Student teams can gain valuable experience producing a professional network quality broadcast
Collegiate athletic programs are turning to streaming in a big way as an outlet to broadcast sporting events. ESPN3 makes it easy to reach a wide audience on a reliable platform and provides an ESPN3 branded on-air graphics package to give your sports broadcasts a professional look.
The internet has made it possible for even small schools to broadcast their sporting events online to a global audience. There are a number of content delivery networks out there that will host your live broadcast, including the ubiquitous Facebook and YouTube platforms. However, for schools that want their broadcasts to be accessible to the most people and have a highly trustworthy and professional look, ESPN3 has a partnership program that will allow a schools broadcasts to be easily viewed on the WatchESPN app and the ESPN website along side of some of the highest profile professional sporting events on the network. Streaming on the ESPN3 platform give a school an boost in both credibility and reach, and is not difficult to do, provided your broadcast meets ESPNs minimum requirements for elements such as number of cameras, switcher channels, staffing, and microphone & camera placement.
Valuable, Hands-On Experience for Broadcast Video Production Students
In addition to the benefits of being able to stream broadcasts on such a high-profile platform, the standardized process that ESPN3 requires to become a partner gives broadcast video production students a chance to gain valuable experience in an environment that closely mimics what they would find on a professional sports broadcast. From the way television events are organized and scheduled to best practices for in-game elements such as instant replay and video transitions, the skills learned while using ESPN3 broadcast workflow gives students a valuable advantage when they graduate and become job seekers in a competitive field.
ESPN-Branded On-Air Graphics
One of the most attractive parts of this partnership for schools is the ability to use professional quality ESPN-branded graphical elements in their broadcast. Schools will need to own a graphics system capable of supporting the ESPN graphics package, the most common being Ross Xpression. The ESPN on-air graphics lend a credibility to collegiate telecasts, and they are often higher quality that what schools produce on their own.
Minimum Requirements
Partnering with ESPN3 is a great choice for collegiate athletic programs, but it still may be cost prohibitive for smaller schools due to the minimum requirements need to become a partner. ESPN3 has a reputation to uphold as far as broadcast quality, so it is understandable that they wouldn’t allow, for example, a single camera broadcast with no scoreboard system on their platform. At the minimum, a school will need two handheld cameras and two fixed-position cameras, three 14 x 4.3 lenses and at least one 40x or greater zoom lens, a four-input / two-output replay system, a ten-input video switcher, a 24-input audio console, and of course a graphics system capable of handling the ESPN graphics package.
