Bigger and Greener: ESPN Adds VR Announcer Headsets, Boosts Tracking Tech for Second NHL Big City Greens Classic

The animated alternative broadcast will once again replicate the action on the ice

Cricket, Tilly, and the entire Green family will be back on the ice on Saturday when ESPN will deliver the second-annual NHL Big City Greens Classic alternative broadcast. Building on last year’s BCG Classic and Toy Story Funday Football productions, Saturday’s Penguins–Bruins alternative presentation will once again leverage tracking technology to re-create the action on the ice as it happens, with characters from Disney Channel’s Big City Greens skating alongside animated versions of NHL players.

This year, announcers will wear Meta VR headsets while calling the action, allowing facial/upper-body motion capture and immersing the talent in the animated environment of “Times Circle.”

“I think this one puts all the pieces together in terms of the data integration and the creative,” ESPN VP, Production, Phil Orlins says. “We have now fully integrated the data tracking to the level that we’ve aspired to, and that’s [going to allow] full, unpredictable live integration of the characters and storylines into the broadcast. We’ve gotten past all the major technical hurdles to the point where the overall look of the broadcast, in my eyes, has hit a groundbreaking new level.”

ESPN and the NHL have brought back Beyond Sports (a Sony company) for live, real-time volumetric animation of players on the ice for the Penguins–Bruins game, and ESPN Creative Studio designed the overall look of the animated broadcast in collaboration with Disney Branded Television.

New this year, announcers calling the action will wear Meta VR headsets, allowing facial/upper body motion capture and the talent to be fully immersed in the animated environment of “Times Circle.”

“This is going to be the best of both worlds from what we’ve learned with Toy Story and the first Big City Greens [animated broadcasts] — all combined into one game,” says Spike Szykowny, VP, ESPN Creative Studio. “We have tools that we simply didn’t have at our disposal in either of the other games at this point. That is going to allow us to tell a lot more stories through animation.”

‘It’s Day and Night’: Addition of Hawkeye Tracking Boosts Data Visualization

This second iteration of the Big City Green Classic will blend two types of tracking technologies: NHL EDGE puck and player tracking (positional data provided by SMT) and Hawk-Eye Innovations (a Sony company) optical tracking. Beyond Sports handles the automated tracking and rendering for the virtual playing field and animated players, combining single-point tracking via the NHL EDGE system with the 28-point optical tracking provided by Hawk-Eye Innovations.

ESPN Creative Studio designed the overall look of the animated broadcast in collaboration with Disney Branded Television.

With the addition of Hawk-Eye optical tracking this year, Beyond Sports is able to create more-dynamic player and character movement to enhance visualization of detailed limb and stick movement and mannerisms.

“The data aspect has drastically advanced since Big City Greens 1,” says Orlins. “It’s day and night. It’s like watching cartoons before Pixar and after Pixar. You don’t realize how much better it is until you look at how simplistic the movement had to be before you had the optical tracking. But, now that you see the difference, it’s staggering.”

Calling the Action Off VR Tube: Meta Headsets Pose New Possibilities for Broadcast 

Also new this year, ESPN commentators Drew Carter, Kevin Weekes, and Arda Öcal will be wearing Meta Quest Pro VR headsets — instead of the motion-capture suits that on-air talent used last year — as they call the action from a studio in Bristol, CT. In addition to providing the talent with a more immersive view while calling the action, the headsets capture the facial and upper-body movement for the announcer cartoon characters within the virtual environment (lower-body movement is inferred).

With the VR headset on, the announcers in Bristol will see the live game action just as they would if they were on the sidelines.

“With the headsets in place, we wanted to do things differently from a creative standpoint,” says Szykowny. “We lost the ability to do full [motion-capture] in a studio like last year, but we gained the ability to put them absolutely anywhere inside the environment. They can stand on the ice next to the goalie and explain [technique] as the goalie is playing, or they can call the game from anywhere around the rink. It just allows us to do a lot of cool things creatively that wouldn’t have been possible before.”

With the VR headset on, the announcers in Bristol will see the live game action just as they would if they were at the rink. In addition, Beyond Sports provides a split screen hovering above the rink showing both the animated-program feed and the traditional broadcast feed.

“Honestly, there was a little hesitancy when we first explained what we were going to try,” says Orlins, “but the moment they put the headsets on they were on board. They were so excited to be able to stand wherever they wanted and watch the game. They can actually sit on the bench next to Sidney Crosby, right behind the boards, right behind the goalie, or even on the ice itself. These are positions that you, as a human being, could never actually put yourself in to watch the game.”

In terms of the production workflow in Bristol, the front bench will be led by director Jeff Nelson and producer Brian Boyle. Orlins will coordinate with the voice talent in Burbank and oversee the narrative of the broadcast. Meanwhile, Szykowny will oversee the animation operation to ensure that all elements and storylines are being integrated into the broadcast. Beyond Sports’ team will also be programming the virtual cameras into the multiviewers and creating replays for the front bench to cut the live animated feed. All of this is done with a 22-second delay from the traditional broadcast, less than the minute-plus on Toy Story Funday Football.

“Generally speaking,” says Orlins, “when I’m asked what the next big thing in broadcast is, I believe it’s going to be related to volumetric capture. The technology is growing by leaps and bounds to the point where it allows you to visualize and re-create anything from any angle at any speed with any enhancement. To me, that is the next layer of storytelling; that is where the cutting edge of technology and broadcasting intersect.”

Mouse Mates Meet Up: ESPN and Disney Collaborate on Animation  

In terms of creative, Disney Branded Television and ESPN Creative Studio collaborated closely on the final production. Disney Branded Television led development of the overarching storyline and theme for the broadcast and provided ESPN Creative Studio with the 2D animated elements from Big City Greens. ESPN Creative Studio then handled production of all the 3D animated elements in-house, with the exception of the show open featuring Disney Channel’s Random Rings, which Disney produced.

“These [broadcasts] are not easy to produce and are extremely time-consuming,” says Szykowny, “but our team absolutely loves working on this stuff. We spread this out amongst about 20 people and give them each one assignment, but they come back 20 elements each because they just love doing it. It gives them a chance to flex creative muscles that they normally don’t get to use. And the collaboration [with Disney Branded Television] has been amazing as well.”

The announcers will also interact with Big City Greens voice talent, which will be featured even more heavily in this year’s BCG Classic. Creator/Executive Producer Chris Houghton (Cricket), Marieve Herington (Tilly), Zeno Robinson (Remy), Artemis Pebdani (Gramma), and creator/Executive Producer Shane Houghton (various characters) will use facial-recognition technology (they will not be wearing VR headsets) to imitate their reactions to the game remotely from Walt Disney Studios in Burbank.

Szykowny says viewers can expect more-frequent appearances of Big City Green animated characters in this year’s broadcast, including Gramma serving as coach of the Bruins and Cricket coaching the Penguins. Also an animated version of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman (voiced by the Commish himself) and plenty of other surprise cameos will be scattered throughout the broadcast. This year’s broadcast will also feature original roll-in and cut-in segments to help advance the narrative.

In addition to the game itself, the two intermissions of the game will feature an animated skills competition between the Big City Greens characters — conceptualized by Disney and produced by ESPN Creative Studio.

“The real strength of this is the IP that Disney has to offer,” says Szykowny. “If we were to use just the character blockies without any kind of new creativity, that’s going to get old fast. But, with the cool IP we have to work with like Big City Greens, we can tell some really compelling stories, and I think there is a lot of gas left in the tank [for this concept]. With ESPN and Disney, we have a combination of experts in technology and the great IP. It’s a unique position to be in.”

The ESPN Creative Studio team in Bristol

The massive undertaking at ESPN involves an army behind the scenes: Adam Konyndyk, Ali Baiocco, Alison Cellana, Amber Masarik, Amy Nelson, Audra Leimberg, Ben Ayotte, Ben Bieglecki, Brian Boyle, Chaofan Yu, Bryant Burney, Charlie Collin, Chaz Vicino, Colin Moore, Danny Baxter, David Sparrgrove, Dominick Vargas, Drew Gallagher, Eric Colson, Eric Freiler, Haili Menard, Isabel Bristol, Jason Finberg, Jay Fiedler, Jeffrey Nelson, Jessica Yong, Joe Durante, Joe Won, Justin Norton, Maddie Goldberg, Matt Tucker, Michael “Spike” Szykowny, Michael Chiplock, Mike Gallo, Mike Kataja, Nic Sweatt, Patrick Leung, Phil Orlins, Richard Harrington, Ross Rubino, Solinda Keth, Steve Jase, Sung Sohn, Tara Howard, Todd Coleman, Tom Beers, and Zack Malet.

Key contributors from Disney include Victoria Flores, Gino Guzzardo, Jenna Hicks, and Kaitlin Cassidy.

The Beyond Sports team is led by Tess Glastra van Loon, Nicolaas Westerhof, Sander Schouten, and Suman Vinasithamby.

ESPN+, Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney+ will present the live animated telecast, and the traditional telecast will be available on ABC and ESPN+. Outside the U.S., the NHL Big City Greens Classic will be available on Disney+ in selected countries.