Return of the Ivy League: After 18-Month Layoff, Live Game Production Is Back on Campus
By Adam Noyes
In the wake of Covid-19, many schools and sports organizations had to stop production on their live sports streaming. In much the same way, many major schools are returning again to live sports production, with workflows that are better than ever featuring the NewTek TriCaster, and some other great streaming gear.
Check out some highlights from this article from sportsvide.org below, to learn more.
The sports world was hammered when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in the early months of 2020. Sports leagues across the U.S. are still recovering both financially and in the sheer timing of their annual schedules.
At Princeton University, one of three control rooms at the Levine Broadcast Center produces the school’s first live broadcast in 18 months for ESPN+, a women’s soccer game on Aug. 27. (Photo: Princeton Athletics)
One sports entity, however, that may have been hit hardest of all has been the Ivy League. The conference endured a shutdown of athletic events that stretched a staggering 18 months — approximately 540 days — before making a triumphant return on Friday, Aug. 27 with a slate of women’s soccer games. With it, sports-video–production teams across the conference’s eight campuses are back to doing what they do best: producing live games.
“It just feels normal again,” says Matt Panto, associate executive director, strategic communications and external relations, Ivy League. “While the pandemic is still very much a part of our daily lives, we’re talking about the things that we love and that we love to do. You can feel the energy on our campuses again. It’s why we do what we do. [We] couldn’t be more excited to get back.”
Although Ivy League member institutions were permitted to participate in NCAA-sanctioned events last year, the Ivy League had not hosted a conference-sanctioned athletics competition since baseball, softball, and lacrosse contests on March 5, 2020. Suddenly, Panto and video-production directors at each of the conference’s schools, who were used to producing a combined 1,000+ live events per year, were stymied.
The group has remained in constant communication despite working from their homes and with frustrating hiccups along the way, with academic season after academic season falling to the pandemic shutdown. According to Panto, the group even spent a large portion of last summer making comprehensive plans for what live production would look like under heavy COVID-based restrictions, only to see the entire 2020-21 year canceled.
Harvard Athletics also returned to action with a women’s soccer game on Aug. 27. It was the department’s first game production done entirely over IP. (Photo: Harvard University Athletics)
Their efforts weren’t wasted, however. Many of the Ivy schools have spent the time sharpening their broadcast plans, updating their on-campus control rooms and infrastructures, conceptualizing fresh on-demand content ideas, and even instituting a new conference-wide file-sharing system powered by DropBox.
“We took a step back and discussed, when we do eventually come back, how will we be prepared for that moment?” says Panto. “Are you going to come back better than you left?”