Live From MLB All-Star 2023: MLB Network Mixes Red Carpet Show at Pike Place Market With Weekend of Live Productions

Games produced include HBCU Swingman Classic, MLB All-Star Futures Games

MLB Network’s All-Star Game coverage is surrounded by the MLB Draft, but, outside of that production, the broadcaster is staying busy with other live programming. Over the five days of the Draft, its slate also comprises the 2023 MLB All-Star Red Carpet Show at Seattle’s famous Pike Place Market and five other baseball games played at T-Mobile Park.

“The player staging area is on the second level of the marketplace that overlooks Puget Sound, and it’s spectacular,” says Susan Stone, SVP, operations and engineering, MLB Network. “You can’t find a more beautiful venue.”

Packing Pike Place: Iconic Fish Market Hosts All-Star Red Carpet Show

Historically, Seattle has been synonymous with ties to the fishing industry. For anyone traveling to the Emerald City in the Pacific Northwest, the trip isn’t complete without a visit to well-known Pike Place Market. A common place for tourists to congregate, MLB Network figured, would be a no-brainer for the MLB All-Star Red Carpet Show.

Pike Place Market is the site of the 2023 MLB All-Star Red Carpet Show.

Since it’s an active market, there will be heavy foot traffic on Tuesday afternoon. To get the most out of the space while letting the congestion of crowds flow as organically as possible, the operations staff worked closely with two separate partners: Solomon Group, which has experience working large-scale events in sports, including activations around Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans and the College Football Playoff, and Fast Traffic Events & Entertainment, whose President/Chief Experience Officer Frank Supovitz served as group VP, events and entertainment, for the NHL from 1992 to 2005 and SVP, events, for the NFL from 2005 to 2014. After consultations, the team devised the perfect solution: the carpet will begin at the intersection of Pike Place and Pine Street, extend down the street running along the marketplace corridor, turn left, and conclude at the broadcaster’s main set at the intersection of Pike Place and 1st Avenue.

“The set’s located right on the street with the Public Market sign as the backdrop,” says Tom Guidice, VP, remote operations, MLB Network. “When I initially looked at the renderings, I knew that this could look really cool.”

The team of Greg Amsinger, Robert Flores, Lauren Gardner, Harold Reynolds, and Chris Young at the main desk will interact with all the 2023 MLB All-Stars as they make their way to T-Mobile Park. At the front bench will be Senior Coordinating Producer Marc Capalbo, Coordinating Producer Dan Komyati, Senior Producer Rich Savino, and Senior Coordinating Director Mike Martin.

Friday’s fourth-ever High School All-American Game aired on MLBN on Saturday, July 8.

Besides content from the main studio set, MLB Network’s and the league’s social media will be filled with digital-centric content. Led by Social Media Manager Billy Lee and Senior Marketing Manager Harris Schoenfeld, the effort will capture material from the Red Carpet, MLB PLAY BALL Park, and other ancillary activities celebrating the festivities.

Testing Tech Limits: Installed Infrastructure at 116-Year-Old Site Drives the Show

Always aiming to push the boundaries of technology, MLB Network is dealing with an interesting operations dilemma on its Red Carpet plans. The biggest issue of this operation is that the Pike Place Market opened its doors in August 1907. Without any reliable connectivity or permanent infrastructure, the operations team needed to get creative.

“It’s a 116-year-old fish market, so there’s not a lot of fiber or infrastructure there,” says Jason Hedgcock, senior director, remote technical operations, MLB Network. “It was a quite a herculean task for our group to put all of that together.”

The inaugural HBCU Swingman Classic aired on MLBN on Friday, July 7.

Luckily, the crew received some much-needed assistance from the Office of MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred in the form of a 1G pipeline to the compound at the ballpark. Camera feeds, including aerial shots from a helicopter supplied by Aerial Video Systems, will be sent to MLB Network’s headquarters in Secaucus, NJ — via transmission services from BitFire Networks, an onsite satellite truck, and more — to be cut as a remote production.

Slate of Live Action: Exhibition Games Take Over T-Mobile Park

Away from Pike Place Market, the team was responsible for live production of a bevy of games at the ballpark with the help of Game Creek Video Riverhawk and Edit 3. Two games took place on Friday, July 7: the 2023 High School All-American Game in the afternoon and the first-ever HBCU Swingman Classic at night. The first featured Director Dan Gentile and Producer Keith Costas; the latter was handled by Coordinating Producer Ben Friedfeld, Director Jason Lobb, and Producer Bill Boland.

MLB Network also produced three events on Saturday, July 8: the 2023 High School Home Run Derby in the morning, the 2023 MLB All-Star Futures Game in the afternoon, and the 2023 MLB All-Star Celebrity Softball Game at night.

Former first-baseman Ryan Howard (left) and former pro-softball player Jennie Finch were part of the star-studded 2023 MLB All-Star Celebrity Softball Game that MLBN produced for multiple broadcasters.

The showcase of the league’s top-rated prospects, with Lobb directing and Producer Ryan Burke on NBC Sports’ Peacock, offered a mixture of new additions and last year’s enhancements. As in 2022, a total of six players and two managers used IFB communication for in-game interviews. For one of the first times in a major-league ballpark, the sport’s Automated Balls and Strikes (ABS) system — which allows a player or manager to challenge a ball or strike call twice a game with the help of real-time tracking — was in play for the high-profile exhibition.

The NL Futures Game team challenged two strike three calls in one inning and both were just barely unsuccessful pic.twitter.com/waPDfMppMI

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) July 9, 2023

“It’s a good event to showcase what happens on the field that audiences don’t normally get access to,” adds Hedgcock.

The game was captured with eight Sony HDC-4300 hard cameras and two Sony HDC-2500 handhelds. For the nightcap, the director/producer duo of Gentile and Boland deployed five Sony HDC-4300 hard cameras, a Sony HDC-4300 handheld, and a Sony HDC-2500 handheld. In addition, all games played in T-Mobile Park leverage a special aerial cable-cam system on the third-base side of the field. A dedicated feed during all Seattle Mariners home games on ROOT Sports Northwest, the two-point system captures runners rounding third and heading home in a cinematic way.

The MLB Network crew also produced the 2023 High School Home Run Derby at T-Mobile Park.

On Monday, prior to the 2023 MLB Home Run Derby, both American League and National League All-Stars will take batting practice before the competition. Through a working relationship with T-Mobile, MLB Network is tapping the services of Beverly Hills Aerials to fly a 5G-powered drone during this event. This signals will be transmitted through a TVU decoder to Secaucus.

The world-feed production of Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game will be distributed to numerous international partners via seven Sony HDC-2500 hard cameras and one Sony HDC-2500 handheld. VP, Live Events, Chris Pfeiffer will serve as producer, joined by Lobb as director.

The 2023 MLB All-Star Red Carpet Show begins at 2 p.m. ET on MLB Network on Tuesday, July 11.