UFC 306 at The Sphere: UFC Turns Up the Production and Operations Firepower for Historic Pay-Per-View Event

Production honors Mexican culture; one-of-a-kind venue challenges operations team

The UFC has adapted and evolved to create memorable broadcasting innovation since the COVID-19 pandemic, including Fight Island in Abu Dhabi and the opening of its Apex facility in 2020, celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2023, and producing its 300th pay-per-view (PPV) event this past spring. All these moments have led to UFC 306: Noche UFC on Sept. 14, which will be the first sports event in the short yet exhilarating history of Sphere in Las Vegas. The mixed-martial-arts company’s biggest production to date is considered a once-in-lifetime opportunity for the production and operations teams and the start of a new era for the company.

UFC 306 will honor Mexican Independence Day and the country’s impact on the MMA community. (Photo: Zuffa LLC)

“There’s a lot of excitement because the entire company has been working hard to be ready to pull off this event,” says Craig Borsari, CCO/executive producer, UFC, “but now that we’re in the final stage of preparation, there’s also pressure to complete everything that we want to share with the world. We had limited time to rehearse, so the shift has gone from content creation to how we’re going to execute our show.”

Quick Drive-Away: Crews Visit Sphere To Plan Creative Elements, Tech Infrastructure

After attending a show during U2’s short-term residency at the venue that has taken the live-entertainment industry by storm, UFC President/CEO Dana White knew that he wanted to host an event there. Uniting a vision of being the first to produce a sports event there and to pay homage to Mexico’s contributions to the MMA community, the marquee main event will take place on the Saturday before Mexican Independence Day Monday, Sept. 16. To make the PPV a “love letter” to the nation, according to White, Borsari has worked closely with others in the production department and external partners — including Segments Director Carlos López Estrada, who provided his talents to such projects as Encanto and Frozen II — to create a stunning narrative honoring Mexican culture.

“Carlos oversaw the production of six, 90-second films that will run as our primary storytelling device,” says Borsari. “We don’t want to take away from the elite athletes performing in the Octagon, but, at the same time, we don’t want to remove people from this bigger story that we’re telling throughout the evening. It was a real balancing act to figure out exactly how much we should lean into unique media content that we’re creating as well as cover the fights.”

Six separate vignettes were developed for the show by independent artists:

• “Chapter I: In the Beginning” — directed by Joe Sill and Brian Tang, co-produced by Impossible Objects
• “Chapter II: Early Civilizations” — directed by Saad Moosajee, co-produced by Analog Studios
• “Chapter III: Rituals & Traditions” — directed by Paul Nicholls, co-produced by Factory Fifteen)
• “Chapter IV: Battle for Independence” — directed by Diego Huacuja, co-produced by Basa Estudios
• “Chapter V: Fighters & Heroes” — directed by Shynola, co-produced by Nexus Studios
• “Chapter VI: Mexico Today and Tomorrow” — directed by Paul Trillo, co-produced by Factory Fifteen

Borsari was assisted by SVP, Production and Programming, Chris Kartzmark on the overall direction of each piece; by SVP, Global Brand and Creative, Heidi Noland with the event’s visual identity and on-screen aesthetic; by SVP, Originals Production, Tucker Greene, who gave input on the six films; and SVP/Coordinating Producer Zach Candito, who’s responsible for stitching together the show at the front bench.

Fresh off Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, Silent House Group has been brought in to produce the in-venue show. Its team includes CEO/Founder Baz Halpin, CCO/Head of Production Linda Gierahn, and President Mark Bracco as producers and Coordinating Producer Vincent Richards.

Heidi Noland (left) and Dana White confer during the planning phase.

Borsari is also leaning heavily on other personnel outside UFCi. Oscars and Emmys director and executive producer Glenn Weiss will direct the entertainment aspect of the show on ESPN, and Segments Producer Valerie Bush will work alongside López Estrada. BLINK Inc. President Tom Colbourne as screen content director and BLINK Post Production Supervisor Richard Cullen as screen content producer will get the elements on the massive 160,000-sq.-ft., 16Kx16K-resolution interior LED Media Plane. Also helping will be artist contributor/consultant Jorge Gutierrez, who served as a creative consultant on 2017 Disney hit Coco.

Another wrinkle to this show is worth noting from a technical angle: this will be UFC’s first show on ESPN broadcast in 1080p. That aspect alone is a new element to be fleshed out by the operations crew, but adding that to the operations needs for a production in a venue that has never hosted such a production before is a challenge. Luckily, UFC has SVP, Event Production, Tim O’Toole and Director, Technical Operations, Greg Louw, who know how to solve those problems. For this hefty lift, they’re rolling in UFC’s typical truck, the A and B units of NEP NCP7, for the weigh-in and press conference the night before the fight. The scale of the show also required the A and B units of both NEP EN3 and Denali Summit for production of the fight.

“We can’t produce our press conference and weigh-in normally out of our event truck,” says O’Toole. “They’re happening in the parking lot [of Sphere], and there’s no connectivity between the facility and the parking lot.”

The building’s Exosphere will show highlights of the fights for passers-by in Las Vegas.

Between the six units, UFC will be deploying a total of 55 cameras over two days’ worth of events. A major operational hurdle is the lack of rehearsal time. Aside from being a concert and entertainment house, Sphere is open during the day for visitors to experience immersive films. The daytime operation pushed run-throughs to the early hours of the morning, but, luckily, UFC’s home is less than 10 miles from Sphere.

“I was at Sphere from 1 to 3 a.m. last week,” notes Borsari. “If it wasn’t located in Las Vegas, I’m not sure I would’ve had time to get to the venue. We needed to be inside the building for our final audio mixing, and it’s very convenient to pop over there.”

Along with breathtaking films at the event, the fan experience will be augmented by a handful of other tech additives at Sphere. The films’ music, created by music producer and composer of Coco and Encanto Germaine Franco, will be heard over the world’s most advanced concert-grade audio system. In a first at a UFC event, fans will feel every kick and punch in real time via force feedback through haptic seats. And the building’s Exosphere will show highlights of the fights for passers-by in Sin City, and, on the inside, the LED Media Plane will present real-time data and fighter information through in-house stats and information feeds.

Adapting to the Environment: LED Media Plane Presents Logistical Challenges

Without a blueprint to work from, the crew is essentially mapping one out as they go along. The LED Media Plane is the Sphere’s main attraction and will serve as the canvas for the six chapters of Mexico’s lineage. Any content played out on the world’s highest-resolution LED display will have to be meticulously inspected to avoid extremely long re-rendering times.

“[The LED Media Plane] takes 24 servers to play out content, which means the render time for 16K is enormous,” O’Toole explains. “With combat sports, it makes it really difficult because there might be a bad weight cut or another issue might pop up during the week of the fight. If we were to make content surrounding a fighter, there wouldn’t be time to adjust and fix it.”

In addition, the LED Media Plane’s size will prevent construction of the lighting rig that hangs 32 ft. above the Octagon. Unfortunately, this decision took away one of UFC’s signature cameras deployed for previous PPVs for sweeping shots of the crowd and fight coverage.

From left: Craig Borsari, Carlos López Estrada, Dana White, Valerie Bush, and Chris Kartzmark in front of the LED Media Plane in Sphere

“We’re replacing our JitaCam with two Crane MB45’s from MovieBird that are going to be on either end of the venue,” says O’Toole. “We also have a NAVCam that’s going to be positioned way up in the higher seats to give us a four-point cable camera system to capture content on the LED Media Plane. We’ll also have a Fletcher Nucleus camera, which is the first time a UFC PPV will have a camera inside the Octagon. It will be embedded in a corner pad, similar to an end-zone pylon camera, and allow us to have slow-motion and pan capabilities.”

Beyond the Fights: ESPN Delivering 100+ Hours of Shoulder Programming

While UFC is pulling out all the stops on Saturday, its longtime partner ESPN will be doing its part as well to amplify the “once in a lifetime show” in Las Vegas. ESPN will provide fans with an 100+ hours of UFC content across its linear platforms leading up to the Saturday’s PPV, including featured signature UFC-event replays, iconic moments in the sport, and studio shows from Vegas throughout the week. ESPN’s expansive onsite studio coverage will culminate in two live shows from inside Sphere, bringing fans directly into Prelims: UFC 306 Pre-Show (6 p.m., ESPN App and ESPNMMA YouTube) and UFC: Camino al Octágono — Riyadh Season Noche UFC (6:30 p.m., ESPN Deportes and ESPN+).

“It’s exciting for our whole crew,” says Mark Mignini, senior manager, remote operations, ESPN, “because we know we can always say that we were part of the first sporting event ever here [at The Sphere]. You can be first only once, and we get to be part of that. And, hopefully, we’re helping set up a footprint that others will follow in the future. That’s something I think everyone on our team can be really proud of.”

ESPN’s primary set will be inside The Sphere’s Atrium, and a second set will be atop the nearby Westin Las Vegas Hotel parking garage. All studio shows from Vegas this week will be produced as a REMI from control rooms in Bristol, CT.  ESPN will deploy three ENG cameras, two handhelds, a jib, and a drone in Las Vegas and has provided its analysts with advanced telestration tools.

“The big difference for us [compared with other UFC productions] is the drone,” says Mignini. “Because it’s Sphere and the imagery you’re going to get on it, we knew we had to have a drone. We’re using one of our trusted vendor partners, and we have permission to fly over the Westin parking garage and the Wynn golf course. We will get tons of night-time Vegas scenics with some amazing shots of the [exosphere] outside The Sphere. The production team is going to have some amazing bumper shots to integrate into the program.”

The PPV itself will be available exclusively on ESPN+ PPV (English and Spanish), and the prelims will be available on ESPN+, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, and SiriusXM Fight Nation 156, beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.

On broadcasting, UFC and ESPN have been in lockstep throughout the process. ESPN VP, Production, MMA, Glenn Jacobs has been integral to ensuring that the production is an engaging televised product. “[Glenn] has been fully aware of our production plans and knows any updates with our creative on our weekly calls,” Borsari points out. “His production team will have a large presence inside Sphere, so we’re incredibly thankful for all of the support that ESPN brings us.”

History in Las Vegas: UFC Gets a Shot at the Sphere’s First Sports Event

History will most certainly be made in Las Vegas, and because of the venue’s technological firepower and production possibilities, Saturday’s event could be the first of many sports events to occur at Sphere. For the team working on this show, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“The key stakeholders that are working on this production have been with the company for 15+ years,” says O’Toole. “I think you couldn’t pull this off unless you had this well-versed team. It’s one of those events that’s once in a lifetime.”

The UFC team takes a look at the venue’s LED capabilities to put together the run of show.

Doing it right the first time is also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Many grandiose shows — the Super Bowl, Kentucky Derby, WrestleMania — have been done countless times, but O’Toole and his colleagues understand that they won’t get another shot at this debut.

“[Saturday] will be what seems like a lifetime’s worth of work put into one night,” he says. “Most of the work that’s done for bands with residencies at Sphere get a dozen shows, but we get one chance. We’ll make the most of it.”

In the perspective of UFC’s three-decade-long history, this weekend’s set of bouts can jumpstart the company’s next frontier. With White, who’s bullish on going bigger and being extremely ambitious, at the helm, the window is wide open to showcase more fights at Sphere and other venues that usually don’t host sports events.

“This event will be a perfect example of Dana’s vision for this company, which is to take big shots at things,” says Borsari. “Whether it’s using a certain workflow or going to a certain venue, he wants to be at the forefront of sports and entertainment. It would have been easier to see someone else do a sporting event first at Sphere, but that’s not a part of our culture. We want to set a high standard. That’s the way we’ve operated for the 20 years that I’ve been here, and I don’t see that changing.”

Jason Dachman, editorial director, U.S., contributed to this story.