UFC Returns to Live-Production Octagon With Strict Social Distancing, Safety Measures in Place

Three fights are scheduled over the next week in a crowd-free VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, FL

When Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje enter the Octagon tomorrow night for UFC 249, it will mark the highest-profile sports event to take place in the U.S. since the sports world came to a standstill nearly two months ago. Although the live broadcast will look very much the same as the typical PPV event (minus spectators in the stands), the production operation will be quite different, with strict social distancing and safety protocols in effect to protect the crew.

“None of what we’re faced with on this event is something that anybody has dealt with before, so we are truly treading some uncharted waters,” says Craig Borsari, EVP, operations and production, UFC. “This is the very first time, so there’s no real blueprint or roadmap to look at in terms of how to handle this situation. [We worked] with experts in a variety of fields — both on the production side and on the medical side — and they were able to devise the best plan that we felt puts everybody in the safest position possible.”

NEP installed plexiglass partitions to separate crew members throughout the A and B units of its NCPVII mobile unit in advance of the UFC 249 production.

The UFC 249 PPV on ESPN+ will be the first of three fights hosted at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, FL, over the next week, with a pair of UFC FightNight events taking place May 13 and May 16. The fights, which will be held without fans in the arena, are being conducted and produced using CDC recommendations on social distancing with specific zones in the arena available only to specific people at specific times.

New Safety Protocols: Keeping the Crew Healthy and Safe
Anyone involved in UFC 249 — fighters, officials, production crew, or anyone else — underwent three levels of testing prior to arriving at their hotel in Jacksonville: a temperature check, an antibody test (processed in 10-15 minutes), and a nasal-swab test (processed in approximately 24 hours). Once all those tests checked out, all personnel working on the event are being subjected to temperature checks throughout the week. In all, UFC has brought in 1,200 coronavirus tests to ensure the safety of its fighters and staff, according to SBJ.

To reduce person-to-person interactions whenever possible, UFC and its production partner Concom have significantly shrunk the crew size for UFC 249 compared with a typical UFC production: from roughly 130 to slightly over 80 people. Crew members have been supplied with personal protective equipment, including N95 masks and gloves, and will be assigned their own dedicated headsets and other equipment.

“We are putting in a policy so there is no sharing of [equipment],” says Borsari. “All personnel, including our commentators, are required to have their own headset and microphones with a new windscreen that is sanitized on a daily basis, if not more often. That headset will stay with that crew member the entire show and be kept in a plastic bag when it is not being used.”

UFC rolled out its usual mobile unit, NEP NCPVII (A and B units), in Jacksonville on Wednesday, a day earlier than usual so that it could be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized. In addition, NEP installed plexiglass partitions separating crew members throughout both the A and B units.

Inside the truck, UFC has rearranged the operator positions to comply with social-distancing standards. For example, the front bench typically seats four crew members — the director, producer, technical director, and an assistant director — but the AD has been shifted to another location for Saturday’s show.

“It’s a big benefit to have the comfort and familiarity with the truck that we know very well,” says Borsari. “In the truck, we created maximum spacing to ensure social distancing throughout both A and B unit. We have the luxury of a pretty large B unit, and we also have a smaller crew than usual, so we were able to create spacing inside both units that is sufficient for social-distancing guidelines.”

Fight Coverage: With No Fans in the Stands, UFC To Focus on the Octagon
The UFC 249 broadcast will be the first high-profile live sports production to confront a major challenge: empty stands. Sports events are expected to be conducted without fans in attendance for the foreseeable future, and live-production teams are grappling with what that means for camera coverage and audio considerations.

“Obviously, we’re not going to go out of our way to highlight [empty stands], but our approach is not to shy away from it either,” says Borsari. “There are going to be shots where you see plenty of empty seats, but we’re not going to cut around it, and we’re going to keep the focus on the fight itself.”

UFC and Concom have deployed 11 manned camera positions to cover the action in and around the Octagon, including nine Sony HDC-2500’s deployed as a jib, a Steadicam, two handhelds on the Octagon, a hothead in the lighting grid over the Octagon, two handhelds for locker rooms, two on sticks for pre/post show, and one in the stands. In addition, two Sony HDC-4300 high-frame-rate cameras (not in 4K mode) are covering the Octagon and providing ultra-slo-mo replays. The production also has two robotic coaches cams and three POVs on each commentator at their tables.

“A typical PPV setup has about 19 cameras so we are down from that,” says Borsari, “but a lot of those cameras are put into the complement for crowd shots. We will not be deploying a lot of beauties, but the fight coverage itself will be very familiar to the viewer at home. Essentially, all of the cameras that we use for normal fight coverage will be there.”

Although the empty arena is sure to make for a very different visual experience for viewers, Borsari sees the biggest impact from the crowd-less event being on the audio side. Without thousands of screaming fans inside the venue, he expects the A1 and the audio team to be able to capture more-pristine sound from the action and the fighters’ interaction.

“I think the opportunity we have to enhance the broadcast is on the audio side,” he opines. “We’ve always had amazing audio, but our A1 is going to have a field day mixing the fight audio without having to battle crowd noise. Since a lot of the microphones that we would put out in the audience to capture that atmosphere aren’t even coming into his board, he’ll be able to focus solely on fight action inside the Octagon. We think it’s going to be pretty special.”

Although the microphone complement will be roughly the same as a typical UFC PPV production, the mentality will be different. The production team will look to incorporate not only the jolting blows during fight action but also the interactions between fighters and their corners.

“We will be able to get very clean, clear audio from the fighters’ camps as they’re calling out instructions both during the fight and between rounds. We will seek out those opportunities to get high-quality audio from the corners,” says Borsari. “And then, during the fight, you’re really going to hear those punches and kicks that are landing. When we’ve got 8,000 people in the stands, the viewer at home doesn’t always get the luxury of hearing exactly what it sounds like when a kick lands to the body or a big hook hits the head. Those are extremely jarring at times, and we’ll try to bring that sound into the broadcast more than we would in the past because we aren’t battling thousands of screaming fans.”

Pre/Post-Show and Post-Fight Interviews: Adjustments To Ensure Safety
As usual for a PPV, UFC 249 will feature an onsite pre/post-show studio desk. Although the pre/post shows are typically handled by domestic-rights holder ESPN, UFC will be managing the onsite studio operation in an effort to cut down on personnel at the arena. And since there are no seat-kills when there are no spectators in the venue, UFC has plenty of flexibility in locating the desk.

“We really see ourselves as one single unit with ESPN on PPVs,” says Borsari, “but this [arrangement] allows us to have less bodies on the ground and have more control over who’s coming and going. Since we’re not selling tickets, we have the luxury of having an incredible amount of flexibility at the venue. We’re waiting to get onsite to determine the exact position of the desk. Typically, we would have to make that decision eight to 10 weeks out, but here we can make that decision 24 hours out.”

UFC has also switched up its plans for post-fight interviews in an effort to maintain social distancing. Instead of having the commentator stand shoulder to shoulder with the winning fighter, they will now be in separate locations and conduct the interview via a headset and presented on-screen in a two-box format.

“Anytime we have a situation where people are right next to each other like that, we are trying to rethink the way we do things to limit those interactions,” says Borsari. “Obviously, fighters are going to be fighting and being in close proximity with each other. That’s unavoidable. But we don’t necessarily have to have our commentary team shoulder to shoulder with a fighter. It’s just one more interaction that we can avoid.”

Editor’s Note 5/11/20: UFC 249 color commentator Joe Rogan interviewed fighters postfight in the Octagon on Saturday, a departure from UFC’s previously stated protocol in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

Bringing Live Sports to a Sports-Hungry Society
According to Borsari, the goal of hosting three fights at a single venue over the next week was to take advantage of the stringent health and safety protocol to safely put on as many events as possible — thereby serving fans, rightsholders, and the fighters themselves. In addition, without any live sports coverage to speak of on programming schedules, ESPN and UFC’s international partners were more than happy to oblige.

“We figured it made more sense to get our fighters some fights and do multiple shows while only having to set up one time,” says Borsari. “That’s the philosophy behind it. I think the crew is very supportive of that philosophy because they get three shows under their belt but it reduces their travel and exposure. We’re incredibly excited because, for a few hours on Saturday, we’re going to be able to give viewers at home the ability to escape watching reruns and get some genuine live sports. It’s really rewarding for our team to be able to deliver that to America and the rest of the world that will be watching.”

The UFC 249 main card begins at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ and will be preceded by Prelims on ESPN and ESPN+ at 8 p.m. and Early Prelims on UFC Fight Pass, ESPN, and ESPN+ at 6 p.m.