Stanley Cup Final: Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Operations Team Meets Championship Moment With IP Infrastructure
WBD Sports' Chris Brown: "This is something we have all wanted to showcase for a long time"
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The Stanley Cup Final rolls into Game 2 on Monday night in Las Vegas (8 p.m. ET, TNT) with the host Golden Knights looking to take a commanding 2-0 series and the operations team at Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, it’s another opportunity to rise to the occasion of its first professional sports championship moment.
WBD Sports is on-site at T-Mobile Arena with more than 40 cameras, a robust audio plan, and the newly built NEP Supershooter 7 to meet the needs of this unique production for the team. According to Chris Brown, VP, tech operations, WBD Sports, his team has handled countless big-time events before but this Stanley Cup Final demands a unique effort level from the company. He describes it as combining the technical complexity of an event like the NHL Winter Classic with the logistical complexity an NHL of NBA Conference Final.
It’s an effort, though, that Brown is proud to say his team is relishing.
“Its been a long time coming,” says Brown. “To have an opportunity to be on a global stage with this event is truly exciting and has brought life into the operations and production teams alike. This is something we have all wanted an opportunity to showcase for a very long time.”
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WBD Sports’ production compounds in both Vegas and Sunrise, FL represent a continued push forward for the broadcaster in IP production. Both the aforementioned Supershooter 7 and NEP’s Supershooter 5 (parked in in Sunrise) anchor fully ST 2110 compounds. Brown says this infrastructure better facilitates signal sharing while also contributing to a more efficient set up and tear down.
The NHL is supporting the complete compound in both sites (which also includes Canadian rightsholder, Sportsnet) with CES Power for power and backup generators, Lumen for fiber phones and internet, and PSSI for satellite uplink. WBD Sports is also prepared with a loaded EVS replay network with both game and studio having access to 56 record channels.
The compound also grows with the addition of the NHL on TNT studio show traveling to both arenas. NEP’s EN2 in supporting studio in Vegas while ND 5 does the same job in Florida. On-site sets are designed by WBD Sports’ Techwood Studios scenic team.
The ops team on this Stanley Cup Final is led by Brown and Director of Tech Operations Lee Estroff, Director of Remote Engineering, Dan Nabors, Senior Director of Remote Operations and Crewing Vanessa Lindsey, and Tech Ops Manager David Cabeza.