By Kristian Hernández, Senior Editor
Friday, March 29, 2024 – 12:39 pm
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As sports fans get set for the first weekend of the MLB regular season and the playoff pushes in the NBA and NHL, they can add an upstart league to their viewing schedule: the first season of the new United Football League (UFL), the result of the merged United States Football League (USFL) and the XFL. Splitting broadcast duties with FOX Sports, ESPN will leverage a 20-path REMI workflow in Bristol, CT, to produce its 21-game allotment.
F&F’s GTX 16 is onsite for one of ESPN’s two games on Sunday (Photo: Mitchell Workman/ESPN)
“We want to serve our fans by giving football content during a time of year when it’s mostly stick-and-ball sports, motor sports, or other non-football leagues,” says Jarrett Baker, manager, remote operations, ESPN. “We’re looking forward to growing the game and growing our audience.”
Similar to the broadcasting partnership between FOX Sports and NBC Sports during the two-year run of USFL, coverage of the new UFL will be divvied up between FOX Sports and ESPN. ESPN will broadcast 21 games in total, including 20 regular-season matchups over 10 consecutive weekends and a conference championship on Saturday, June 8 at 3 p.m. ET on ABC. During the regular season, 10 games will be on ESPN, nine on ABC, and one on ESPN2 (Houston Roughnecks vs. Birmingham Stallions on Saturday, May 18 at 8 p.m.). Operationally, Baker and his crew are working with FOX Sports VP, Field Operations, Brad Cheney and his team to create a streamlined workflow on a week-by-week basis.
“We’re having regular conversations and meet once a week as we lead into the opening slate of games,” says Baker. “We’ll continue those conversations weekly throughout the season. These include discussions about seat kills, camera placements, and how to support the ball-spotting technology that they used on the USFL last year.”
Play during the spring means unpredictable weather in various parts of the country. This means the broadcasters are also working together to monitor weather patterns at five of the eight host cities; three of the league’s teams — the Michigan Panthers, St. Louis Battlehawks, and San Antonio Brahmas — play in domed stadiums. Such collaboration may be something new for ESPN, but producing high-quality spring football games is not. Senior Manager, Remote Operations, Tommy Mitchell was among the leaders of the broadcaster’s operations during the 2023 XFL season, and his knowledge and experience help Baker feel more comfortable heading into this 10-week sprint.
“I’m in a unique position,” he says, “because, after six seasons working on college football and stepping away to be on other projects [at ESPN], it has only been about six weeks that I’ve been back with this group. I understand the bigger picture, but I’m now learning granular day-to-day details. That means I’m leaning on Tommy and our other five operations coordinators — Kylene Hamulak, Charlie Skoog, Aaron Thompson, Matt Garrison, and Tatianna Montalvo — as well as FOX Sports to see what they did in a particular stadium.”
The onsite crew sorting gear in the broadcast compound. (Photo: Tim Denyes/ESPN)
The biggest highlight of the 2024 slate is that all games will be produced via ESPN’s REMI model from a control room in Bristol, CT. Multiple games on a single weekend means that up to three crews will work in a single control room and each game will have virtual 1st-and-10 operated from Bristol. The three main trucks for the season — LMG 18, F&F GTX 16, and LMG 15 — will have a fiber connection to Bristol through The Switch.
Although the production team will be working in Bristol, all announcers will be onsite at the stadium. Three talent teams have been created to handle the season: Team 1 comprises play-by-play announcers Mike Monaco and Drew Carter, analyst Sam Acho, field reporter Stormy Buonantony, and field analyst Cole Cubelic; Team 2 play-by-play announcer Lowell Galindo, analyst Tom Luginbill, field reporter Kayla Burton, and field analyst Harry Douglas; and Team 3 play-by-play announcers Roy Philpott and Jorge Sedano, analyst Kirk Morrison, field reporter Ian Fitzsimmons, and field analyst Eric Mac Lain.
With the UFL on the calendar, the broadcaster is tasked with ensuring control-room availability during an already packed spring and summer. Also vying for control-room space are remote workflows for Sunday Night Baseball, the upcoming NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs and Stanley Cup Final, and the NBA Playoffs and Finals.
“It starts with our REMI team that looks over the facilities and is responsible for all of our technical personnel,” says Baker. “A perfect example is Week 3, when we have three UFL games that weekend and two college-football spring games on Sunday, April 13. It’s definitely a juggling act of personnel and resources.”
LMG’s 18 and 15 will also be used throughout the 2024 UFL season. (Photo: Tim Denyes/ESPN)
For any given game, ESPN is opting for maximum access, eye-catching angles, and authentic sound for the ultimate viewing experience. Technologically speaking, crews will be equipped with 20 cameras: seven hard cameras, two RF handhelds, a Skycam, a booth robotic to capture talent, and various other robos and POVs throughout the venue. The notable highlight on the audio side will be six player and coach mics supported by the league to capture communications among on-field personnel.
A staple on ESPN’s XFL coverage, fans will be treated to behind-the-scenes access — both inside the locker room through pre-installed microphones and cameras and on the field during downtime in the game. Most of this is done through the trust developed by the organizations during last year’s season and is part of the broadcaster’s efforts to bring the fan closer.
“We’re looking to turn our RF handhelds into wired handhelds when we go into the locker rooms,” says Baker. “This is the third year in a row we’ve had a little bit different take on spring football, so we’re looking to [start] with a solid plan and adjust throughout the season if we need to.”
Being associated with the first season of a new league is special, and launching broadcasts successfully involves a lot of ESPN people. On the league-management side are Executive Director, Remote Operations, John LaChance; Manager, Remote Operations Jim Birch; Mitchell; Hamulak; Skoog; Thompson; Garrison; and Montalvo. On the REMI-management side are Director, REMI Operations, Dan Lannon; Supervisor, REMI Operations, Eric Kimmel; Tech Manager, REMI Operations, Samuel Dusenbury; and Remote Audio/Comms Specialist Jesse Kupec. The field-operations team comprises Senior Operations Producer Fred Clow and Operations Producers Adam Ramirez, Kelsey Hahn, Tony Gregory, Severo Palacio, and Ryan Dobesh.
“Anytime you can give players — who aren’t quite ready to be done with the sport of football but are maybe not going to make it to the highest level —another opportunity to keep playing, it’s never a bad thing,” says Baker. “We’re excited about what’s to come and to collaborate with this league.”
Week 1 of the 2024 UFL schedule offers a doubleheader on Sunday, March 31 on ESPN: D.C. Defenders at San Antonio Brahmas at The Alamodome at noon ET and Memphis Showboats at Houston Roughnecks at Rice Stadium at 3 p.m.
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