Sports Video Group

CBS Sports goes all-out at the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) Championship Game and the SailGP season begins in Dubai. That and more from a busy week on the business side of the sports media industry in the latest edition of your SVG Saturday Fax.

This weekend kicks off the start of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) Championship, where the Orlando Pride take on the Washington Spirit in Kansas City. CBS Sports is covering this high profile matchup with a total of 16 cameras on site including five super slow-mos, robotics in net, two RF handhelds on the touchline, two shallow depth-of-field cameras and a drone. On the pitch alongside the match will also be pre and post game shows, allowing the studio show to share the ambiance of the event. The compound is also housing a pair of NEP Group, Inc. mobile units: NCP7 handling the game production, M-14 the studio show. Sharing resources, both the game and studio show will tap a Steadicam. Fans can tune in for not just great soccer, but great storylines as well. The production team has made sure to create a stellar lineup of analysts and hosts to help fans feel closer than ever to their favorite players and teams. “The league has built everything up in the right way. They’ve done a great job selling and marketing the league to their fans.” - Nicholas Doyle ⚽ : https://lnkd.in/eWKu3NwR

Esports superpower Riot Games recently opened its second Remote Broadcast Center, this one just south of Seattle. Powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), the 70,000-square foot production space joins Riot’s first RBC in Dublin to offer an efficient new approach to live global production where broadcast feeds from live esports competitions happening around the world can be sent to the RBCs where content is produced, broadcast, and distributed in multiple languages to esports fans. At the 2024 SVG Esports Production Summit, our Jason Dachman spoke with Allyson Gormley, Riot Games' Global Operations Director, Esports Broadcast & Production – Remote Broadcast Center powered by AWS to discuss the highlights of the facility.

Mickey and Minnie are celebrating Christmas a little differently this year. Partnering with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and ESPN, The Walt Disney Company is creating a virtual, live re-creation of the San Antonio Spurs Christmas Day matchup against the New York Knicks, Inc. Each Spurs and Knicks player will appear as a motion-enabled, animated player created by Sony's Beyond Sports technology. The storyline will follow Mickey's Christmas wish to have Santa Claus bring NBA players to "Main Street, USA" at Magic Kingdom to create the first ever animated NBA broadcast. Features will include slam dunk contests at half-time, Santa's elves operating the cameras, character speeches and more. 🎅 : https://lnkd.in/eSM744pS

Hofstra University unveiled their new centralized broadcast control room which is being used to both amplify their game day coverage, as well as train the next generation. After 18 months of work, the control room has opened up in its new home in the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication. With a fifteen student staff already, the goal is to create a larger community within the space and expand their reach. This new control room is created in conjunction with the creation of the new sports-media degree that the School of Communication offers. Hofstra Athletics is expecting to produce over 130 live sporting events out of the control room this year. As for technicals, the set up is fully capable of producing 1080p 59.94 with HDR capability and is connected via fiber to all the venues on campus. The control room is fully outfitted with a Ross Video Carbonite Ultra 60 production switcher, TV Graphics All-In-One system (for all graphics and scorebugs), a 12-channel Ross Mira replay server, and is built around an Evertz EQX 26 router, with its audio console upgraded with a Calrec Audio Brio. For live production, the school invested in a collection of 13 cameras, including five Hitachi SK-UHD7000 cameras with Canon Inc. lenses (four Digi Super 111X and one 4K 11X) , as well as eight Canon XF 605 4K cameras. They also added a bevy of microphones: 12 Audio-Technica AT897’s, six Sennheiser HMD-26’s, and six Sennheiser HMD-46’s. “This is just the beginning. It’s exciting to be able to showcase how good our teams are. This opportunity is out of this world.” - Kevin Dexter Cameron Keough | Jesse Webster | Susan Poser | Mark Lukasiewicz 🧑💻 : https://lnkd.in/e-5ayBTu

Back with another edition of SVG ALL-STARS! Always a thrill to witness in person, NHRA: Championship Drag Racing’s appeal as a television product has grown exponentially in recent years, thanks to the hard and innovative work of behind-the-scenes individuals like Rob Hedrick. From improving image quality to 1080p to enhancing visuals with more slo-mo and in-car cameras and capturing the heart-rattling sound of the Top Fuel cars, NHRA events on TV have never been more compelling and immersive. It’s production people like Hedrick who put the tools in place to capture all the pieces necessary to assemble an exciting broadcast. In this week’s edition of SVG All-Stars, learn Hedrick’s story, discover what industry innovations he has his eye on, and get his advice on what it takes to break into the live–sports-production industry. 🌟 : https://lnkd.in/ehF-VgjK

IMG today launched its Digital Trends Report 2025, exploring the technologies and developments that will shape the sports media landscape for rightsholders over the next 12 months. Featuring insights and analysis from IMG’s global team of digital experts, this year’s predictions explore how D2C strategy is pivoting from non-premium content to gamification, the notion that there is no ‘first’ and ‘second screen’, and the true age of wearables – among others. SVG Editorial Director Ken Kerschbaumer caught up with IMG Digital’s VP, Business Development François Westcombe and discussed current trends, how to get the most out of a digital strategy, and much more. 📈 : https://lnkd.in/eKFGRk82

Boxing. MMA. Chiefs-Bills. It's a massive weekend in live sports. Here's what we are diving deep on in the latest edition of your SVG Saturday Fax: - ESPN's Catalyst Stage flexes its tech muscle to preview Ultimate Fighting Championship 309 - CBS Sports brings The NFL Today to site for juicy Chiefs-Bills clash - NHRA: Championship Drag Racing caps its season with a big show - Seattle Kraken's Kraken Hockey Network shines during the start of the National Hockey League (NHL) season - Los Angeles Chargers debut a new content studio at its headquarters

This fall, several professional sports franchises have taken their regional live game production and distribution in-house. Among them is the NHL’s Seattle Kraken which launched the Kraken Hockey Network. Through this new division, the team delivers live games to viewers on over-the-air television and streaming in Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. To build an entirely new broadcast from the ground up, the franchise turned to familiar faces: Ryan Schaber and Patrick Brown. In an in-depth interview, Schaber and Brown break down the production resources and storytelling strategies that go into a Kraken live game broadcast and what it took to establish the Kraken Hockey Network in just one offseason. Watch the full conversation now on SVG PLAY: https://lnkd.in/gFT5xesU

Finishing up our day is "Larger-Than-Life Live Sports Viewing: Re-imagining the Location-Based Experience". Panelists include: Jean-Olivier Dalphond, PixMob Greg Harvey, The Famous Group Andrew Merkin, Cosm Jamie Reilly, MBA, Moment Factory Events & USA #SVGNEXT