SVG at 10: The College Sector Records a Decade of Explosive Growth

Key players offer their perspective on the changes

Few segments of the sports-video industry have seen more dramatic change than the college level. Ten years ago, an athletic department was fortunate to get a national or regional network to come to campus to produce a professional production of a football or basketball game. Today, athletic departments and conferences are playing a significantly larger role in the live coverage of their own events.

Many men and women have been essential to the growth of college sports-video production. Here’s the past decade through the eyes of just a few of them:

Mark Rodin, executive director, Seminole Productions, Florida State University
SVG College Pioneer Award Recipient (2013)
“To me, the biggest change in the college–sports-production industry has been the proliferation of conference networks and the expectation that all sporting events should have some sort of live television presence. The colleges now have true partners with ESPN, Fox, and others distributing live sporting events from campuses. It has caused an influx of job growth in the collegiate-sports market, and many colleges are enhancing their production capabilities to accommodate the demands.”

Imry Halevi, director of multimedia and production, Harvard University
SVG College Sports Summit Chairman (2016)
“Over the last 10 years, I have seen the college–sports-video–production industry become much more accessible. With three converging trends — easier distribution, more-affordable equipment, and improved quality — first-class broadcasts have become an option for pretty much everyone. At in-person conferences, such as SVG’s College Sports Summit, and in online discussions, I hear from more and more people who have the means to broadcast and are looking for guidance and a place to start. That’s how much the industry has evolved. No one is afraid of video anymore. It’s just about deciding to do it and knowing where to look for help.”

Rick Church, director of broadcast technology, Michigan State University
SVG College Pioneer Award Recipient (2014)
“The college-sports–video–production industry has grown dramatically in the last 10 years. The switch from standard definition to high definition is almost complete. Now we are already migrating to 4K and 8K video solutions. The advent of regional and league-driven TV networks have multiplied the need for additional control rooms and staffing. The increase in videoboard sizes and dimensions has increased the need for additional hardware and crewing.”

John Kvatek, associate athletic director, multimedia and creative, University of Central Florida
SVG College Pioneer Award Recipient (2015)
“When SVG got started, we were all working through the HD transition and just starting to migrate to shooting on solid-state media. When you look at all of the technologies and the incredible improvements in best practices that we’ve seen, often through our connections to SVG, it’s hard to believe it’s all happened in just 10 years. 4K, UHD, IP-based workflows, graphics that rival reality: that’s a lot of change and evolution that I generally heard about first through SVG.”