Dome Productions Moves to New Home After Three Decades at Rogers Centre

With additional control room and 100-Gbps service, the facility offers new opportunities

After more than 30 years doing business out of the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Dome Productions moved to new headquarters last year. It was the end of an era that began when Dome was founded in May 1989, but it was also a chance to start anew for SVP/GM Mary Ellen-Carlyle and her team.

“Actually, the amount of time from when I was born to when I first walked into the Rogers Centre to start at Dome is shorter than the time that I spent at the Rogers Centre,” she says. “We are certainly sad to leave, but, at the same time, it’s going to allow us to grow and do some exciting new things. I like to think of it like Dome Productions 2.0.”

Dome’s new 1080p facility is equipped with three production-control rooms

Act Fast: Short Timeline Necessitates Quick Thinking

Jointly owned by Bell Media and Rogers Media, Dome Productions was an original tenant when Rogers Centre opened in 1989. When the Blue Jays began major renovations on the downtown-Toronto stadium after the 2022 season, Dome was able to maintain its existing footprint at the facility. However, phase two of the renovations, which is currently under way, necessitated Dome’s relocation by the end of 2023.

“When we heard we would have to be out of our space by December,” says Carlyle, “we immediately began searching for a new location. The Rogers Centre folks were very accommodating in making it all work for us, and I’m sure the building is going to be absolutely beautiful when they’re done [with the renovations].”

Dome quickly identified an existing broadcast-centric building 7 miles north of Rogers Centre in the Yonge and St. Clair neighborhood of midtown Toronto. The former home of Blue Ant Media (which recently moved to downtown Toronto) proved to be an ideal facility for Dome, boasting an equipment room complete with racks and an HVAC system, a standby generator for redundant power, and plenty of space to expand.

“We were lucky in that a lot of the [technical] infrastructure was in place already,” says Mike Johnson, director, engineering, Dome Productions. “We took advantage of that. It was a tough move on various levels, especially how quickly it had to get done, but I think it has been huge success overall. Everyone came together and got it done.”

Inside the New Digs: Plenty of Production and Transmission Firepower

The 1080p facility is equipped with three production-control rooms (one more than at Dome’s previous home), a robust network-operations center (NOC), a fully equipped 850-sq.-ft. studio, and a “Shot Box” green-screen studio that can be used for satellite media tours, remote interviews, or off-tube commentary for live productions.

Major operations currently running out of Dome’s new HQ are the CFL’s Command Centre for replay review, the NHL’s Digital Enhanced Dasherboard league-wide virtual signage (in partnership with Supponor), and master control for NBA TV Canada. Dome also provides REMI workflow for NLL (National Lacrosse League), CEBL (Canadian Elite Basketball League), and the AHL’s Toronto Marlies.

The equipment complement and technological infrastructure are predominantly the same as in Dome’s previous home, but, says Johnson, connectivity has been significantly upgraded. In the past, the bulk of Dome’s production equipment was limited to 10 Gbps to the venue. Now Dome has two 100-Gbps services — one from Bell, one from Rogers — to provide carrier diversity. In addition, Dome added redundant dark-fiber paths so that it can offer additional 100-Gbps paths in the future.

Although Dome had to relocate its overall operations, it was able to maintain some of its transmission infrastructure at the Rogers Centre to serve existing clients.

“We had so much invested in infrastructure for connectivity in the building and could not ask all these other providers to move their fiber to a new building,” says Johnson. “It was a requirement that we maintain [a presence at Rogers Centre], where we could still host at least half of our network and connectivity partners.”

As a result, Dome has established two transmission cores: an A core at Rogers Centre and a B core at the new location.

“That also gives us geographical diversity with our cores, which is a big plus, and a more robust delivery system overall,” he says. “[Not all of] our partners have been able to take advantage of that yet, but, with time, that will grow. We’ve established a network-operations desk at the new [location]. Eventually, all our [staff] will be working there, and only an equipment room will be left at Rogers Centre.”

‘A Big Innovation Playground’: Dome Looks to the Future

With the new facility up and running, Carlyle and company are looking to expand the realm of what’s possible for Dome’s customers.

Says Carlyle, “The biggest thing we’re telling our customers is that this is one big innovation playground. We want to try new things so throw anything you want at us. If you want to try something new, bring it in for some trials, and we’ll test it out. [This facility] is truly made for that, and we’re excited about what ahead.”

For more on the latest development out of Dome’s Toronto headquarters, check out our SVG Sit-Down with Carlyle and Johnson.