons from past events and on help and support from trusted vendors.
TXR Productions' Chris DeRuyscher and his crew will produce the game-day entertainment for the MLB All-Star Game.
We work on the philosophy of wins and lessons, not losses, notes Chris DeRuyscher, senior director, ballpark entertainment, Texas Rangers. We're working at breakneck pace, but we want to avoid making the same mistakes twice.
Last Season's Prep: 2023 Trip to Seattle Helps Outline Potential Run of Show It's an unspoken tradition that the current year's MLB in-venue-production organization hosts the production crew from next year's host city. During 2023 MLB All-Star at T-Mobile Park, for example, Seattle Mariners Senior Director, Productions, Ben Mertens opened his doors to DeRuyscher. Out west, DeRuyscher was able to pick up on certain elements or workflows that he might not have seen had he stayed in Arlington. It also gave him the chance to see how far these events have expanded since he took part in 2012 at Kaufmann Stadium as Kansas City Royals director, event presentation and production. Coincidentally, Mertens was then a colleague as Royals manager, event presentation and production.
The control room at Globe Life Field
When I first did MLB All-Star, notes DeRuyscher, there were only three days of events. With four days of events, I want the Atlanta Braves to come through and see rehearsals and the little intricacies that come with these productions.
Paying it forward, TXR Productions has welcomed the Atlanta Braves - the host of the 2025 MLB All-Star Game - into the control room. The traveling crew includes VP, Fan Experience, Scott Cunningham and Director, Production, Scott Brooks.
The most important revelation that DeRuyscher has learned, and hopes to share with the Braves, is that the fast-paced nature of the Midsummer Classic can be unrelenting. We've been working on the fly, he says. One crucial takeaway is that things may be frustrating in the moment, but we need to do the best we can to adapt.
Outside Help: League, Trusted Vendors Provide Production Assistance Two main videoboards will display the content produced in the control room.
With a massive undertaking like MLB All-Star, MLB's Game Presentation department is heavily involved in the production. Led by VP, Events and Game Presentation, Brian O'Gara, the team is tasked with helping TXR Productions create a fun-filled atmosphere for the fans journeying to Globe Life Field. The environment created often bleeds into the televised broadcast on MLB Network, ESPN, and FOX Sports.
Brian is always trying to push the creative envelope with game presentation, says DeRuyscher. People are watching these events at home, but we want to make sure that the in-park experience is the best it can be.
Created by Ross Video's Rocket Surgery, videoboard content will feature Texas-centric icons like the Lone Star.
A major difference from DeRuyscher's last time in the driver's seat is that, in addition to receiving league tech and production support, the team outsourced some creative responsibilities to league trusted vendors. With the Royals, he and his team were asked to develop all graphics templates as well as the video content shown on the videoboard - a process that took up much time in an already busy schedule. This year, the venue's IP-based control room, which came online in 2020, is infusing services and solutions from Ross Video and Daktronics.
Friday's HBCU Swingman Classic incorporated event colors with a Western theme.
On the creative side, Ross Video's Rocket Surgery is a major provider of graphics and workflow design and data management for elements shown on the LED displays. Having assisted with this aspect of the project since the 2019 MLB All-Star Game at Cleveland's Progressive Field, the onsite team includes Art Director Matt Zidik; Senior Motion Designer James Westerheide; Senior Designer Carl Claudy; Team Lead, Graphic Design and Workflow, Ryan Wallace; Graphic Programmer Grant Tiberghien; and Project Manager Kristina Vann. Their work includes curating the look and feel with MLB's creative team for the HBCU Swingman Classic, the MLB Futures Game, and All-Star Celebrity Softball Game over the weekend; the MLB Home Run Derby last night; and the showpiece MLB All-Star Game tonight. The graphics feature a Texas- and Western-themed motif with the Lone Star and other recognizable symbols.
The MLB Futures Game leaned on faded logos of the American and National Leagues.
From a technological perspective, the onsite team from Ross Video's Sports & Live Events division includes Project Manager, Solutions, Matt Morell; Software Developer Rob Rowe; and Business Manager Alikhan Manji. The productions are supplemented with six XPression Graphics units, XPression Tessera, DashBoard software, and an Ultrix Carbonite to feed the main display and ancillary displays. Through the company's Unified Display Control, the workflows are working in harmony with TXR Productions' preexisting Daktronics equipment.
Graphics for All-Star Saturday featured the shape and a
