CFP National Championship 2026: Van Wagner Relies on Experience for Indiana–Miami Matchup at Hard Rock Stadium

The team will produce its third in-venue show in Miami in seven years

In a college-football season marked by unpredictability, a College Football Playoff (CFP) National Championship featuring No. 1 Indiana and No. 10 Miami is a fitting scenario. Always ready to go and looking to fire up the respective fanbases during Monday night’s title game at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, Van Wagner has continued to grow every year and has created a strong foundation for this production.

“The consistency of what we’ve had the last few years continues to build on itself,” says Daniel Zerunyan, senior producer, Van Wagner. “We’re looking forward to working within a very exciting and engaging environment.”

Inside the Control Room: Ross Tessera Drives Main Videoboard; Show Adds Four Cameras 

Van Wagner is working closely with Miami Dolphins/Hard Rock Stadium Director, Broadcast Services, Tomas Ruiz to finetune the show prior to kickoff. The workflows are standard but sturdy for a show of this size: the gear comprises a Ross Acuity production switcher, Evertz DreamCatcher replay, Ross XPression graphics, and Evertz routing. To enhance the game presentation, Van Wagner has brought four hard cameras and an extra RF handheld. The show will also deploy cameras used by ESPN for the linear broadcast, but, in a stadium that’s a bit of a throwback compared with newer stadiums around the country, Van Wagner Tech Manager Patrick Stedman worked with the broadcaster to find enough space.

“I’ve worked through some space issues with ESPN on some of the camera locations,” he says. “Being an older stadium, it doesn’t have a ton of wide-open spaces, but we’re getting everybody snug in the camera wells.”

The control room at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami

The crew will deploy Ross Tessera for the main videoboard and Daktronics Show Control for the ribbon boards. Ross Video staffers will be In the control room to assist with the content presentation on the main display.

“They’ll be with us again,” adds Zerunyan. “Over the last few years, we’ve established a great partnership for this specific event.”

Organizing the Comms Chaos: Riedel Bolero Streamlines Production’s RF Needs

Communication is key to a successful show, and, in Miami, Riedel will be at the center of that effort. Bolero wireless beltpacks will be worn by in-venue production personnel, as well as for ESPN’s operations at Hard Rock Stadium. To prevent connectivity issues, a handful of Riedel’s RF experts will be on hand.

“We’re looking to potentially keep that going as part of our workflow every year,” says Zerunyan. “We want to make sure that everyone’s not stepping on each other, so it has been a huge coordination process.”

The crew will leverage a Ross Video Acuity switcher to power the in-venue show of tonight’s title game.

This required Van Wagner to create its own private comms network to avoid potential hiccups. “We had to get STA [special temporary authority] from the FTC to get on a different [radio] band,” Stedman explains. “Riedel has been critical to changing out all of our antennas.”

Before the Battle in Miami: Crew Provides Guidance in Early Rounds

This year, Van Wagner’s responsibilities began before the finale in Miami. To create an overarching brand for all CFP games, including on-campus productions for first-round games and neutral-site quarterfinal and semifinal competitions, Van Wagner provided guidance to production staff at each location. Notes Zerunyan, “The CFP committee brought us in to help bring the entertainment value up a little bit.”

These services were used for two contests on Jan. 1: the Capital One Orange Bowl between No. 4 Texas Tech and No. 5 Oregon at Hard Rock Stadium and the Allstate Sugar Bowl between No. 3 Georgia and No. 6 Ole Miss at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. For the four first-round games, an observer from Van Wagner was sent to Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, OK, for No. 9 Alabama vs. No. 8 Oklahoma on Dec. 19; Kyle Field in College Station, TX, for Miami vs. No. 7 Texas A&M on Dec. 20; Autzen Stadium in Eugene, OR, for No. 12 James Madison  vs. Oregon on Dec. 20; and Vaught–Hemingway Stadium in University, MS, for No. 11 Tulane vs. Ole Miss on Dec. 20.

Van Wagner’s Daniel Zerunyan will be involved in his sixth CFP National Championship since in 2021.

As for the National Championship, Van Wagner took over production of the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic between Miami and No. 2 Ohio State at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, on New Year’s Eve; the Rose Bowl — for which Zerunyan serves as lead producer since he lives in Los Angeles — between Indiana and Alabama at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, CA, on Jan. 1; and the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl between Miami and Ole Miss at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ, on Jan. 8.

Return to the 305: Van Wagner at Site of Super Bowl LIV, 2021 CFP National Championship

For tentpole football events, the NFL and the CFP tend to rotate through high-capacity stadiums around the nation. Hard Rock Stadium, with a capacity of nearly 65,000, hosts Super Bowls and National Championships every so often. At the turn of the decade, it was in the spotlight, hosting back-to-back Super Bowl LIV in 2020 and the CFP National Championship in 2021. Van Wagner was present for both occasions but in very different circumstances: the former was one of the last to be untouched by the COVID-19 pandemic; the latter featured a limited-capacity crowd of 15,000 spectators and was Zerunyan’s first time in the producer’s chair. The crew has been leaning on the knowledge gained in producing those two games.

On the logistics side, this will be the first time in four years that the game will not feature a roof, having been played in Indianapolis’s Lucas Oil Stadium in 2022, Los Angeles’s SoFi Stadium in 2023, and Houston’s NRG Stadium in 2024. Inclement weather could play a factor, with potential lightning-related delays. In the face of the potential challenges, Van Wagner is ready to roll with a reliable team both onsite and at home.

“We have a strong edit team of five editors [onsite] and one supporting our efforts back at home,” he says. “We were very ahead of schedule before the start of the weekend, which allowed us to have rehearsals starting on Saturday.”