Sugar and Roses: ESPN Brings Back Full MegaCast Production Arsenal for CFP Semifinal Games

With 10 different feeds across the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl, ESPN is pulling out all the stops in terms of cameras and production resources

With the debate over who will participate in the College Football Playoff in the rearview (sort of), all eyes now turn to the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl College Football Playoff Semifinal games on New Year’s Day. In order to produce 10 different feeds across the two games as part of its MegaCast production, ESPN will roll out two of the most robust live football productions – pro or college – seen on the gridiron over the past year.

“The Semifinals are always unique because even though they are not small shows by any means, we aren’t actually able to plan nearly as far in advance for them as we are for the Championship Game,” says Tommy Mitchell, Senior Operations Manager, ESPN. “We don’t really get to plan until we know who’s in the two games, so we have to put two of the biggest shows of the year together in less than a month. It’s obviously a significant challenge, but we have amazing engineering and operations teams that are able to get it done.”

The Return of the MegaCast: Multitude of Viewing Options Includes, McAfee, All-22, Command Center, and SkyCast

As part of three dozen different presentations of the New Year’s Six Bowls this weekend, fans will be able to watch Saturday’s Rose Bowl (No. 1 Michigan and No. 4 Alabama at 5 p.m. ET) and Sugar Bowl (No. 2 Washington and No. 3 Texas at 8:45 p.m.) broadcasts in a plethora of different ways:

• The Main Telecast (ESPN)
• The Spanish Language Telecast (ESPN Deportes)
• Field Pass Alternative Presentation (ESPN2): Field Pass with The Pat McAfee Show will offer entertaining, free-flowing commentary of both CFP Semifinals, anchored by Pat McAfee, who will roam the sidelines of Rose Bowl Stadium and call the action from a unique vantage point while being joined by a rotation of ESPN analysts, notable personalities, and celebrities. In New Orleans, ESPN personalities Cole Cubelic and Harry Douglas will team up for Field Passwith a pair of Texas Exes, ESPN analyst Sam Acho and former Longhorn quarterback Colt McCoy.
• All-22 (ESPN App): A vantage point high above the field of play that allows for the 22 players on the field to be seen at all times. This provides the ability to distinguish how plays develop similar to how players/coaches watch game film while listening to the ESPN Radio call.
• Command Center (ESPNU): A multi-angle presentation, which includes up to four different vantage points at any one time, with real-time player and team statistics supplementing the game action.
• SkyCast (ESPNEWS): A direct feed from the SkyCam above action and behind the offense on most plays. Replays will be shown every time the main telecast shows a replay, while never losing the look from Skycam.
• Hometown Radio (ESPN App): Fans can listen to the local radio broadcast of each of the four teams, with their audio feed synced up with ESPN’s presentation. SEC Network will carry the Alabama feed while the Longhorn Network will carry the Texas feed.
• BONUS: Marching Bands halftime performances will be available on the ESPN App for the third consecutive year.

Cameras Galore: 4K Goal Line, PylonCams, Cine Cams, Skycam, Ref Cams, C360, and More

ESPN will once again pull out all the technological stops for the semifinals, deploying more than 50 cameras inside the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, CA, and Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

Both games will feature 4K Goal Line robos to offer a pristine look down the goal line, eight PylonCams at each corner of both end zones, wireless line-to-gain PylonCams on both sidelines at the first-down line, a wireless handheld cine camera (a Sony Alpha FX3 on a Ronin Gimbal) to offer shallow-depth of field looks at post-score celebrations, Ref Cams connected to multiple referees’ hats, SkyCam flying through the air, and up to eight 6x super-slo-mo cameras.

The Rose Bowl will have Goal Post cameras to offer great looks from the back of the endzone and a Sony HDC-4800 on one of the nearside cart cameras that will provide ultra-slo-mo and full frame cinematic looks for ESPN’s broadcast. Meanwhile, the Sugar Bowl is equipped with a Cosm C360 camera mounted underneath the goal post to offer a 180-degree view of the entire endzone.

“Obviously, we always role out all the bells and whistles for these games,” says Mitchell. “This year, we’ve upgraded a couple of cameras and made a few tweaks [at the request of] the production team. These are not only huge [productions] onto themselves, but they’re also a great chance to prepare for the Championship Game.”

Varsity Heads to Houston, While 79 and Peacock Handle Semis

With a short turnaround between New Year’s Day and the National Championship Game on Jan. 8, ESPN is sending its top college football mobile unit – Game Creek Video’s Varsity, which launched this year – directly to Houston rather than working either of the two semifinal games.

“This is the shortest timeline we’ve ever had with only a week in between,” says Mitchell. “In order to build out the compound in Houston, Varsity is headed right to Houston and will park on Jan. 1. A truck change for the semifinal is not ideal for [the production team] since they’ve been working out of Varsity all year, but we were able to plan that well in advance knowing what the schedule was going to be like this year.”

Game Creek’s Peacock A/B units (along with Robo 1) are on hand in Pasadena to produce the main Rose Bowl broadcast with Operations Specialist Cindy Pennington and Sr. Operations Producer Chris Swihart on the ground. Live Media Group’s LMG HD29 is handling Field Pass with Pat McAfee with Dr. Operations Producer Bob Simon, Operations Specialist Mitchell Workman, and Operations Coordinator Matt Garrison in charge.

In New Orleans, Game Creek’s 79 A/B units (along with Edit 3) will handle the main Sugar Bowl production with Operations Specialist Tim Denyes and Operations Producer Justin McIntosh overseeing things, while LMG MUX11 serves as home to the Field Pass operation being overseen by Operations producers Adam Ramirez and Mike Krivens.

Other key member of the ESPN’s ops team include Chris Calcinari – Sr Vice President; Rex Arends – VP, Field Operations; John LaChance – Executive Director, Field Operations; Jim Birch – Operations Manager; Kylene Hamulak – Sr. Operations Coordinator; Tatianna Montalvo – Operations Coordinator;Aaron Thompson – Operations Coordinator; Matt Garrison – Operations Coordinator; Charlie Skoog – Operations Coordinator.

“I have so much respect for these operations teams [considering] how much gets put on their shoulders on a weekly basis throughout the season,” says Mitchell. “And the logistics only get more complex for the semifinals. Things are constantly change between different possible schools, building closures to accommodate practices, and all of those things that they have work around. Even as an ops guy myself, it’s mesmerizing to watch how they are able to deal with all the different problems thrown their way and never get frustrated. It’s such a great group of people and that’s what makes college football fun.”

ESPN’s bowl coverage culminates with the CFP National Championship at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 8. Stay tuned to sportsvideo.org in 2024 for our in-depth coverage leading up to the big game.