With No. 1 Pick on Tap, Carolina Panthers Go All Out for Production of 2023 Draft Party at BOA Stadium

The effort is deploying a live drone, mixed-reality graphics, and a straight-from-NAB 2023 camera

It isn’t very often that an NFL team has the No. 1 pick. And the Carolina Panthers are pulling out all the stops to celebrate this moment in the franchise’s history by hosting the 2023 Draft Party Presented by Bud Light tonight at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC. The Panthers’ Game Day Presentation team is rolling out plenty of tech toys to produce the in-stadium show, including a live drone flying throughout the stadium, a jib on the field, mixed-reality graphics on the videoboard, and a pair of Canon 4K PTZ cameras in the team’s Draft war room.

Mike Bonner (left) will be at the front bench for the Carolina Panthers’ 2023 NFL Draft Party Presented by Bud Light.

“The Tepper [ownership group] want do this right and show their commitment to the fans so they feel like they are truly a part of this historic moment,” says Mike Bonner, senior director/executive producer, game presentation and production, Carolina Panthers. “Years from now. when you’re looking back at the history of the Panthers, this will be remembered as one of the most important dates in this team’s history. It’s not often that you have a number-one pick, so I’m excited to be a part of it and proud of our entire team for putting together such great show.”

The fun doesn’t end after opening night of the Draft, though. On Saturday, the Panthers’ fourth-round pick will be announced live from Frankfurt, Germany, by punter Johnny Hekker (who speaks German) in front of a raucous crowd of German Riot supporters. After wrapping the Draft Party show on Thursday night, Bonner will pull a Phil Collins at Live Aid stunt when he flies to Frankfurt (joining production manager Sydney Ditmar) Friday morning to manage the live-feed production of the Day 3 pick.

Party Down: 15 Cameras, Crew of 40 on Hand for In-Stadium Show

The Panthers expect more than 10,000 fans to turn out for the Draft Party tonight, which will take place in Bank of America Stadium’s lower bowl and on the field itself. Programming on an on-field stage and hosted by Panthers radio play-by-play announcer Anish Shroff and Panthers legend Jake Delhomme begins at 7:30 p.m. In addition, Panthers team reporter Kristen Balboni will be onsite in Kansas City, delivering live reports from the Draft. Current players and legends will be on hand. along with a variety of on-field activities and a fireworks and light show to close out the night.

The Panthers’ game-day presentation team will have 15 cameras at its disposal for the 2023 NFL Draft Party.

Bonner will be at the front bench directing the videoboard show, which will be intercut into the live feed of NFL Network’s Draft broadcast beginning at 8 p.m. ET. He will have 15 cameras at his disposal to cover the festivities, including a live drone (weather permitting), jib on the field, and two Canon PTZ cameras in the war room at the team’s headquarters.

NFL Network is also taking the program feed from the in-stadium show as well as press conferences with Panthers leadership via the league’s TeamCam network.

The Draft Party production will also feature mixed-reality graphics, displaying virtual “hero board” elements above the field throughout the night. In addition, the Panthers have worked with The Famous Group to deploy the video-selfie software used at Charlotte FC matches, and those images will be integrated into the videoboard show as well.

When the first pick is announced, the game-day presentation team will deploy its Evertz DreamCatcher replay system to record isos of crowd reactions from all 15 cameras. The clips will be used throughout the evening for the videoboard show and also fed to NFL Network for its Draft broadcast and to Van Wagner for its onsite show in Kansas City.

In the War Room: Canon’s PTZ Capture the Action Behind the Scenes

In the team’s war room, the production team will have Canon CRN700 and CRN500 PTZ cameras covering GM Scott Fitterer, new head coach Frank Reich, and the rest of the Panthers’ brain trust as they make their decision on the No. 1 pick. That feed is also being picked up via by NFL Network for its Draft broadcast via LiveU IP transmission and being used by NFL Films, which is onsite in Charlotte capturing behind-the-scenes content.

Canon’s CRN700 and CRN500 PTZ cameras will be deployed to cover the war room as the Panthers strategize during the NFL Draft.

“When we got the number-one pick, we wanted something special and more beefed up for our show,” says Bonner. “I’ve had a long relationship with Canon throughout my career, and they’ve serviced the Panthers for a long time as well, so I reached out to Rich [Eilers] at Canon to see if he had any cool new toys. He said, ‘We’re actually going to be showing our new PTZ cameras at NAB, and you can have it right after the show. So, literally the Friday after NAB, these cameras arrived.”

The CRN700 is a 4K60P professional PTZ camera with 12G-SDI connectivity. Most notably, the system features Intelligent Tracking and Recognition Auto Focus (EOS iTR AF), which helps the camera focus on faces even when a subject turns away from the camera. With Panthers leadership moving around the war room throughout the night, Bonner expects EOS iTR AF to provide war-room coverage like viewers have never seen before.

“The tracking ability is just amazing, and the picture quality is crystal clear,” he says. “We feel that something as big as a No. 1 pick deserves this kind of premium asset from Canon.”

The Panthers installed Canon PTZ cameras (operator shown here) just after NAB 2023 to cover the Draft.

Bonner has used Canon PTZ camera systems at every one of the major venues where he has headed game-day presentation, including with the University of Notre Dame, Denver Broncos, and New York Yankees. He says imagery and ruggedness in these outdoor environments have been key factors in his decisions. In this case, his need was for a high-quality indoor system that could be controlled remotely in a limited-access area like the Panthers war room on Draft Day.

“The CR-N700 fit the bill perfectly, with its 4K60P capabilities to blend into any level of programming along with its high-quality imaging and capability for on-air moves,” says Eilers, who is national accounts sales director, Television Production Sales Division, Canon U.S.A. “Just a perfect fit product in a perfect circumstance here. Being that the Panthers have a lot at stake on Thursday night, we’re very thankful and proud that Mike is leaning on Canon products to get it done.”