Bleacher Report Provides Peek Inside B/R Studio to SVG Guests at CES

Stage and control room at the Caesars Sportsbook offer wealth of new content opportunity

On Tuesday night, Bleacher Report welcomed approximately 30 special SVG guests for an exclusive behind-the-scenes technology tour of its brand-new B/R Studio located within the Caesars Palace Sportsbook on The Strip in Las Vegas.

Bleacher Report’s Steve Pellegrino (left) guides an SVG tour group through the set of the B/R Studio at the Caesars Sportsbook in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

Attendees walked through the stage (which features a wrap-around LED wall) and the control room that supports both live and recorded video segments produced there for B/R’s various social channels.

Tours were conducted by Steve Pellegrino, director, video technical operations, Bleacher Report, and Joe Yanarella, SVP/GM, sports betting, Bleacher Report. They shared details of the gear decisions made to outfit a fully operational small-footprint studio working within a highly active sportsbook, as well as the types of programming produced from the set.

Bleacher Report made the most of a small space in building a fully functional control room to support B/R Studio.

This past football season, B/R produced weekly programs on Thursdays and Sundays built around both NFL betting lines and fantasy-football content. It is also executing unique content ideas, trying more game-ified content that directly interacts with both viewers and home and guests in person at the sportsbook. Some examples include former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson playing games of FIFA 20 against fans and guests (such as Dennis Rodman, who was a guest of the studio on Thursday), participating in game-show scenarios rather than just standard interviews.

The studio is capable of more than creating digital-exclusive content. Turner Sports has leveraged the space for various NBA-related content going back to when the studio opened prior to the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals. When Turner uses the set, it will bring in additional cameras and connectivity to give it the high-quality treatment.

Both the NBA All-Star Weekend and the NFL Draft are two of the biggest events annually on Bleacher Report’s various platforms, and, with the NFL Draft set to take place here in Vegas in April, this studio will get plenty of reps.