Live From NFL Draft 2023: Multiple Jibs, RF Cameras, AR Graphics, and a Live Drone Power Unique Broadcasts on ESPN, ABC

Sixty-plus camera, multiple shared resources with NFL Media power coverage from Downtown KC

When ESPN covered its first National Football League Draft in 1980, it was met with a shared reaction from television viewers and even the league itself that resembled something to the effect of “Ya sure?” or “Do you, I guess.”

Forty-four years later, fans totaling in the hundreds of thousands are expected to gather in Downtown Kansas City to take in the concert-like festivities of the 2023 NFL Draft in what will be ESPN’s 44th consecutive year offering live coverage of the event.

At the 2023 NFL Draft, ESPN’s coverage will be anchored from a set erected within the main theater on the steps of Kansas City’s Union Station.

The Disney/ESPN family will again be producing two completely distinct live broadcasts of Draft Weekend, with ESPN providing the more NFL/football-focused perspective and ABC offering College GameDay and its more human-interest–focused approach to the occasion. With its own complement and shared resources with NFL Media, ESPN has more than 60 cameras onsite to cover the massive Draft footprint that expands from the main theater directly in front of Kansas City’s Union Station out to the far reaches of the World War I Memorial, where the Red Carpet and various fan activations are in place.

“It’s as big as it has ever been,” says Steve Carter, senior operations manager, ESPN. “We look at this not so much as a sporting event but as an entertainment program. With that, sometimes you need cameras that you wouldn’t need for sports to catch some of the reactions and everything going on here.”

MORE: NFL Media Deploys Huge Remote Operation To Meet Demands of Largest Draft Footprint Ever

The lineup of RF and specialty cameras certainly reflects the uniqueness of the layout. There are upwards of 14 RF cameras across the campus, including in the theater and in the Green Room inside Union Station, where Draft prospects will wait to hear their name called. ESPN has erected a two-point cabled aerial camera system that extends from beyond the College GameDay set at the base of the War Memorial to inside the theater where, just off to the side of the stage, ESPN’s main studio set is erected.

A two-point cabled aerial system extends from the World War I Memorial into the Draft Theater at the entry of Union Station.

The complete arsenal comprises nine robotics, a whopping six jibs, and six cameras capable of displaying virtual augmented-reality graphics.

ESPN’s internal drone division is also here, with a drone that can be integrated live into the coverage while flying a dedicated flight path extending from the top of a pool deck at the Westin Kansas City at Crown Center Hotel over a wooded area toward Union Station.

A Fully Networked Operation

An event like the NFL Draft is a complex one, with countless feeds not only from onsite but from points all over the country. ESPN is working with NFL Media on a shared matrix of feeds, assembled via LiveU, that includes Draft Rooms from all 32 NFL team headquarters, as well as another 21 Draft prospects who are remote from their homes.

NEP Group’s EN1 and Sharpshooter 5 are onsite in Kansas City to support ESPN’s production of the 2023 NFL Draft.

The production compound is in a parking lot behind Union Station and is filled with trucks servicing not just ESPN but also NFL Media and Van Wagner (which is producing the in-venue show). Seven trucks — all from NEP Group — are dedicated to ESPN, with four supporting ESPN’s main show and other live shows from the site, such as NFL Life and SportsCenter. Two more are dedicated to the College GameDay show. NEP EN1 (the main Monday Night Football facility) and Supershooter 5 are deployed here.

Operations Specialist Joe Rainey is credited with designing an infrastructure that allows full feed-sharing of every set. Any studio stage onsite can be taken inside any of the trucks in the compound. According to Carter, that’s with tally, monitoring, returns, etc.

For ESPN, there are plenty of feeds between Kansas City and the company’s home in Bristol, CT. An IP core recently added as part of an upgrade to the broadcaster’s NEP fleet of trucks is making that possible. Remote Operations Specialist Kevin Cleary is playing a critical role in managing the complex transmission network.

A Crew That Knows the Ropes

Carter estimates that between 250 and 300 ESPN employees are onsite helping make the whole operation possible. VP, Production, Seth Markman leads a group headed by Senior Remote Specialist Jack Coffey.

“Most of this crew has done [the NFL Draft] before, so they know what to do, they know what they are in for, and they know the process,” says Carter. “That speeds things along.”

The ESPN side is supported by Senior Remote Operations Producer Dustin Epstein, Remote Operations Coordinator Sam Majewski, Tech Manager Terry Cook, and Remote Operations Producer BJ Smith.

Working primarily on College GameDay for ABC are Operations Manager Mark Mignini, Operations Specialist Luther Fisher, Remote Operations Producers Dean Ellington and Danny Reifert, and Remote Operations Coordinator Leah Morgenstern.

ESPN’s and ABC’s coverage of the 2023 NFL Draft begins Thursday starting at 8 p.m. ET and continues Friday beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday’s coverage begins at noon, with ESPN’s presentation simulcast on ABC. For more details on programming and on-air talent, CLICK HERE.