NCAA Women’s Final Four: ESPN Preps for Momentous Weekend With Stacked Production-Tech Arsenal

Arsenal includes Rail Cam, Skycam, drone, seven SSMOs, two cinema cameras, Canon FreeViewpoint, Cosm VR highlights

All eyes will be on Cleveland this weekend for what promises to be one of the most historic chapters in the history of women’s basketball. Coming off mind-boggling ratings for the Elite Eight, ESPN is pulling out all the stops for coverage of the NCAA Women’s Final Four at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. It’s a revelrous moment for ESPN’s production and operations teams, who, between Women’s College Basketball and the WNBA, work tirelessly all year to grow the sport of women’s basketball.

All pre/postgame and halftime shows are being produced onsite in Cleveland, along with other ESPN studio shows.

“Our team has always recognized the excitement and athleticism of women’s basketball,” says Catherine Chalfant, manager, remote production operations, ESPN. “It’s special to be a part of this event when the rest of the world is just as focused on the event. To see the fruits of our labor pay off in such a historic manner, with unprecedented viewership, has been the icing on the cake to what has been a very special season. And we know the best is yet to come this weekend in Cleveland.”

In addition to the primary broadcasts of tonight’s semifinals on ESPN and Sunday’s National Championship on ABC — all produced in 1080p — ESPN has brought back its signature MegaCast presentations across multiple platforms. The popular The Bird & Taurasi Show Presented returns for its third year, along with the Beyond the Rim aerial camera view and On the Rail feed from the Railcam. All pre/postgame and halftime shows are being produced onsite, as are several other ESPN studio shows.

“The tournament has been very successful, and we had no doubt from the start that it would be,” says Chalfant. “We have been in lock step with our production team [on] collectively taking our coverage to the next level. We’ve grown and enhanced each round as we’ve led into the Final Four. The momentum of increased viewership has fueled our team’s fire to be on our A game throughout the entire tournament.”

Hello, Cleveland! ESPN Deploys Massive Operation at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse

With a crew of more than 250 onsite, ESPN has rolled out NEP EN1 mobile unit (A, B, C, and D units) and WillScott office trailers for the edit team. EN1 A and B are dedicated to game coverage, and EN1 C, new this year, is housing both game and studio EVS replay operations.

ESPN has rolled out the NEP’s EN1 mobile unit (A, B, C, and D units) in Cleveland.

“Our setup is growing year over year,” says Chalfant. “We have added the EN1 C unit because our complement has outgrown the B unit. However, through all the increased viewership and interest this year, our goal is still to broadcast this event as efficiently as possible.”

EN1 D will house all pre/postgame and halftime studio shows, digital productions, and The Elle Duncan Show (live from Cleveland this week), which are all line-cut productions that are sent to Bristol. During the Final Four and Championship games, the D unit will also serve as home to the Bird & Taurasi Show MegaCast feed, which is being produced again as a 13-path REMI Pro out of ESPN’s Charlotte, NC, facilities.

“We have spent a lot of time this year with production re-envisioning the look and the setup for this show,” says Chalfant. “We are excited to see it come to life this weekend.”

ESPN will also produce Libero telestration graphics as a downstream integration from Bristol.

EN1 A and B are dedicated to game coverage, and EN1 C is accommodating both game and studio EVS replay operations.

The broadcaster has two primary studio sets — one indoor set, one outdoor set — in the middle of “Party on the Plaza,” as well as a backup weather studio concourse location and The Bird & Taurasi Show set.

In terms of transmission, ESPN has more than 25 outbound paths and seven return paths out of Cleveland. Primary transmission will be via fiber (provided by The Switch), with a Kauffman Satellite uplink as backup. In addition, ESPN is deploying numerous Haivision IP encoders to transmit and receive press conferences, watch parties, and other various ancillary feeds.

Railcam, Skycam, and Drone Highlight Stacked Camera Fleet

NEP’s AVS is on hand again this year with the RF Railcam providing sweeping coverage across the court.

ESPN has deployed a whopping 44 cameras across its shows in Cleveland: 32 dedicated to the game, seven for the indoor studio, four shared with outdoor studio and ancillary shows, and five for the Bird & Taurasi Show.

ESPN has partnered with NEP’s AVS (Aerial Video Systems) again this year on the RF Railcam to provide end-to-end coverage across the court. Also deployed will be a Skycam above the court, a jib, and an outdoor drone camera positioned at nearby Progressive Field – all with full virtual-graphics capabilities. And the broadcaster has more than doubled its complement of super-slo-mo cameras from three in 2023 to seven this weekend.

ESPN Director Jimmy Platt’s arsenal includes a pair of cinematic cameras: a Sony HDC-F5500 with Fujinon’s new 24-300mm lens on the far-side baseline, covering the team benches, and a Sony HDC-4800 with Fuji Duvo 25-1000 lens in a slash position (returning from last year’s Final Four). In addition to providing dramatic cine-style shots of the action, the footage will be fed to the edit team in the truck to create quick-turnaround teases, features, and other high-end content.

“We had both of those cinematic cameras [for the Elite Eight games] in Albany to capture key moments in a cinematic capacity,” notes Platt. “We’re excited to have them back here in Cleveland. What those [cameras] have been able to capture has been a game-changer [in terms of] creating an emotional connection for our viewers at home as they’re watching these women play basketball at such a high level.”

ESPN has deployed more than 40 cameras for the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Cleveland.

The operations team also is working with the ESPN Edge Innovation Center on technology executions with Canon and COSM.

The Canon Free Viewpoint system installed at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse will be used to produce 3D highlights in a volumetric environment that will be available for ESPN studio programming and social and digital platforms and uploaded to ESPN’s brand page on Meta’s Xtadium VR sports app.

In addition, via ESPN’s season-long partnership with COSM, VR highlights will be produced for all games and uploaded to the ESPN page in Meta Xtadium.

Going Out With a Bang: Long Road Comes to an End in Cleveland

While marking a momentous crescendo for women’s basketball, this weekend’s Final Four will be the culmination of a long odyssey for Chalfant and company. After an arduous regular season, the operations team finds a way to get the First Four sites up and running in under 48 hours after the bracket is announced.

It’s all hands on deck for ESPN production and operations teams in Cleveland.

The season also posed the additional challenge of having four 1st- and 2nd-round tournament sites align with those hosting the NIT, which ESPN also broadcasts. Games, therefore, started sooner than expected, and ESPN had to pivot to put resources in place to efficiently cover both tournaments.

“Despite the challenges,” says Chalfant, “our end goal never swayed: to have our onsite teams prepared to execute all rounds to the highest level and to continue to do our part in elevating the game and our coverage throughout the entire tournament.”

Besides Chalfant, this year’s NCAA Women’s Final Four operations team comprises Executive Director John LaChance; Senior Operations Producer, Project Oversight, Traci Flohr; Senior Tech Specialist Joe Rainey; Operations Producer BJ Smith; Senior Operations Producer, Studio, Chris Swihart; Operations Producer, Studio, Danny Reifert; Operations Coordinators Abby Hurlbert, David Quintanilla, and Lindsay Hayden; Senior Crewing Coordinator Meredith Fenwick; Remote Traffic Coordinators Tom Blanchette and Lead Controller, Motion Graphics, Adam Grigley. Chalfant offers a special thanks to Senior Operations Manager Jim Birch and Senior Tech Specialist Brian Ristine for assisting the management team throughout the planning and execution of this show.

“Proud is an understatement,” Chalfant says in praising her team. “The production and operations team that works on the Women’s Tournament is a very special group of people, and, year after year, I am honored to be a part of it. The Final Four is a reminder that all the hard work and sacrifice we pour into this sport throughout the season is paying off.”