Software pioneer Watts Humphrey is credited with saying, “Innovation is the process of turning ideas into manufacturable and marketable form.” The television production of this year’s March Madness is the epitome of Humphrey’s take on innovation.
Since March Madness kicked off a few weeks ago, I have been curious how CBS Sports and Turner Sports have so seamlessly provided an excellent viewing experience in the most challenging of circumstances. Then I discovered an article by Jason Dachman, chief editor at Sports Video Group, that helps explain: Technology, of course!
Below are segments of Dachman’s article, March Madness 2021: CBS Sports, Turner Sports ‘Lean Into Technology’ To Meet Challenges in Indiana. (NOTE: This article was authored/published pre-tournament).
When it comes to logistics, it simply doesn’t get any harder than NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Tournament. Producing 67 games in three weeks across a multitude of venues is no easy feat under the best of circumstances, let alone amidst a pandemic. Nonetheless, CBS Sports and Turner Sports have worked with the NCAA to create, within the tournament’s bubble in Indiana, a production workflow and infrastructure that achieve the level of production quality that viewers have come to expect from CBS/Turner March Madness broadcasts over the past decade.
Despite the entire tournament’s taking place in a single location this year (in and around Indianapolis), CBS and Turner have deployed 10 discrete production and announce crews onsite for the opening rounds – up from eight in previous years.
“This tournament will be unique,” says Harold Bryant, executive producer/EVP, Production, CBS Sports. “Being in Indy with all of our crews and all of our production setup is a unique challenge that we are going to take advantage of to make it an even better presentation than we’ve done in the past for the tournament. We’re going to be flexible and ready to go for this year.”
He adds that CBS and Turner are “definitely leaning into technology” this year in an effort to overcome the challenges presented by the pandemic. Most notably, production teams will deploy more robotic cameras than ever, including a pan-bar system as the primary midcourt camera, to limit the number of manned positions. The much touted RailCam and SkyCam systems will also be back for selected games.
[Turner Sports EVP/Chief Content Officer Craig Barry] adds, “Disruption breeds innovation and creativity, and this is no different. Some of the technology is by design, and some is by necessity. We feel really confident that we have a great mix of technology and innovation. We’re trying to create as much access as possible — to the game, to the court – and get the fan as close as possible. With all the social distancing, we wanted to make sure that that priority stayed intact. And that’s where the technology comes in.”
“The placement of cameras is different,” [Bryant] explains, “so a cameraperson who might have been a handheld operator is doing a different job this go-around. We’ve done our best to keep the crew levels about same. I haven’t gone side-by-side, but we actually have more coverage this go-around because of all the robotics and the extra positions that we have available to us.”
Although fans will be present, CBS and Turner will be using enhanced crowd noise to augment the broadcasts. “We’ll have a virtual audio in every building,” says Barry. “We’ve made a significant investment, and our experience with our events in the past have led us to believe that it’s just an overall better fan experience with the virtual audio.”
With the stands less than full, production teams at all the Indy venues are exploring camera positions that have become available. According to Bryant, the traditional high-slash position will be moved lower, and reverse positions that typically would block seats will have more freedom to shoot the on-court action.
“We are looking at alternative camera positions,” he says. “Now that there are no fans, we can move a few cameras. We’re just using the innovation to help make a better broadcast.”… In addition, for the first time, the on-court virtual shot clock seen on Turner’s NBA on TNT coverage will be used on the live broadcast.
Although the bubble format presents its fair share of challenges, hosting all games in a single geographic area has created efficiencies for CBS and Turner.
Barry adds that CBS and Turner won’t shy away from acknowledging the fact that this year’s tournament is all in one place. “Harold and I had pretty philosophical conversation about leaning into what this actually is, which is a March Madness in a single state. We are going to be authentic and honest about what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. It’s going to be part of the narrative, and we think we can develop something really special.”
I say, ”So far so good!”
