MEDIAPRO Canada Provides Host Broadcast Services for FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament

MEDIAPRO Canada is providing host broadcast services for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which tipped off today in Victoria, Canada, where the national teams from Canada, Greece, Turkey, China, Czech Republic and Uruguay will battle for the final spot in next month’s men’s basketball tournament at the Olympics Games in Tokyo.

Chris Priess, MEDIAPRO Canada, vice president, Broadcast Services , commenting on the deal, says the team is looking forward to working on one of the top international sports events to take place in Canada in 2021.

MEDIAPRO Alto is at the center of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying tournament which is being produced by MEDIAPRO Canada.

“We’re also proud of our commitment to contributing to the local production sector, with 50 percent of our crew sourced from Victoria and Vancouver,” he says. “Furthermore, five key crew members are women, in line with our drive to promote diversity in our industry.”

MEDIAPRO Canada’s 53-foot expand mobile unit Alto is on site with a crew of 35 to produce the international signal for domestic and international rights holders, with the event set to be broadcast to millions of viewers around the world.

MEDIAPRO Canada will produce a total of nine games, starting with today’s opener between Greece and
Canada on June 29, and concluding with the Final on Sunday July 4. The company is using 14 cameras, including an RF Steadicam, an Ultra Slo-Mo Polecam and two Super Slo-Mo cameras to capture all the action.

Mediapro Canada’s role as host broadcaster of the event coincides with the company’s production of both the opening weekend of the Canadian Premier League (CPL), Canada’s first-division men’s professional soccer league, currently taking place in its first-round hub in Winnipeg, and the first of eight Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) games that will be aired live over the summer on the CBC.

The tournament is being held at the Save-On Foods Memorial Centre arena in Victoria, Canada; live coverage in Canada will be aired on public-service broadcaster CBC and streamed on DAZN. A key feature of the arena is the floor, the very same boards where the Toronto Raptors won their NBA Championship in 2019, which was purchased both for the event and as a legacy piece for Victoria and brought to the city earlier this month.

The top players representing Canada, Greece, Turkey, China, Czech Republic and Uruguay – including a number of NBA, NCAA, top European league and USport players – will descend upon Victoria to vie for a single qualifying spot for the men’s Olympic basketball tournament, scheduled for July 25 to August 7 in Tokyo, Japan.

Canada has been drawn into Group A with Greece and China, with the Czech Republic, Turkey and Uruguay in Group B. The top two teams in each group progress to the semi-finals on July 3, to determine which two teams will play in the Final on July 4 – with the winner grabbing one of the final four spots in the Olympic Games men’s basketball tournament tipping off next month in Tokyo.