Fox Sports, NBC Sports Expand Home Run Production Model for Year 2 of USFL; Drones, HelmetCams, Ref HatCams Return

This season, games take place in four cities instead of one

Fox Sports and NBC Sports continue to ramp up their technology in the reborn USFL’s second year. The league, which is partially owned by Fox Sports, has brought back many of the production staples from Year 1: notably, high-speed drones, multiple Skycams, HelmetCams on four players, two Ref HatCams, two RF wireless cameras, and six wired super-slo-mos on the field; player microphones on more than a dozen players per team, full access to the coach and ref comms systems, the “firsty” automated first-down—measuring system.

However, perhaps the biggest technological lift in creating USFL broadcasts is the massive remote-production setup used by NBC and Fox for every game of the 10-week regular season across four cities. Fox is once again deploying its Home Run Production (HRP) model to produce broadcasts from its Pico Blvd. facility in Los Angeles; NBC will produce its games from its Stamford, CT, facility.

A massive production effort handles two games each on Saturdays and Sundays over the USFL’s 10-week season.

“When you take an HRP that is as large as this one is — arguably, the largest [remote production] on a weekly basis — and start moving it between cities every week, with two games each on Saturday and Sunday, that becomes a really heavy lift,” says Brad Cheney, VP, field operations and engineering, Fox Sports. “Add in [the fact that] we do all the games in 1080p HDR across two networks with these unique technologies on the field, and you can imagine how important the quality of the people and logistics become. Thankfully, we’ve got an amazing team that has executed this weekly for us.”

HRP Model Returns — Multiplied by Four

The USFL has dedicated a pair of Game Creek Video mobile units — one in the North, one in the South — to be onsite this season. Last season, all games were played in Birmingham, AL; this year’s games are split among Birmingham; Canton, OH; Detroit; and Memphis. The mobile units provide 54 cameras, 78 microphones and comms sources, and other equipment. All feeds are sent simultaneously over redundant 10-Gbps fiber paths (via Lumen and AT&T) to L.A. and Stamford, where the Fox and NBC production teams create their respective broadcasts.

“It’s a big departure from last year when we did a really big show,” notes Cheney, “but it was all in one city. We’re now moving between multiple cities from week to week. It’s a gargantuan task to make that all happen and be able to do it in a very consistent way week in and week out. The nice thing is that we have been able to drive up the quality of the productions by leveraging facilities that are built to do [major events like] the Olympics and the World Cup.”

The primary goal going into this year, he adds, was creating a “repeatable” model that could be deployed on both Saturday and Sunday games at the four venues throughout the season. Both Game Creek trucks have been equipped with the same routing architecture to enable seamless setup at every game.

Communication is also key, especially with two games each on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the regular season and the broadcaster often switching from USA/NBC to Fox/FS1 from one game to another. For example, last weekend, when both Week 4 Saturday games were in Detroit and both Sunday games were in Canton, the first and second games on both days switched between NBC and Fox.

“Last weekend, we had only 45 minutes to switch networks,” says Cheney. “That’s not much time for final faxes, getting tallies and comms lined up, and all those kinds of things. We know all [those production elements] are there and have been tested, but making that switch in such a short time obviously is challenging.”

New Technology? No Problem

With Fox Sports’ role as a partial owner of the USFL (the league is a joint venture with National Spring Football League Enterprises), the process of getting approval for unique production elements is definitely streamlined compared with other major Fox Sports properties.

“The level of access that we’re given is unprecedented in my opinion,” says Cheney. “We did a lot of very interesting new things last year to bring the viewer closer to the game. Our goal this year is to bring those [elements] forward and create even more-pristine images and clearer audio with those tools.”

Among Fox’s 54 cameras for USFL games are high-speed drones, four HelmetCams, two Ref HatCams, and two RF wireless super-slo-mos and six wired super-slo-mos.

“With the drone,” says Cheney, “we can be at head level running with the running backs and wide receivers and see what the safeties are doing on the defensive side, which has been pretty phenomenal. And the HelmetCam gives you a perspective that hasn’t been seen much in the history of football coverage. Those enhance the experience for [the viewer].”

On the audio side, both Fox and NBC production teams have full access to the coach/player and ref comms systems.

“I think the clarity of the audio from the players, coaches, and officials is probably what has made the biggest impact, in my view,” says Cheney. “Getting that insight as to what’s going on behind the scenes and hear what plays are being called before they happen is so insightful. [Viewers] can start to understand and grasp the play calls, and that’s important to developing true fan involvement. That has been impressive to be able to hear and see.”

From Year 1 to Year 2: Familiarity Is Key

Sarita Meinking, executive director, field operations, Fox Sports, serves as project lead for the broadcaster’s USFL production ops this year. Key members of her team include Phil Abrahams, director, remote engineering operations; Lindsay Waine, senior manager, field operations; Carlos Gonzalez, lead technical producer; TJ Scanlon, lead engineering manager; Operations Managers Savannah Brotherton and Erin Gilleand; Tech Producers Doug Fuchs, Ron McGuggins, and Chance Kulis; and Engineering Managers Bill Moore, Jon Trama, and Eric Foster.

Key staffers in L.A. for Fox’s HRP operation include Gina Poretti, SVP, stage operations; Rob Rees, VP, Pico engineering; Marc Fleury, VP, IT network engineering and architecture; Rico Magsipoc, VP, IT media operations; and Reed Kaufman, VP, post operations.

“An HRP this big is very much like being in an orchestra,” says Cheney. “We’ve got people guiding what’s going on both onsite and [at the broadcast center] and going through everything piece by piece. But, in the end, it comes down to listening to the conductor and making sure everything happens exactly as it’s supposed to. Our engineering teams in Los Angeles and Stamford and onsite are making that happen on a weekly basis, and it’s amazing to watch.”

In addition to Game Creek facilities onsite and AT&T and Lumen transmission support, key technology vendors on the USFL this year are CES Power, CP Communications, LiveU, SMT, 3G Wireless, Thumbwar, and Bolt6.

“The beauty is that the key people and vendors who launched us last year are back with us again this year,” says Cheney. “It has been great to have that familiarity as we go forward and continue to drive USFL forward.”