World Series 2023: Drones Are Set To Fly for Fox Sports’ Coverage

‘We want to provide [viewers] the experience of sitting in the front row.’

The 2023 World Series is set to start tonight on Fox Sports, and, with 52 cameras overall — including a custom drone fleet from Beverly Hills Aerials, three Dirt Cams, 13 super-slow-motion cameras, and an Ump Cam — the Fox Sports team is ready to cover the matchup between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks from literally all the angles.

Beverly Hills Aerials will deploy three small drones for World Series coverage, which begins tonight.

“We’re just all excited to get to tonight after a great season that started off on Fox and FS1, which showed our commitment to baseball,” says Brad Cheney, VP, field operations, Fox Sports. “With a team led week in and week out by [Director, Field Ops,] Francisco Contreras; [Operations Manager] Nicole Perrin; [Technical Producer] Tom Lynch; and [Remote Production Operations] Nick Utley; joined by [MLB Network, Director, International Broadcast Operations,] Judy Acone; [freelancer] Pam Chvotkin; and many others during our postseason and jewel events. Alongside the team is our remote studio group, led by [Senior Manager, Remote Studio Operations,] Anil Letherwala. It’s a great team that gels well and has their finger on the pulse of baseball. They make things happen.”

Among the production highlights are a custom three-drone fleet — “Gimbal Bee,” “Hummer Lite,” and “Hummingbird” — from Beverly Hills Aerials.

“That’s the big piece for us,” says Cheney. “Chief Pilot Michael Izquierdo is running the drones for us. We’ll use them in dead-play situations like pitching changes. We’re planning those shots now.”

Smaller than a soccer ball, the drones won’t be a visual distraction for fans in the stands. They are also all custom-designed by BHA, providing an extra sense of safety because the BHA team understands how to get the most out of the drones: for example, a gimbal mount on the Gimbal Bee allows a smaller drone to fly faster without causing the camera to tilt toward the ground. In addition, the BHA is able to address issues without waiting for a third party to deliver parts.

“It gives us the ability to keep moving at a good pace and still have the camera level,” says Cheney. “We will have only one drone flying at a time, and they will be operated from centerfield at both stadiums.”

Fox Sports will deploy 52 cameras for the 2023 World Series.

The Ump Cam will be making its World Series debut. According to Cheney, the camera is a big benefit to production, allowing the viewer to see how fast the pitches are coming as well as the movement.

“RF wireless has been phenomenal in getting that to happen and work,” he adds. “It has been a multi-year process to get to this point, and there is no tool to [show] how hard it is to call balls and strikes or a line drive hit down the third-base line and the challenge of calling it fair or foul. It’s spectacular to see the speed of the game.”

All the coverage, both studio shows and games, will be produced in 1080p HDR.

“We’re trying to provide a unique visual difference and differentiator,” Cheney explains. “We believe 1080p HDR benefits the game. The closer we get to providing to people at home images that are close to what they would see with their own eyes if they were there in person is the goal. We want to provide people the experience of sitting in the front row.”

With respect to audio, more than 100 microphones will be placed around the stadium and field, including in the bases.

“This offseason, MLB instituted a new 18-in. base, and that meant we had to rebuild the microphone system,” Cheney explains. “[CP Communications President] Michael Mason and his team and our group went through the time to make those work better for us. [Fox Sports Senior Audio Engineer] Joe Carpenter and his team find all the right places to put the mics.”

Alongside the technology firsts will be another more-general World Series first: the first time both stadiums have a roof. At least for this year, late nights due to rain delays or games rescheduled due to rain will not be an issue.

“With two indoor stadiums,” says Cheney, “we know the game is going to go off on time. Going to bed and getting up at a certain hour is always good. It benefits everybody and allows everybody to run at peak performance.”

Fox Sports digital and social platforms will be tied into the Fox Sports production. The @MLBonFox X, formerly Twitter, account will again stream the top of the first inning of each game live. The social-media service will also carry live streams of batting practice and warmups as well as celebration cameras from the field and locker room. Fox Sports’ original digital franchise Flippin’ Bats With Ben Verlander will return with analysis and conversations from both host cities. And Fox Deportes will be onsite with announcers.

“We run as one big family out here,” says Cheney, “with digital onsite here during the ALCS and being joined onsite by Deportes, who are running their operations HRP-style.”

Fox Sports World Series Leadership Team

Technical Lead: Tom Lynch
Technical Producers: Sid Drexler, Taihe Miller, Brady Polansky, and Michael Vaughan
Operations Lead: Judy Acone
Operations Team: Anil Leatherwala, Nick Utley, Hunter Acone, Monica Chislov, Pam Chvotkin, Eric Guyton, Nicole Perrin, Itzel Rocha, and Hannah Seaman

Key vendors: Power — CES Power; RF audio and video — CP Communications; networking — Beagle Networks; transmission services — AT&T, Lumen, Intelsat, PSSI, Peak Uplink, American Satellite; mobile facilities — Game Creek Video and NEP.