Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

CFP National Championship 2021: ESPN Ops Takes Over Hard Rock Stadium With Huge Compound, Comprehensive REMI Plan

12/01/2021

CFP National Championship 2021: ESPN Ops Takes Over Hard Rock Stadium With Huge Compound, Comprehensive REMI Plan The onsite team will work in a 270,000 sq. ft. space outside the venue By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor

Monday, January 11, 2021 - 3:44 pm

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

As one of ESPN's most important properties, the College Football Playoff (CFP) National Championship Game spurs increased innovation and ingenuity. Such events typically generate intuitive ideas, but the magnitude of the game and the curveball that is COVID-19 has intensified efforts in pushing limits. For tonight's game at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium, the broadcaster is rolling out one of its biggest efforts for the title game, including a 270,000-sq.-ft. compound, 75 in-game and studio cameras, and heavy reliance on remote workflows.

To support the operation and keep a socially distant area, we've had to come up with a unique plan here in Miami, says John LaChance, director, remote production operations, ESPN. We really transformed into a unique, one-of-a-kind broadcast compound.

Outside Hard Rock: 13 Trucks, Detailed Broadcast Infrastructure Major sports events normally call for a large television compound, but ESPN's current setup next to Hard Rock Stadium is something totally different. COVID-19's impact resulted in reduction of more than 150 onsite positions. Even so, 465 credentialed personnel are on hand for tonight's game. With total control of the exterior loading docks, LaChance and his colleagues devised a detailed layout of each team's location within the 270,000-sq.-ft. compound. An essential component to the operation is ensuring that everyone is healthy before they step foot in the area.

ESPN has constructed a 270,000-sq.-ft. compound for the National Championship game.

This year's national health crisis, LaChance says, required a strategy that features enhanced safety protocols, multiple rounds of testing, health screenings, heightened cleaning and sanitation standards, and ample distribution of PPE.

The compound houses 13 mobile production units and ancillary support vehicles. Game Creek Video has a large presence for the production of the main telecast, College GameDay, and the MegaCast. Live Media Group's Gracie is responsible for SEC Network's live coverage, and a BSI truck is handling all RF audio and video elements. In addition, a 15,000-sq.-ft. office facility is adjacent to the compound.

The massive compound is providing a lot of firepower, but, to prepare for any production emergency, the team has developed a handful of backup plans to keep the linear and surrounding content on-air.

There is complete redundancy for power, transmission, and infrastructure of the broadcast, notes LaChance. We published an eight-page document with all of the backup plans and what-if scenarios that we hope we'll never have to execute, but it's comforting to know that we'll be prepared should the need arise.

Camera Complement: Skycams, Bevy of Super-Slo-Mo Systems A total of 75 cameras and other broadcast gear will be deployed to capture every play and sound of the title game. The broadcster is bringing back a dual Skycam system (the traditional one close to the field and a hi-sky version) to get a full look at the playing field. When not traversing the field, the AllCam will be positioned at an elevated vantage point for isolated shots of players and wider shots of plays. Up in the air, a fixed-wing aircraft and the Goodyear Blimp will transmit aerial views of the venue and the surrounding city.

At field level, ESPN is once again leveraging its extensive arsenal near the goal line and first-down line. A total of 28 POV cameras will be embedded within the front and rear PylonCam systems. Those in the back-line pylons will have pan, tilt, zoom functionality, which was introduced for last year's Championship Game in New Orleans. There will be two styles of Marker Cam, one regular and one c360 with 180 degrees of movement, and two RF line-to-gain cameras will be on each sideline.

Offices occupy 15,000 sq. ft. of the compound at Hard Rock Stadium.

Capping the complement will be 26 specialty cameras: 11 Sony HDC-4300's with super-slo-mo capability, 10 robos, three 4K cameras (two Sony HDC-4800's and a Sony HDC-P43), and two RF handhelds on the field.

Bringing the total to 98, 22 cameras will cover College GameDay and shows on SEC Network.

Even with the protective measures, this is still a marquee event, says LaChance. The company is going to make sure that we have the appropriate coverage.

On the audio side, more than 100 microphones will be dispersed on the field and in the stands to give in-venue noise to fans watching at home.

Offsite Assistance: Remote Technologies Connect Miami and Bristol As was done throughout the college football season, onsite operations will receive help from offsite staffers in Bristol, CT. LaChance and company have established a transmission plan with 70 total paths - 54 outbound and 16 inbound - and six dedicated data circuits. The structure will support both REMI and GREMI (remote graphics) applications.

Our onsite presence is pretty different from how we've done this game in the past, says Tommy Mitchell, operations manager, ESPN. The viewers at home shouldn't be able to tell a difference other than there are fewer fans in the stands.

From a REMI perspective, more than 150 channels of replay will be processed on 12 EVS and two Evertz DreamCatcher machines. As for GREMI, there will be one Bristol-based Viz graphics operator and an additional Viz Libero telestration operator. In addition, a dedicated 500-Mbps circuit will support KVM GREMI control. And eight channels will be available for comms between onsite and offsite crews. Technological
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2021/01/11/cfp-national-championship-2021-...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

13/03/2025

You Will Leave Opus Singing the Original Bops Performed by John Malkovich

(L-R) Stephanie Suganami, Tatanka Means, John Malkovich, Ayo Edebiri, and Juliette Lewis attend the premiere of Opus at Eccles Theatre in Park City. (Photo by...

13/03/2025

How Spotify Is Driving Growth, Discovery, and Innovation in the Audiobook Market

Spotify took center stage at the London Book Fair this week, reaffirming our commitment to the audiobook market and showcasing our impact on the publishing indu...

13/03/2025

Spotify Audiobooks Launches a New Publishing Program for Independent Authors

At Spotify, we work every day to lift up new voices, giving creators the opportunity to live off their art. Through Spotify Audiobooks, our in-house publishing ...

13/03/2025

Evolving EO/IR Technology For All-Domain Airborne Law Enforcement

Every time airborne law enforcement (ALE) teams fly, they expect their equipment to perform. Whether airborne units are conducting support for ground teams, bor...

13/03/2025

Craft Interview: Jamie McCombs, Audio Consultant / Sr. Audio

Sunday February 9 saw the annual return of the US' biggest television event, the Super Bowl LIX. Jamie McCombs, Fox Sports Audio Consultant / Sr. Audio capt...

13/03/2025

Craft Interview: Paul Sandweiss, Production Sound Mixer/Audio Director

On Sunday March 2, stars across the film industry gathered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles for the 97th Academy Awards. Production Sound Mixer Paul Sandweis...

13/03/2025

Riedel To Showcase New StageLink Smart Edge Devices At 2025 NAB Show

WUPPERTAL, Germany Riedel Communications will feature its new StageLink family of smart edge devices, Smart Audio and Mixing Engine (SAME) and Virtual Smart Pan...

13/03/2025

TAG Video Systems and Harmonic Partner to Deliver Enhanced Real-Time Monitoring for VOS360 Streaming Workflows at the 2025 NAB Show

TAG Video Systems and Harmonic Partner to Deliver Enhanced Real-Time Monitoring ...

13/03/2025

DigitalGlue Invites NAB Visitors to Experience New Features in Managed Storage Platform that Empowers Video Teams to Scale Effortlessly

DigitalGlue Invites NAB Visitors to Experience New Features in Managed Storage P...

13/03/2025

FOR-A America Theme - Connecting the Present, Building the Future - Comes to Life at NAB 2025 Exhibition

FOR-A America Theme - Connecting the Present, Building the Future - Comes to Lif...

13/03/2025

Ajit Pai Appointed President of CTIA

CTIA, the wireless industry association, has named former FCC Chairman Aji Pai as its President and Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1. He replaces Mere...

13/03/2025

NAB: FCC's 60 Minutes Investigation Is Unconstitutional, Invalid

he National Association of Broadcasters is urging the FCC to end its investigation of that controversial CBS interview with Kamala Harris stating there is no ...

13/03/2025

CBS Miami to Launch AR Coverage of Weather and Sports for March Madness

MIAMI CBS News & Stations continues to expand its use of augmented and virtual reality technologies with the planned launch of an augmented reality/virtual real...

13/03/2025

Meet the co-founder and chief customer success & innovation officer

Srividhya Srinivasan, co-founder and chief customer success & innovation Officer at Amagi, tells TVBEurope how staying ahead of the latest trends is essential f...

13/03/2025

FCC Chairman Carr Launches Massive Deregulation Initiative

WASHINGTON FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the agency has launched a massive, new deregulatory initiative that could potentially subject virtually all ...

13/03/2025

SDVI Integrates Rally With Spectra Vail

SUNNYVALE, Calif. SDVI has announced that it has integrated its Rally media supply chain management platform with the Spectra Vail multi-cloud data management s...

13/03/2025

FCC Approves Gray's Acquisition of KXLT

ATLANTA Gray Media has announced that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted a waiver of its local ownership rules to permit Gray Media to acqu...

13/03/2025

NAB Show 2025 Exhibitor Insight: Blackmagic Design

TV Tech: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trends at the 2025 NAB Show?...

13/03/2025

Watch Student Naomi Soleils Folk Pop Performance on The Voice

Watch Student Naomi Soleils Folk Pop Performance on The Voice The songwriting major sang Stars by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals during the blind auditions. ...

13/03/2025

Roku Debuts NWSL Zone' Within Roku Sports to Spotlight Live Games, Content

Roku Debuts NWSL Zone' Within Roku Sports to Spotlight Live Games, Content Feature marks Rokus first women's league-branded zone within service By Bra...

13/03/2025

Pixels, Images, Video, AI - and Us: A Perspective on AI from NDI Inventor Andrew Cross

Pixels, Images, Video, AI - and Us: A Perspective on AI from NDI Inventor Andrew...

13/03/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Lighting Design Group's Steve Brill, Dennis Size on Completing Customizable Studios for All Clients

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Lighting Design Group's Steve Brill, Dennis Size ...

13/03/2025

IOC, Comcast NBCU Ink $3B Media-Rights Extension for Olympic Games Through 2036; Add Digital Projects, Initiatives

IOC, Comcast NBCU Ink $3B Media-Rights Extension for Olympic Games Through 2036;...

13/03/2025

NCAA March Madness Live Returns with Expanded Availability of MultiView Vertical Video Feed, Mascot Mode, and Popular Boss Button

NCAA March Madness Live Returns with Expanded Availability of MultiView Vertical...

13/03/2025

SVG Sit-Down: Cosm's Devin Poolman on What It Takes To Deliver the Immersive Experience for Daytona, The PLAYERS, and March Madness

SVG Sit-Down: Cosm's Devin Poolman on What It Takes To Deliver the Immersive...

13/03/2025

Sky Business Launches Cloud Voice A New Cloud Communication Solution for UK Businesses

Sky Business, Sky's B2B division, providing connectivity and content to busi...

13/03/2025

Rohde & Schwarz launches R&S NRP140TWG(N) thermal power sensor: A new benchmark for F band applications

Rohde & Schwarz launches R&S NRP140TWG(N) thermal power sensor: A new benchmark ...

13/03/2025

The ICG Marketing Survey 2025

We asked the questions, analysed the answers and now we're excited to share the results of the fifth edition of the ICG Marketing Survey. Our 2025 survey p...

13/03/2025

Harmonic Amps Up Video Streaming Efficiency with New Origin Capabilities

SAN JOSE, Calif. - March 13, 2025 Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced a breakthrough in video streaming innovation with the launch of new origin capabilitie...

13/03/2025

Haivision Showcases Mission-Critical Video Solutions at SOF Week 2025

Haivision Showcases Mission-Critical Video Solutions at SOF Week 2025 Haivision's video wall systems, ISR technology, and DoDIN APL-certified video distri...

13/03/2025

FOR-A America Theme Connecting the Present, Building the Future Comes to Life at NAB 2025 Exhibition

Company Leads the Way with New Software-Based Production Platform, 12G Switcher,...

13/03/2025

2025-03-13

A new Apple Immersive concert experience, Metallica, is coming to Apple Vision Pro this Friday, March 14. Filmed in Mexico City during the sold-out second-year ...

13/03/2025

Italia 90 Republic of Ireland Squad, Riverdance, Cian Ducrot & B*Witched on Friday's Late Late Show

Here is your host, Patrick Kielty! Shake your Shamrocks, Patrick Kielty will be...

13/03/2025

RT Celebrating all things Irish this St. Patrick's Weekend

This St. Patrick's weekend, RT invites you to celebrate all things Irish, showcasing the very best of Irish sport, entertainment and live coverage from the...

13/03/2025

GTC 2025 - Announcements and Live Updates

What's next in AI is at GTC 2025. Not only the technology, but the people and ideas that are pushing AI forward - creating new opportunities, novel solution...

13/03/2025

T-Mobile, Thales and SIMPL ease IoT deployments with a flexible and secure connectivity solution

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn By combining T-Mobile's robust network, Thal...

13/03/2025

Relive the Magic as GeForce NOW Brings More Blizzard Gaming to the Cloud

Bundle up - GeForce NOW is bringing a flurry of Blizzard titles to its ever-expanding library. Prepare to weather epic gameplay in the cloud, tackling the genr...

13/03/2025

Gaming Goodness: NVIDIA Reveals Latest Neural Rendering and AI Advancements Supercharging Game Development at GDC 2025

AI is leveling up the world's most beloved games, as the latest advancements...

13/03/2025

Drop It Like It's Mod: Breathing New Life Into Classic Games With AI in NVIDIA RTX Remix

PC game modding is massive, with over 5 billion mods downloaded annually. Mods p...

12/03/2025

Como o Impacto Cultural e Financeiro da Indstria Musical Define Seu Sucesso em 2025

O Spotify acaba de lan ar o relat rio Loud & Clear deste ano, uma vis o transpar...

12/03/2025

Cmo el impacto cultural y financiero de la industria musical define su xito en 2025

Spotify acaba de presentar el informe Loud & Clear de este a o, una mirada trans...

12/03/2025

Nourish Mind, Body, and Soul This Ramadan With Spotify

Ramadan, a period of profound spiritual significance for Muslims worldwide, is a time for fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. Enrich your experience thi...

12/03/2025

How the Music Industry's Cultural and Financial Impact Define Its Success in 2025

Spotify has just unveiled this year's Loud & Clear report, a transparent loo...

12/03/2025

FAST now transcends back catalog content

More than 70% of FAST programming has been produced since 2010, according to new Gracenote report NEW YORK March 12, 2025 Gracenote, the content data busin...

12/03/2025

Viamedia Adopts ShowSeeker Pilot To Streamline Ad Workflows

GEONA, Nev. Independent digital and linear advertising rep firm Viamedia will adopt cloud-based ShowSeeker Pilot as its primary ad campaign and order management...

12/03/2025

Mediagenix Appoints Wael Yasin as Sales Director Central Europe

BRUSSELS Mediagenix has announced that Wael Yasin has joined the company as sales director Central Europe....

12/03/2025

Omdia: Global Online Consumer Expenditure to Hit $6.6 Trillion by 2029

LONDON A new study highlights opportunities for shoppable TV and the massive impact online consumer spending is having on the economy, with Omdia predicting tha...

12/03/2025

Comcast Technology Solutions Upgrades to Interra Systems BATON Version 9

CUPERTINO, Calif. Interra Systems has announced that Comcast Technology Solutions has integrated recent updates to BATON Version 9 into its operations....

12/03/2025

Nevion announces new 400G addition to its eMerge SDN media fabric offering

Nevion announces new 400G addition to its eMerge SDN media fabric offering Brie Clayton March 12, 2025 0 Comments High-capacity switch enhances existi...

12/03/2025

DaVinci Resolve Studio Delivers Cinematic Sound for Adam Bol

DaVinci Resolve Studio Delivers Cinematic Sound for Adam Bol Brie Clayton March 12, 2025 0 Comments Feature film relies on DaVinci Resolve Studio for ...